University of Puerto Rico

Medical Sciences Campus

Conrado F. Asenjo Library
http://rcm-libary.rcm.upr.edu

SUMMARY
SELF-STUDY REPORT
2001-02 TO 2006-07

According to the Standards of the

Association of College and Research Libraries

Self Study Committee

Prof. Victoria Delgado Aponte
Library Director

Prof. Irma Quiñones

Evaluation Project Coordinator

Prof. Nilca Parrilla

Prof. Francisca Corrada
Mrs. Evelyn Acevedo
Miss. Verónica Guevara

March 2008
 Table of Contents

Introduction .......................................... 4

Project Background .................................... 7

Self-Study Process .................................... 9

Medical Sciences Campus Library ....................... 10

ACRL Standards ........................................ 11

Planning .......................................... 11

Assessment ........................................ 21

Assessment Results ................................ 22

Services .......................................... 24

Instruction ....................................... 30

Bibliographic Resources ........................... 32

Access ............................................ 39

Human Resources ................................... 44

Physical Facilities ............................... 47

Communication and Cooperation ..................... 49

Administration .................................... 52

Budget ............................................ 55

General Recommendations ............................... 56

2
 Introduction

University of Puerto Rico

The University of Puerto Rico, established in 1903, is

the largest public institution in Puerto Rico. It has a

reputation for academic excellence. The University has

eleven autonomous campuses spread through the island with

an enrollment of 69,000 students. It is considered the most

selective and complete university in Puerto Rico. The three

mayor campuses are Mayagüez, Río Piedras and Medical

Sciences. These three campuses offer both undergraduate and

graduate education. The other campuses are: Aguadilla,

Arecibo, Bayamón, Carolina, Cayey, Humacao, Ponce and

Utuado. These campuses offer undergraduate education.

The chief executive officer of the System is the

President. Each campus is headed by a Chancellor as chief

administrator. The Board of Trustees is the governing body

of the University. Its membership consists of ten private

citizens who represent the public interest in higher

education. Two other members are faculty representative and

a student.

The University Board consists of the President of the

University, the eleven campuses chancellors, a financial

director, three additional members appointed by the

President with the approval of the Board of Trustees, one

3
faculty representative from each Academic Senate and one

student representative from each unit.

Medical Sciences Campus

The name of Medical Sciences Campus was first heard of

in 1966 and its building was constructed in 1972 near the

Medical Center. It has the only specialized schools in

Puerto Rico. It is the unit of the University of Puerto

Rico “charged with the responsibility of training health

professionals needed by the Puerto Rican Community”. It is

composed by six schools: School of Medicine, School of

Pharmacy, School of Dentistry, Graduate School of Public

Health, School of Health Professions and School of Nursing,

which all together stand out and provide the most important

clinical and research the leadership in the Island. The

Campus has three support Deanships: Administration,

Students and Academic Affairs. It has over 2,000 full-time

employees (546 faculty members and 1,454 non-faculty

employees) and a student population of approximately 3,000.

The Campus Mission and Vision reads as follows:

Mission

The Medical Sciences Campus is the unit of the state's

university system which principal mission is to develop the

human resources that will form the interdisciplinary team

4
to promote and maintain the best conditions of

puertorrican's health. Is a multidisciplinary center that

its institutional peculiarity brings the responsibility of

assume the leadership in the teaching and in the research

of the dominant health conditions in Puerto Rico. It

compound three dimensions of complementary activity:

Education, Research and Service.

(Certification #071, Academic Senate, 2003-04)

Vision

Institution and interdisciplinary center with

international renown and prestige dedicated to the superior

education on health sciences, the development of new

knowledge and models of assistance of health services in

Puerto Rico.

(Certification #24, Academic Senate, 1997-98)

The diversity of services, complexity and forefront

coverage in the health area have made the Medical Sciences

Campus responsible of superior education in every subject

it covers. This positions us as a leader in research,

service and clinical aspects and assures our mission of

teaching and better the health of the people of Puerto Rico

and presents us as forefront professionals in the world.

5
 Project Background

Since 1998, UNESCO has maintained that:

Quality in higher education is a multidimensional

concept that should embrace all its functions and

activities--teaching and academic programs, research and

scholarships, staffing, students, buildings, facilities,

equipment, and services in the community and the academic

environment. Internal self-assessment and external review,

conducted openly by independent specialists, if possible

with international expertise, are vital for enhancing

quality. Independent national entities should be

established and internationally recognized comparative

standards of quality should be defined.

