Wednesday, March 18, 2009

HSCL Integration and College of Medicine Accreditation

The report to the Provost also provided information about the role of the Health Science Center Libraries in the accreditation of the College of Medicine. The text is provided below.

LCME Accreditation

The University of Florida College of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). On June 25, 2007, Robert Eaglen, Ph.D., Interim LCME Secretary, wrote to President Machen concerning action taken by the LCME with respect to the College of Medicine at its meeting on June 5-7, 2007. Dr. Eaglen statements include:

The LCME noted the following areas in transition whose outcome could affect the school’s ongoing compliance with accreditation standards: Stability of library services. The library’s ability to continue to meet the college’s educational and other needs will be challenged by anticipated staff retirements and the uncertainty of ongoing funding sources for its operation. (p.3)

On the same page, Dr. Eaglen stipulates: The second report, which should be submitted to both LCME Secretaries by May 1, 2009, should provide the following information regarding the two areas in transition:

Stability of library services. Provide a chart or graph depicting library funding, total print collections for books and journals, total electronic collections for books and journals, and total numbers of professional staff for the three most recent years. Summarize any successes or challenges in identifying stable funding sources for the library.

On page 4, Dr. Eaglen states:

If there are plans to significantly modify the educational program, or if there is to be a substantial change in student enrollment or in the resources of the institution so that the balance is distorted, the LCME expects to receive prior notice of the proposed change.

In addition, on page 1, Dr. Eaglen also identifies, under “… areas of partial or substantial noncompliance with accreditation standards,” issues concerning adequate study space, lounge areas and rooms for small-group sessions. These are concerns that the HSCL could readily address through much needed renovation.

The next accreditation review is scheduled for August 1, 2009, with the library report due to the College of Medicine by July 1, 2009. This is a wonderful opportunity to document commitments for improved HSCL funding and plans for renovation of its facilities, as well as to inform LCME about the integration and the resulting efficiencies.

Renovation of the Health Science Center Library at Shands

Another section of the document shared with the Provost on March 13th was a request for support for the renovation of the Health Science Center Library. The text is provided below.

RENOVATION

The main Health Science Center Library remains in its original 1976 construction state. There are no internal elevators or bathrooms. Additionally, when the HSCL was built in 1976, there was no conception of the role technology would play in information access and management, so it was constructed as a “print volumes” library. Overtime the library has been retrofitted, but a complete renovation would provide for more efficient use of technology to address the way users now seek information.

The University of Florida priority list of construction using the Federal stimulus funds includes $5 million for HSCL renovation. This would be adequate to refurbish the existing library, allowing the provision of internal bathrooms and internal access to elevators. If that funding is not made available, then substantial renovation could be accomplished in phases over the next three or four years.

As noted below, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education has identified adequate study space, lounge areas and rooms for small-group sessions as areas of partial or substantial noncompliance with accreditation standards. These are areas that the HSCL could readily address through renovation.

RESULTS

As a result of the meeting with the Provost, Wallace McLendon, Director of the Health Science Center Libraries, and Judy Russell, Dean of University Libraries, will be preparing a plan for phased renovation to present to the Provost, the Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, and the deans of the Health Science Center colleges.

Preliminary Integration Plan As Of March 13, 2009

A Preliminary Integration Plan was prepared by Wallace McLendon, Director of the Health Science Center Libraries, and Judy Russell, Dean of University Libraries, and shared with the Provost on March 13, 2009. The text of that plan is included blow.

INTEGRATION

Official integration of the Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL), including the Borland Library in Jacksonville and the reading room in the College of Veterinary Medicine, into the Smathers Libraries will take place on July 1, 2009. At that time, Wallace McLendon will report to the Dean of University Libraries with the title, Associate Dean and Director, Health Science Center Libraries. As such, that position will be designated certain responsibilities and authorities by the Dean of University of Libraries, including serving as the Dean’s representative on the council of the health science center deans.

The integration has been planned to implement President Machen’s October 13, 2008, directive to see that “the libraries … integrate their budgets and reporting structures, …[while] HSCL retains autonomy to serve the needs of its clients.” Our common goal is to assure that integration is a positive step toward improving the ability of HSCL to meet the growing information and research needs of Health Science Center students, faculty, researchers, and clinicians. In the short term, this means assuring that there is some improvement and certainly no diminution in service due to integration, and in the long term, this requires a commitment to bringing funding for HSCL up to both campus and peer standards.

1. Public Services
Through its expert staff and the appropriate use of technology, HSCL will continue to have responsibility for building collections and providing access to essential resources to support teaching, research and clinical practice in the Health Science Center. HSCL and Smathers will continue to seek additional opportunities for synergy in the delivery of scholarly resources and research services.

