Establishing On-Site Library Services at a Recently Developed Regional Medical Campus
Session Format
In-person Full Paper Presentation
Conference Tracks
Library Instruction and Instruction Design; Outreach, Services, and Programs
Short Description
The Penn State College of Medicine has a recently developed regional medical campus located 100 miles north of the main medical campus. This regional campus utilizes a unique clinically-based active-learning curriculum, different from the main medical campus’ traditional curriculum. Thus, the Harrell Health Sciences Library has employed an experienced medical librarian as the solo librarian at regional campus. This paper discusses the planning step involved for proving library services at the regional medical campus, the development of information literacy training, the coordination of collection development, and on-site steps for ensuring comparability of services between the different medical curricula.
Long Description
The Penn State College of Medicine opened its only regional medical campus in the Fall of 2012, as a clinical campus for 3rd and 4th year medical students. The regional medical campus is located 100 miles north of the main medical campus, but less than a mile away from the main university campus. In July of 2017, the campus was expanded into a full four year medical campus. It utilizes a unique clinically-based active-learning curriculum, sans any required textbooks. This curriculum significantly differs from the traditional curriculum offered at the main medical campus. Thus, these students require a different set of information needs. Therefore, the Harrell Health Sciences Library has employed the regional campus’ first solo librarian, beginning a month after the expansion. This paper will detail the steps that both health sciences library and the regional campus librarian have undertaken in providing library services to this group of medical students. Topics that will be covered include the on-going development of information literacy training, coordinating collection development, and ensuring comparability of services between the college’s different medical curricula. The presenter will also provide a comparison and contrast of the steps used to start up a new medical school versus a new regional medical campus, based on his prior five years of experience as the founding medical librarian at a start-up medical school, Central Michigan University.
Learning Objectives
- Understanding the planning steps necessary to set up library services for a recently developed regional medical campus, staffed with a solo librarian.
- Application of the librarian’s role in serving a clinically-based active-learning curriculum, with the focus on instituting an effective information literacy program.
- Analysis of a start-up on-site library collection, in comparison to the health sciences library’s and the university libraries’ collections.
- The coordination of access to locally available learning resources, in order to maintain curriculum comparability with the main medical campus.
Establishing On-Site Library Services at a Recently Developed Regional Medical Campus
The Penn State College of Medicine opened its only regional medical campus in the Fall of 2012, as a clinical campus for 3rd and 4th year medical students. The regional medical campus is located 100 miles north of the main medical campus, but less than a mile away from the main university campus. In July of 2017, the campus was expanded into a full four year medical campus. It utilizes a unique clinically-based active-learning curriculum, sans any required textbooks. This curriculum significantly differs from the traditional curriculum offered at the main medical campus. Thus, these students require a different set of information needs. Therefore, the Harrell Health Sciences Library has employed the regional campus’ first solo librarian, beginning a month after the expansion. This paper will detail the steps that both health sciences library and the regional campus librarian have undertaken in providing library services to this group of medical students. Topics that will be covered include the on-going development of information literacy training, coordinating collection development, and ensuring comparability of services between the college’s different medical curricula. The presenter will also provide a comparison and contrast of the steps used to start up a new medical school versus a new regional medical campus, based on his prior five years of experience as the founding medical librarian at a start-up medical school, Central Michigan University.
Comments
For more information on the Penn State College of Medicine University Park Curriculum, please see https://med.psu.edu/md/university-park
The presenter is one of the co-chairs of the Proposal Review Committee. He will excuse himself from discussions specific to the acceptance/rejection of this submission.