In keeping with international trends in higher

education, the Administration of the University presents

its work agenda in the document “Diez para la Década” (Ten

for the Decade) and, as an initiative of the President of

the University of Puerto Rico, Antonio García Padilla, an

assessment was undertaken in 2007 by different professional

organizations, including the Library, to accredit the

academic programs. The initiative of the president and the

Board of Trustees is presented in Certifications Nos. 136

(2003) and 138 (2004), which establish that it is necessary

to promote and maintain the accreditation of the academic

6
programs and services that require accreditation. The

University of Puerto Rico’s Administration has made efforts

to promote collaboration between the campuses to make

better use of their resources. For the past three years,

the University has been focusing on the process of

systematic evaluation of its programs and services to

promote evaluation and assessment culture.

An evaluation process for the professional

accreditation of academic programs, including libraries,

began in 2004. It was an initiative of the President of the

University of Puerto Rico, Lic. Antonio García Padilla.

The document Ten for the Decade, explains the

background of this presidential initiative. This effort was

ratified by the UPR’s Board of Trustees (Certifications

number 136 (2003) and 138 (2004). It established the

promotion and maintenance of accreditation for those

academic programs and services in which accreditation is

essential. The University Administration stated that all

libraries of the University of Puerto Rico System should

participate in an evaluation process.

In the summer of 2005, Dr. Julia Vélez was designated

as Evaluation Project Coordinator for the UPR System

libraries. In addition to this, a Facilitating System

Committee, as other subcommittees were constituted among

7
the UPR’s System libraries. The committees and

subcommittees developed evaluation guidelines and

instruments. The model used by the UPR for its libraries

evaluation includes indicators. Some of them were taken

from Spain Libraries Quality Certification, which are based

in both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.

Among the activities we participated in were

orientation and professional growth activities, the

communication flow and collaboration among the eleven units

and the UPR’s Central Administration in everything related

to the libraries’ evaluation.

Self-Study Process

The Conrado F. Asenjo Library like all the other

libraries of the UPR System, use as its Self-Study

guidelines the standards established by The Association of

College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a professional

association of academic librarians and other interested

individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of

academic library and information professionals to serve the

information needs of the higher education community and to

improve learning, teaching, and research. ACRL is the

largest division of the American Library Association (ALA).

This professional organization provides a broad range of

8
professional services and programs for a diverse

membership.

The library Director Professor Victoria Delgado

designated Professor Irma Quiñones as the self study

project coordinator. She also established an evaluation

committee. The members are: Prof. Francisca Corrada, Prof.

Nilca Parrilla, Ms Evelyn Acevedo and Ms Verónica Guevara.

This Committee met regularly some of the group activities

were: answer the standards questions, conduct three

surveys, gather and collect evidence and discuss findings.

Medical Sciences Campus Library

The Conrado F. Asenjo Library of the University of

Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, is the main health

sciences information resource in the Island. It contains

one of the most complete collections of its kind in the

Caribbean. This Library offers a full range of services to

students and faculty of the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry,

Public Health, Pharmacy, Nursing, and the College of Health

Related Professions.

Its resources and services are available to the

Medical Center Hospitals personnel as well as to the

University of Puerto Rico’s Hospital at Carolina. It also

serves practicing health professionals and the community at

9
large. The library is committed to excellence in service

and lifelong learning.

ACRL Standards

1. Planning

It is extremely important for Library administration

and staff to plan their services and functions. The

principal purpose of planning is to establish the mission,

vision, goals, objectives, strategies, and actions to be

taken. It is an organized and coherent effort to achieve

the Library’s goals with its resources and needs. The

emphasis on organization and planning is evident in

different documents, such as:

• Policies and procedures for developing and

maintaining the Library collection – Revised in

January 2008

• Manual of Procedures for the Serial Publications

Section. 2006

• Manual of Procedures for Special Collections

• Procedures for Inter-Library Loans of the Medical

Sciences Campus

• Virtual Reference Service Policy-2007

• Policy for the evaluation and development of the

Reference Collection

10
 • Mission, Goals, and Classification System of the

Historic Archives of the Conrado F. Asenjo

Library

• Evacuation Plan for the Conrado F. Asenjo Library

2002

• Plan of Action in case of a partial shutdown of

the air conditioning system in the Library -2006

• Annual Work Plans

• Strategic Library Plan

• Library Assessment Plan

Library’s vision and mission statements serve as a

framework for its activities.