IMPACT: No impact on client services; however, as a participant in the Smathers Libraries Advisory Group for Research Services and Scholarly Resources (AGRSSR), HSCL will both share its specialized perspectives on service to its clients and help to set priorities for collections and public services throughout the University.

2. Interlibrary Loan and Electronic Reserves
Smathers Libraries have already committed to funding an expanded membership in the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) to include both HSCL and the Legal Information Center (LIC), thus making the CRL collections available campus-wide without additional interlibrary loan fees.

Similarly, the Smathers Libraries have committed to licensing and providing training for the ILLiad interlibrary loan software and the Ares electronic reserve software for both HSCL and LIC. This will allow HSCL and LIC to enhance service to their users and the Smathers Access Support Unit will provide copyright clearance for materials placed on electronic reserve for the Health Science Center. Currently Health Science Center faculty are responsible for their own copyright permissions; centralizing this service through HSCL in conjunction with the Smathers Access Support Unit provides a new service for the Health Science Center faculty and assures copyright compliance. Fees for HSCL copyright compliance service are estimated at $6,000 per year.

There is a major difference in policy and practice between HSCL and Smathers with respect to interlibrary loan requests from UF faculty, students and other clients. Smathers charges no fee for items costing up to $50. HSCL charges $5.00 per item and will pay up to $25.00 to obtain the item. In order to harmonize the ILL policies, and provide improved service for Health Science Center students and faculty, HSCL will need $7,000 per year to replace the income generated by ILL fees.

IMPACT: Provide no fee access to the collections of the Center Research Libraries; enhance interlibrary loan and electronic reserve services through campus-wide use of ILLiad and Ares software; offer new service for copyright clearance; eliminate HSCL interlibrary loan fee and raise the cap on cost per item.

3. Development and Grants Support
Currently HSCL does not have any formal development or grant support. There are significant opportunities for fund raising for HSCL from the alumni and benefactors of the Health Science Center colleges. There are also opportunities for participation in NIH and other grants with Health Science Center faculty. The Smathers Grants Coordinator will support HSCL without additional expense. Smathers Libraries Senior Associate Dean for Development has permission from the Foundation to manage a half time development officer for HSCL and the HSCL director has committed to active participation in the development activities and to provide staff support for the development officer. The salary, benefits and expenses for a part-time development officer would be $53,000.

IMPACT: Provide sustained development support for HSCL for the first time; improve identification of grant opportunities and proposal preparation.

4. HR and Finance
The Smathers Libraries will provide for the personnel services, training and human resources management of HSCL with its current HR staff. As the dean’s designee, the HSCL Director will be responsible for selection, evaluation and retention of HSCL employees, consistent with the general requirements of the Libraries and the University. This will allow HSCL to reassign a significant portion of the time from one senior staff member, who currently performs those functions.

The Smathers Libraries will provide for the financial service needs of the HSCL, other than the invoicing component of HSCL’s interlibrary loan services, integration of which is under development. This will be accomplished by transferring two HSCL staff, an accountant and a senior fiscal assistant, into Smathers fiscal services department. This will allow HSCL to reassign a significant portion of the time from one senior staff member, who currently supervises those individuals.

Separate department IDs will be established and maintained for the HSCL materials, operations, salaries and benefits, and auxiliaries, as well as the incidental trust fund and other University of Florida Foundation accounts, so HSCL income and expenses can be segregated, managed and appropriately reported. As the dean’s designee, the HSCL Director will be responsible for determining the use of these funds, consistent with the general requirements of the Libraries, the University and the Foundation.

The Smathers Libraries Acquisitions department will handle financial transactions related to the acquisition of content for HSCL; these services are already well integrated due to the current level of joint purchasing. Selection of content to be purchased or licensed will remain the responsibility of HSCL, as will budgeting for acquisition of content.

IMPACT: No impact on client services; frees some HSCL Staff for other assignments.

5. Technology
The HSCL pays annual Internet/Intranet port fees of approximately $42,000 to the CIO of the Health Science Center. Comparable fees for the Smathers Libraries are centrally funded and not part of the Libraries budget. Central funding of these fees would free up other funds for public service workstations, expanding the popular collaboration commons, and otherwise enhancing technology for delivery services to HSCL clientele. Fees for HSCL ports are estimated at $42,000 per year, but are likely to increase over time.

IMPACT: Enhance technology for delivery services to HSCL clientele.

6. Facilities
While HSCL will continue to submit direct requests for routine maintenance through the Health Science Center, Smathers Libraries will support major projects and long-term planning for the HSCL facilities.

