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Align with the University’s defining themes of
innovation, engagement, internationalisation and global development to
support the wider Monash community. Improve services through
co-operative arrangements.
Supporting Monash students and staff in
Monash affiliated hospitals and other teaching and research locations
Providing quality library services to the Faculty
of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences staff and students is one of
the more complicated challenges for the Library, due to scattered and
ever-increasing numbers of clinical placement locations. Increased
student numbers and the clinical placement requirements of new courses
such as Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Monash Medical School
Malaysia contributed to growth and complexity in 2006.
The Library continued to acquire books and some
print journals to support Monash students at teaching hospitals
throughout Victoria, while the range of electronic resources,
including e-books, continued to grow. The total number of titles
purchased for hospitals in 2006 was 1,380. Electronic information is
available to staff and students at all locations, including overseas
campuses and clinical schools. The Library provides funding for
library services in all of the faculty’s major teaching hospitals,
including:
- The Alfred Hospital
- Monash Medical Centre
- Box Hill Hospital
- Latrobe Regional Hospital.
A range of other services are also offered to
support hospitals and students. In 2006 these included:
- The Hargrave-Andrew Library processed over 1,000 items
no longer required by hospitals; 700 last copies were retained and the
remaining multiple copies discarded.
- For the first time, third year MBBS Evidence Based
Medicine tutorials for Monash Medical Centre groups were held at the
Hargrave-Andrew Library in the refurbished training spaces.
- Off-campus library services to third and fourth year
students in country hospitals were offered as a permanent service.
- The Library-initiated consultant’s report for the
Faculty made recommendations on providing library services for Monash
University Malaysia Medical School, and this was used to inform
library services for students relocating to the clinical school in
Johor Bahru in 2007.
To facilitate the coordination of library
services provided by the hospital libraries the Director, Client
Services, Science Health and Engineering convenes the Hospital
Librarians Committee, which meets three times a year. Library staff
have also been members of the Infrastructure and Information
Technology Working Groups planning for the graduate medical course in
Gippsland. An initial information meeting of Gippsland hospital
librarians with the Director Gippsland Regional Clinical School and a
medical subject librarian from Clayton was also convened. Librarians
for the faculty team for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
regularly present information literacy tutorials for Monash University
staff and students located in the hospitals and represent the
University on hospital library committees such as:
- The Southern Health Library Network Committee
- The Ian Potter Advisory Committee
- The Ian Potter Management Committee.
Innovative partnership with Bethlehem Hospital
The Library’s External Client Services department
entered into a partnership with Calvary Health Care Bethlehem
providing the hospital with access to searches, articles and books
from Monash University Library for a monthly fee. Under the scheme
hospital staff can request literature searches, ask for reference
help, check Monash’s catalogue online and request document delivery
services.
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Supporting overseas campuses and
partnerships
Combined library and learning commons
facilities in Malaysia and South Africa
Monash University Library in Australia continued
to provide advice and assistance with the selection and training of
staff and provision of information resources to Monash Malaysia and
South African campuses. The Director, Information Systems and the
Library Planning Executive visited Monash South Africa to assist with
Library staff selection, planning for the opening of the new Library
and Learning Commons in 2007, and to report on the implementation of
outcomes from the review of Monash South Africa Library services
undertaken in 2005.
The Director, Information Systems visited Monash
Malaysia to assist with staff selection, both for Sunway campus and
for Johor Bahru. The Library welcomed Jefrina Jamaluddin, Client
Services Librarian at Monash Malaysia, for a two week visit in
September to familiarise herself with the library's offerings and
resources in Victoria, to assess how relevant resources can be
incorporated into the Library's offerings in Malaysia and to meet with
Directors to discuss the implementation of the learning commons.
Monash Malaysia Library also planned and started the implementation of
its own version of the Library’s integrated library management system.
Providing services as appropriate to
Monash partner organisations and commercial operations on campus
The Library’s External Client Services department
provides tailored library skills classes and support to over 3,000
students enrolled each year in specialist courses at Monash College.
These students generally have limited English skills and little
experience in research methods, and have benefited from sessions
developed specifically to meet their needs.
After investigating patterns of use of the
Library by Monash College Diploma students in 2005, it was agreed that
External Client Services would begin providing library skills classes
to students commencing the Diploma course in 2006. In the past these
students had been expected to enrol in standard library classes
provided for undergraduates, but as they generally did not attend this
resulted in a heavier load upon library service points. The Library
now provides classes in Monash College computer laboratories as part
of student orientation, lessening the impact of these students on
library teaching resources at the Sir Louis Matheson Library.
In total, External Client Services provided 116
classes to Monash College Diploma, Bridging and Introductory Academic
Program students during 2006, plus various tours and extra support to
teachers and small groups from Monash Academy. This figure shows an
increase of 34 classes over the previous year.
Supporting alumni access to Monash
resources
The Library is continually reassessing our offer
to Monash alumni with a view to increasing access to material,
including building the range of database access available to alumni.
The Library now offers a range of resources, both print and
electronic, including large electronic databases such as Expanded
Academic and ProQuest.
At the beginning of 2006, a decision was approved
to vary membership fees for alumni. The Library now has a two-tier
membership which allows for borrowing only rights, or access to both
borrowing and a range of electronic resources for a higher fee. The
Library provided 486 alumni memberships in 2006, a figure similar to
the total for 2005. Borrowing only memberships totalled 273, while 213
new members opted for the higher tier of membership which includes
access to selected electronic databases. |
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Sarah Kiribrige,
Campus Librarian, in front of the new Monash South Africa Library
building in October
Jefrina
Jamaluddin, Client Services Librarian, at Monash Malaysia, visited the
Matheson Library in September |