From 2005-2006, the teaching staff of the Library

underwent a formal revision of the Library’s mission and

vision. Both of these were discussed with the rest of the

staff.

The Library of the Medical Sciences Campus has the

following vision:

ƒ To be the heart of the Medical Sciences Campus

academic and research activities by meeting the

information needs of our users in a dynamic and

innovative way.

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 Our mission reads as follows:

ƒ We are a public academic library specialized in

health sciences dedicated to meeting the

information needs of the academic community of

the Medical Sciences Campus, the professionals

who work in public health in Puerto Rico, and the

general public. We actively participate in the

teaching, learning, and research processes,

providing health services and promoting patient

health by providing access to sources of quality

information and by educating users on how to

access and make critical use of the information.

In order to achieve our mission, we have

bibliographic, educational, and personnel resources that

facilitate and promote access to information and learning.

This mission was drafted to serve as the pivotal point in

offering our services. An analysis of the mission was

conducted. (Appendix 1.13)

After undertaking a brainstorming process, we also

drafted the values of the library. We are committed to

excellence through:

ƒ Satisfying the information needs of our users in

a dynamic and innovative way.

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 ƒ Educating users on how to access and make

critical use of the information.

ƒ Providing access to sources of quality

information that promotes health services and

health care.

ƒ Being an integral part of the teaching-learning

and research processes of the Medical Sciences

Campus.

We subscribe to the Library Bill of Rights,

established by the American Library Association (ALA),

particularly with regard to:

ƒ Offering free access to information and fostering

the development of ideas.

ƒ Providing materials and information presenting

all points of view.

ƒ Not excluding anyone from our services because of

race, color, sexual orientation, gender, birth,

age, physical or mental disability, ethnic

origin, or social conditions, or because of

political or religious ideas.

ƒ Opposing any type of censorship.

The mission and goals are compatible and consistent

with those developed by the Medical Sciences Campus and in

compliance with the University’s Administration goals and

13
objectives as expressed in the Ten for the decade working

document:

Goal Objectives Library Activity

TO DEVELOP AN To encourage, in a Librarians and

ACADEMIC CULTURE sustained way ad classroom

OF CURRENCY, without undue professors engage

EXPERIMENTATION, administrative in team teaching

AND RENEWAL paperwork and activities.

delay, alternative

forms of teaching, Make efforts to

among them increase the

experiential number of faculty

learning integrating

(internships, information

practice, etc.), literacy in the

on-line courses, teaching/learning

and team-teaching. process.

To provide the Develop strategies

tools needed for to increase

professional availability of

development, library resources

especially with and proficiency in

14
respect to the use of library

updating the resources.

faculty’s

teaching-learning

methodologies.

To foster more Support access to

efficient databases,

connections journals with full

between library text articles and

systems and audiovisual

academic systems; resources.

in order to do

this, to develop

clear and workable

policies on

collections

development and to

formulate more

effective

protocols for

communication,

consultation, the

15
 utilization and

circulation of

information

resources,

acquisitions, and

interlibrary

loans.

COMPETITIVE To encourage the Provide access to

RESEARCH, production of databases and

INVESTIGATION, AND researchers and information to

CREATIVE WORK investigators in develop and

theoretical and support research

applied (ISI Web of

disciplines by Science and

providing them Science Direct

with adequate (Elsevier)

equipment,

exposure, working

conditions, and

administrative

support.

16
 To strengthen the Provide several

university services to

community’s researchers and

publishing, support access to

particularly in information and

juried and peer- knowledge (peer

reviewed journals. review journals).

STRENGTHENED To create To develop unique

INSTITUTIONAL appropriate access digital

IDENTITY to information on collections.

the research and These collections

investigation are located in the

taking place in Puerto Rican

the university and Collection.

to make this Living access to

information these unique

available to all collections will

units within the be a contribution

system, to to the Puerto Rico

government offices health science

and agencies, to history and

industry, to voluble

professional information

17
 individuals and resource for the

organization in public health in

and outside Puerto Latin America and

Rico, and to other the Caribbean.

institutions of

higher education

throughout the

world.

Assessment of the quality and effectiveness of the

library is linked closely with the specific mission and

goals of the institution.

Formal planning procedures and methods, such as

strategic planning, are used frequently. The library is

continuously involved in a planning process and in the

revision of those plans whenever it is necessary. The

library Director and Department supervisors have

incorporated planning activities in each section. It is

also important that librarians participate in the

institutional planning process through permanent

committees.

