As part of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) program, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) performs a mid-contract site visit to each of the eight regional offices. The Middle Atlantic Region (MAR) includes Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. On December 9, 2008, the MAR’s visit took place at the Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library, New York University, Langone Medical Center. Ehrman Medical Library’s contract as the regional office runs from 2006-2011. This is the library’s first contract with the NN/LM.
The major purpose of the visit was to assess MAR’s progress towards meeting the contract goals. The site visit team was led by H. Kenneth Walker, M.D., from Emory University School of Medicine, and included a hospital librarian, an academic librarian, an associate director from another RML, and NLM staff. The visit included three components: a meeting with NYU Medical Center’s institutional administrators, a program review conducted by the MAR staff, and a network member feedback session.
To prepare, MAR invited network members to complete an online questionnaire intended to provide feedback about the strengths of its program and future directions it should take. Response to the questionnaire was high, and we thank MLA Philadelphia Regional Chapter members for their support. MAR also invited members from around the region to participate in the feedback session on December 9th. Hospital, academic health sciences, special, and public librarians participated and shared their thoughts about MAR’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. Thanks to MAR membership’s participation in both the questionnaire and feedback session, NLM”s site visit team was able to develop an accurate picture of the regional office’s services throughout the four states.
The site visit team identified MAR strengths, including: communications/feedback with members, hospital library input via committees, site visits, and individual feedback. The online training program, LinkOut and EFTS participation, and the RML staff were also identified as strengths. The site visit team also gave suggestions and recommendations based on the goals of MAR’s Strategic Program Plan for Member Participation, as well as suggestions for NLM.
The final report from the site visit is available on the MAR web site:
<http://nnlm.gov/mar/about/pdf/marsitevisitreport.pdf>. We invite you to read the report and send your comments or feedback to rml@library.med.nyu.edu.
Submitted by Arpita Bose, MLIS
Interim Associate Director/Outreach and Communications Coordinator
National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region
arpita.bose@med.nyu.edu
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