There is an immediate need to rekey the external and internal locks, which are currently managed with metal keys. The estimated cost to install electronic locks and swipe card technology is $85,000.

IMPACT: Provides professional support for planning improvements to HSCL facilities and management of major projects; improves HSCL security through installation of electronic locks. [NOTE: The Provost has already provided funding for installing electronic locks in the main Health Science Center Library.]

7. Other Areas for Exploration
In the short term, no integration of HSCL information technology support and services with Smathers systems department is planned. Similarly, although there is already significant collaboration between Smathers and HSCL for cataloging, no immediate integration is planned. HSCL does not have digitization or preservation services while Smathers has both. We will continue to explore opportunities for greater collaboration and additional support from Smathers to HSCL in these areas, but changes, if any, are likely to be determined after the initial integration has been completed.

8. Market Equity
In 2007, Smathers Libraries completed a multi-year effort to establish comprehensive, rational and consistent staffing structure, as well as to implement internally and externally equitable salary levels for staff. This was done in conjunction with University Classification and Compensation and included the development of the new Library Assistant and Library Associate classifications, which were also adopted by the LIC. Market equity for faculty is still under review, and therefore it is not being addressed at this time. Integration of HSCL staff into the Smathers structure, with appropriate adjustments to maintain internal market equity, will cost an estimated $100,457.

IMPACT: Provides consistent staffing structure with equitable salaries.

9. Staffing
HSCL has lost 17 FTE (7 faculty, 5 staff positions, and 5 OPS/student assistants) since 2002-2003 due to budget cuts and realignment of funds to fund library materials. It will loose 2 more FTE (one faculty and one staff) if the 10% budget cut for 2009/2010 comes to fruition. This year, the College of Nursing withdrew funding for half of its HSCL Liaison position. Retaining current level of faculty support will require an additional $35,750.

IMPACT: Maintains current number of faculty to sustain current client services.

Summary of Recurring Expenses for Integration

Description and 2009-2010 Funding Required
  • Electronic Reserves – Assure Copyright Compliance ($6,000)
  • Interlibrary Loan – Eliminate Fees to UF Students/Faculty ($7,000)
  • Development Officer - Half Time ($53,000)
  • Technology Costs – Internet Port Fees ($42,000)
  • Market Equity for HSCL Staff ($100,457)
  • Replace Lost Funding for Current Faculty ($35,750)
TOTAL: $244,207

There is also a non-recurring expense of $85,000 to install electronic locks [Already funded by Provost].

Summary of the Impact of Integration

Description and Impact
  • Public Services: No impact on client services
  • Interlibrary Loan & E- Reserves: Free access to CRL collections; enhanced ILL and e-Reserves; new copyright clearance service; lower fees for ILL
  • Development & Grants: Development support; improved grant support
  • HR & Finance: No impact on client services; Frees HSCL staff for other work
  • Technology Costs: Enhance technology for delivery services to HSCL clientele
  • Facilities: Additional support for major projects and facilities planning
  • Market Equity for HSCL Staff: Consistent staffing structure with equitable salaries
  • Staffing: Maintain current faculty levels to sustain client services

Integration Planning Process

In January, the Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL) and the Smathers Libraries set up nine Integration Work Groups to plan for the implementation of President Machen directive that the HSCL integrate into the Smathers Libraries. Each Work Group was composed of representatives for both Smathers and HSCL.

The nine Work Groups were:
  • Administrative Services, including human resources and fiscal services;
  • Access Support, including interlibrary loan, circulation, electronic reserves and library-wide policies
  • Budget Preparation, identifying the costs of integration and the appropriate future funding for the HSCL;
  • Development, including grant support and public relations;
  • Digital Services, including institutional repositories
  • Facilities;
  • Public Services, including collection management;
  • Systems; and
  • Technical Services, including acquisitions, cataloging, preservation and storage.
The work groups met during January and February, reviewed their work flows and made recommendations to Wallace McLendon, Director of the Health Science Center Libraries and Judy Russell, Dean of University Libraries, who then developed a preliminary integration plan.

GOAL: Integration of the Health Science Center Libraries into the Smathers Libraries

On October 13, 2008, University of Florida President Machen directed that Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL) and Smathers Libraries "integrate their budgets and reporting structures, …[while] HSCL retains autonomy to serve the needs of its clients." The integration will take place by July 1, 2009.

An overriding goal of the HSCL–Smathers integration is to ensure that services to our users are not compromised. Moreover, it is hoped that work efficiencies and service quality will improve an a result of integration.

This blog will serve as a means to share information about the integration plans, as well as to receive and respond to questions and comments.