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Rethinking Selective Dissemination of Information
(SDI) Service in the Digital Age
Shannon Mueller, MLIS - Library Intern
Peggy Westlake, MLS - Assistant Director, Staff Training and Quality Assurance
Nunzia B. Giuse, MD, MLS, AHIP -Director
Eskind Biomedical Library,Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN
Purpose: To evaluate the relevancy of an ongoing Selective
Dissemination of Information (SDI) service for research faculty
in a changing library environment that provides off-site access
to numerous electronic current awareness resources.
Setting/Participants/Resources: Delivery of SDIs to
research faculty in a large academic medical center.
Brief Description: Treasured by researchers, SDIs of
the early 1970s were performed by specially trained librarians
who used "command language" to search MEDLINE through a terminal
device connected through a direct dial phone nestled in a coupler.
Armed with a thermal paper printer at 10 characters per second
and a watchful eye on connect rates, librarians produced customized
bibliographies to meet researcher's specifications. In 1972,
when libraries housed only print collections and only 150 libraries
had access to MEDLINE, a researcher's access to up-to-date
targeted information was only by the librarian's SDI service
or weekly visits to the library to scan the latest Current
Contents. Thirty-one years later, in an environment of ever-increasing
access to automatic current awareness and electronic alerting
services, is the Eskind Library's SDI service still relevant?
Ten randomly selected researchers currently subscribed to Eskind's
SDI service will be phone surveyed on the relevance of their
current awareness packets. Based on responses, researchers
will be further questioned on their knowledge and degree of
comfort with existing current awareness tools available to
them such as the library's digital library, Cubby in PubMed,
ISI's Current Contents Connect, individual journal or database
e-alerts, and others. Training in these alternatives will be
offered to researchers based upon need.
Results/Outcome: Due to the proliferation of targeted,
just-in-time and point-of-need current awareness tools available
outside the library's walls, Eskind's SDI service needs to
shift to provide education and consulting regarding available
current awareness tools instead of packets.
Evaluation Method: Follow-up phone calls to researchers
will determine satisfaction.
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Copyright ©1997-2005
Southern Chapter/Medical Library Association,
Inc.
For questions or comments about this page, contact sdenlinger@georgiasouthern.edu
Last modified July 18, 2005 |
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