Suburban Hospital Medical Library provides services for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other allied health professionals. Among the library's patrons are students from local medical schools and colleges specializing in training for health professions. Students and professionals have expressed the desire for more extensive access to the library's resources. The Medical Library of Suburban Hospital is dedicated to increasing its holdings and strengthening its services for its users. Currently, the hospital library provides three computer CD-ROM databases for end users: MEDLINE, HEALTH, and CINAHL; and is linked to three on-line database vendors: DIALOG, BRS, and MEDLARS. Plans call for the purchase of a fourth CD-ROM database. The hospital provides a quarterly newsletter to update patrons on new services available and new additions to the library collection. Current equipment and software was purchased partially by the hospital, and partially by the medical staff. The purpose of the grant is to further upgrade the library computers through the purchase of an integrated library system. This system is a logical outgrowth of the library's increased use of technology and will enable computer access of resources by library patrons. A key feature of this system is a computerized catalog of the library's holdings. Other features include circulation management, serials management, report generation, and network capabilities. In-addition to offering access to the catalog in the library itself, users with modem equipped personal computers will be able to access the library's catalog from home or office. The current system is a card catalog, which lists books only, and requires the user to manually search for information and resources. This time consuming process will be eliminated with the purchase of the integrated library system. The integrated library system will expedite user searches for important resources and, because of modem capabilities, eliminate the barriers imposed by time and place.