The library also participates in the campus Strategic

Plan process as well as in the Institutional Assessment

Plan. However, we admit that library’s inclusion in both

18
documents is limited because it includes only partial

aspects of the library’s purpose. It is only visualized as

a resources data base and it has not been integrated

equitably in all its functions.

As librarians who participate in these institutional

committees we have an opportunity and a challenge to see

that the library is included in all its worth as an

integral part of these plans. These processes require

dedication, effort and openness.

We concur with Chandra’s (1975)1 definition in which

participation is a constant discussion of the issues over

which it is necessary to decide, finally resulting in the

adoption of a course of action. It is a continuous process

in which to give and obtain information is essential and

constitutes one of the first steps to follow.

One of the greatest strengths of our planning process is

that we developed a mission and a vision that are

compatible with those of the Campus. They are published on

the Library web page. Librarians participate in the

planning process through standing committees.

(Institutional assessment, CIPE, FRC, and others).

1
Chandra, R. (1975). Student participation in administration.
New Delhi: Sterling Publishers.

19
Nevertheless, we understand that we must make a greater

effort to disseminate our plans, including strategic areas.

2. Assessment

The Conrado F. Asenjo Library’s assessment and

evaluation process takes into consideration the changing

rhythm of the academic year. Evaluation involves several

techniques and is an ongoing process.

The Library has begun to develop an assessment

culture. We have a tradition of compilation and analysis of

data that contributes to this culture development.

The Library has carried out diverse efforts in this field

and is continually planning and preparing themselves in

this line of work. The Librarian in charge of the

evaluation’s project belongs to the UPR Institutional

Assessment Committee.

Diverse quantitative and qualitative nature activities

take place in Conrado F. Asenjo Library to estimate the

effectiveness of services such as statistics compilation,

questionnaires and Workshop evaluation sheets, among

others. The Strategic Plan as well as the Operational Plan

contains indicators to evaluate its effectiveness.

However, the assessment processes had not been

systematized. Strength in the process consists in a

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designated librarian in charge of the assessment processes

of the library unit.

As part of our work plan an analysis will begin to

assess which are the necessary and essential statistics for

our assessment process.

Also, the qualitative sources we will be using will

be identified in the process. In addition, we will

reinitiate our participation in the Association of Academic

Health Sciences Libraries Survey.

3. Assessment Results

Outcomes assessment increasingly measures and affect how

library goals and objectives are achieved. It addresses the

accountability of institutions of higher education for

student achievement and cost effectiveness. It takes into

consideration libraries greater dependence on technology,

the increasing use of online services, the growing

responsibility to provide information literacy skills, the

increasing reliance on consortial services, the

possibilities of dwindling financial resources for

collection development, and new developments in the ways in

which scholarly information is published and distributed.

The Library has been able to establish ongoing

collaboration with several professors from different

21
faculties and schools in order to formally integrate the

teaching of information access skills into their courses.

As a result, workshops or talks have been integrated into

the syllabuses of different courses, placing special

attention on research courses and courses that require

intensive use of information. In many of these cases, what

is learned in the activities offered by the library staff

forms part of the evaluation requirements of the course. The

following are some of the strengths of the process:

• The director of the library has ensured that

staff learns more about the library’s mission and

vision.

• A librarian was put in charge of the evaluation

process of the unit.

• Both the strategic and work plans (Appendices

1.10 and 1.11) contain indicators to evaluate the

library’s efficiency.

Some of the areas of development include:

• The results of the assessment process have not

been systematized.

• The statistics necessary and essential to

complete our assessment process have not been

identified.

22
 As part of our work plan, we will begin to analyze the

statistics we gather. We will also identify the sources of

qualitative information that we will continue to use.

4. Services

The library establishes, promotes, maintains and

evaluates a range of quality services that support the

institution’s mission and goals. The library provides

competent and prompt assistance for its users. Hours of

access to the library are reasonable and convenient for its

users. Reference and other special assistance are available

at times when the institution’s primary users most need

them.

Reference inquiries

2005-2006 2006-2007 %

Directional 207 264 28

Information 1,517 1865 23

Phone 300 345 15

Fax 80 104 30

e-mail 374 321 -14

Referral 41 40 -2

TOTAL 2,519 2,939 17

23
 There has been a 14% reduction in e-mail questions.

This can be a consequence of the virtual reference service.

