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CHRC News
Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1998
Announcing the Consumer Health Reference Center at
Treadwell Library, Massachusetts General Hospital
Welcome to the first issue of the Consumer
Health Reference Center newsletter!
Contract Awarded
The Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners (MBLC) recently awarded
the Consumer Health Reference Center
contract to the Treadwell Library at
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
This first, brief issue of our newsletter is to
introduce the Treadwell Library and the
Consumer Health Reference Center.
The Consumer Health Reference
Center
The MBLC?s Strategic Plan for the Future
of Libraries in Massachusetts calls for the
statewide provision of value-added
services to all libraries that are members of
the six new multi-type regional library
systems for the benefit of the residents of
the Commonwealth.
The plan identifies the provision of access
to reference, research and information
centers that specialize in health, business
and legal information as one of the most
important and visible of these value added
services. To provide access to consumer
health information resources the
Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners has contracted with the
Treadwell Library to be the Consumer
Health Reference Center for
Massachusetts.
The Consumer Health Reference Center is
available to all member libraries of the
regional library systems who are seeking
consumer health information to answer
user queries when local or regional
resources have not been able to meet the
needs.
The Treadwell Library
Treadwell Library is the health sciences
library at the Massachusetts General
Hospital in Boston.
It is the largest hospital library in New
England and also one of the oldest hospital
libraries in the country -- celebrating its
150th birthday last October.
The library has eight professional
librarians and twelve support staff. Our
rich biomedical collection is comprised of
1,065 journal titles, 15,000 books, 35,000
bound journal volumes and electronic and
web-based databases. Also included in our
collection are many patient education and
consumer health materials.
Consumer Health Reference Center
Services
The Consumer Health Reference Center
offers a variety of services which are
outlined below. As this project is just
beginning, some services are still under
development.
Reference Services
The CHRC provides mediated reference
services to library staff at all regional
member libraries. Reference services are
intended to supplement your local and
regional resources when local or regional
resources have not been able to meet the
needs.
How to Contact us:
Phone: 1-877-MEDI REF (toll free)
1-877-633-4733
This will connect you directly to a
reference librarian.
Reference librarians are available from
9:00AM-5:00PM, Monday to Friday.
Voicemail will be used to accept queries
on nights and weekends.
You may also contact us by:
Fax: (617) 726-6784
Email: askus@medex.mgh.harvard.edu
Mail: Treadwell Library
Bartlett Hall Extension 1
MGH, 55 Fruit St.
Boston, MA 02114
Reference Queries:
Some examples of reference queries:
information on diseases, medications,
surgical procedures, hot topics and
alternative therapies, a quick search of the
medical or nursing literature, and clearing-
house referral information.
Turnaround Time:
During regular week-day hours we aim to
provide answers within 24 hours.
Continuing Education and Training
Workshops
Planning is underway for a half-day
continuing education and training
workshop to be held in each region later
this year. Details of times and locations
will be announced.
Quarterly Newsletter
Future issues of the newsletter will focus
on consumer health resources and tips for
providing consumer health information.
Publication dates are July, October,
January and April.
Let us know if you have any ideas or
suggestions for content.
Articles, news, book reviews, web site
reviews, or any other information relevant
to consumer health information are most
welcome and can be sent to CHRC News
by fax, email or mail to the addresses
below.
Web Page -- Coming Soon!
A web page with links to evaluated
consumer health resources is coming soon.
This will be available through the
Massachusetts Library and Information
Network (MLIN) home page at:
http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us
We will let you know when it?s available.
How to Reach Us
Phone: 1-877-MEDI REF (toll free)
1-877-633-4733
(617) 726-8600
Fax: (617) 726-6784
Email: askus@medex.mgh.harvard.edu
Mail: Treadwell Library,
Bartlett Hall Extension 1
Massachusetts General Hospital
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114
Web: Coming soon!
Useful Treadwell Library
Information
Our online catalog, MAGIC, is at:
telnet://magic.mgh.harvard.edu
Our home page is at:
http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/library/library.htm
Check it out! Here you will find many
biomedical resources, including some
consumer links. Remember, there will be a
separate Consumer Health Reference
Center home page.
The Consumer Health Reference
Center?s Relationship with Boston
Public Library, the Statewide
Reference and Referral Center
Under the authority of Massachusetts
General Laws, Chapter 78, Section 19C,
the Boston Public Library (BPL), serves as
the Statewide Reference and Referral
Center. The BPL plays a unique and
special role in the provision of statewide
supplemental reference and research
services for reference requests that cannot
be met by the contracting libraries who
serve as the Regional Library Systems'
Regional Reference Centers. BPL's
telephone reference and departmental
reference specialists handle mediated
reference queries directly from both the
Regional Reference Center and individual
local libraries through a prescribed and
mutually agreed upon set of procedures.
As part of BPL's Journal Document
Delivery Service, BPL will provide copies
of articles for verified citations at no
charge to libraries who members of
the Regional Library Systems. This may
include the provision of articles cited by
the Consumer Health Reference Center in
response to a question they are addressing.
We are delighted to be the
Consumer Health Reference Center for Massachusetts
and are looking forward to helping you
help your users.
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CHRC Contact Information
Tel: 1-877-MEDI-REF (1-877-633-4733)
or 617-726-8600
Fax: 617-726-6784
E-mail:
treadwellqanda@partners.org
or treadwellqanda@partners.org
Consumer Health Reference Center
Treadwell Library
Bartlett Hall Extension 1
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA 02114.
http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/library/chrcindex.html
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