Director's Desk

As the academic year draws to a close, it is a good time to reflect on the Library’s activities over the past year. Himmelfarb has seen physical change as the first and third floors have been renovated and rearranged to provide additional collaborative workspace, improved onsite access to electronic resources, and new student lounge space. The Library’s collections themselves have become increasingly electronic with the decision to transition to a primarily electronic serials collection. January 2006 saw the introduction of full-text access back to 1995 for Elsevier journal titles held by Himmelfarb. Bound journals older than 1981 have been moved offsite to the WRLC storage center, and current journals shelved with bound titles. Access to Refworks, a web-based bibliography and database manager, is now available to all Medical Center faculty, staff and students. Reflecting the widespread interest in copyright and open access, Himmelfarb launched a scholarly publishing web page to provide faculty with a means of staying current on these important issues. What does the future hold? While the usual activities of reference, reserves, and collection development will continue, a major goal for the upcoming academic year is improved access to electronic resources. Library liaisons will be calling departments to request the opportunity to review what electronic resources are available to faculty and how to access these resources from on- and off-campus. Student orientations and workshops will focus increasingly on electronic resources within targeted subject areas. The library’s web page is being redesigned both to make it easier to identify what resources are available and to facilitate access to electronic resources. Himmelfarb librarians and staff have worked hard to create a strong electronic collection. We look forward to working with you in the year ahead to ensure that this collection is user-friendly and accessible. Please call (202-994-1826) or e-mail (mlbaml@gwumc.edu) me with any questions or feedback on our collection.

Anne Linton, Director, Library Services