The national library network organizes its resource libraries through eight regions across the United States. Florida’s other resource libraries are at the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of Miami and the University of South Florida colleges of medicine.
NN/LM’s mission is to “advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information and improving the public’s access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health.”
“Being selected as a resource library is an honor,” said Nadine Dexter, director of the Harriet F. Ginsburg Health Sciences Library. “It says the NN/LM feels we have the professional staff, the training and the resources to fulfill the duties of a resource library.”
Resource libraries provide doctors and patients with the most current research, journal articles, audiovisual materials, literature and patient treatment protocols. They coordinate and share resources with other area libraries so they can tell physicians almost instantly what materials are available in the region. “By working together in a network, we can act as a giant card catalog,” Nadine said. In addition to helping doctors who are on staff at colleges of medicine, resource libraries also provide sole practitioners with vital information through a “Lonesome Doc” reference program.
Providing current and trusted data is key for the library staff. “We want the library to be a comfortable, accessible and user-friendly place,” Nadine said. “We want to provide a well-trained staff who are subject matter experts on all the information that clinicians, researchers, students and faculty need.”
For more: Wendy Spirduso Sarubbi, UCF College of Medicine Information/Publication Services, 407-823-0233 or wsarubbi@mail.ucf.edu