As we can see Academic libraries are undergoing

organizational changes. One area that libraries are

examining in the light of changing roles and expectations

is the concept of liaison services to teaching faculty2. The

Medical Sciences Campus Library is not an exception. The

library director assigns librarians who serve as liaisons

with the different Programs. It is through their

participation that they maintain a close relationship with

the faculty and their information’s needs. In fulfillment

of their responsibility they keep informed of curricular

changes, course’s revisions, creation of new courses,

program accreditation self-study processes and other

curricular proposals. The liaisons activities help the

library to provide services and resources to fulfill the

faculty and curricular information needs. Liaison

librarians in coordination with the programs faculty revise

and evaluate periodically the collections, in order to keep

it current according to the curricular needs and the

requirements of the accreditation agencies.

2
Mozenter, F., Sanders, B.& Welch, J. (2000, September)Restructuring a
liaison program in academia library. College and Research Libraries.

24
 After this evaluation the faculty sends to the library

their recommendations for new resources acquisitions. These

are annually processed with the funds provided by the

Institution. All campus academic programs benefit from the

electronic resources available through the Electronic

Resources Consortia of the UPR Libraries. This is also

evaluated and revised annually.

Reference librarians offer workshops on the

development and management of information skills in the use

of data bases, preparation of bibliographies, use of

evidence based practices and others. The Medical Sciences

Campus Women and Health Center of Excellence also has

liaison librarian. The Bibliographic Resources collection

is located on the second floor of the Library.

Its mission is to facilitate access and diffusion of

information about issues related to women's health for

diverse audiences. The librarian offers a variety of

services: Access to a Special Collection on Women's Health

(journals, books, reports, brochures, leaflets, videos, web

page, internet access and bibliographical databases)

Bibliographical searches, Resource Lending, Reference

Services and Workshops.

Through the Library’s Web page users have access to

the Virtual Reference Librarian Service through chat or e-

25
mail, from 6:30am until 2:00pm Mondays to Fridays and 8am-

4pm on Saturdays. There is also access to RefWorks a web

based bibliographic Utility. Reference services are

offered until 9:00pm in the evenings.

The library has developed several blogs. One of them

is the Reference Weblog: http://referenciarcm.wordpress.com/about.

This initiative corresponds to an effort in maintaining an

active and updated communication with our academic

community. It is a useful and valuable instruments to

satisfy their information needs as well as integrate the

present Web 2.0 tendencies and technologies to our academic

universe and be leaders in our field. Another blog is

called “Alusión: llamada virtual”, “Allusion: Virtual

call”.

This is the Library regular schedule:

Circulation and Reserve Department

Monday and Thursday 7:00 am - 11:00 pm

Friday 7:00 am - 9:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday 9:00 am - 10:00 pm

Special Collections

26
 Monday and Friday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday CLOSED

Reference Department

Monday and Friday 8:00 am - 9:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday CLOSED

Virtual Reference

Saturday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Serial Publications Interlibrary Loans Section

Monday and Friday 7:00 am - 4:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday CLOSED

Educational Resources Center

Monday and Friday 8:00 am - 6:00 pm

Saturday and Sunday CLOSED

The Medical Sciences Campus provides collections in

various formats that serve to strengthen the academic

27
programs. The interlibrary loan service also contributes to

increase the quantity and availability of the information

sources for academic community. 77% of the students

surveyed manifested “satisfaction” or “high satisfaction”

with the schedule. 70% of the students surveyed manifested

“satisfaction” or “high satisfaction” with the services.

Some of the library’s strengths in relation to this

standard include:

• The equipment and access to databases and the

Internet make it possible to help provide excellent

services, even in areas not covered by the library’s

collection.

• We have an excellent collection of databases and

complete texts, which have been continually enriched

over the years.

• The service has been evaluated as excellent by

the Middle States Association and other organizations.

• In general terms, users have expressed their

satisfaction with the services.

Nevertheless, we have included budgetary problems

among the areas of development, since they:

• affect services by not being able to hire staff

for weekends;

28
 • do not allow us greater access to electronic

journals; and

• make it difficult to address recurring

commitments.

5. Instruction

The library provides information and bibliographic

instruction to users through a variety of reference and

user education services, such as course-related and course-

integrated instruction, hands-on active learning, librarian

mediated literature searches, training sessions on the use

of resources, orientations, tutorials and point-of-use

instruction, including the reference interview.

Some librarians participate as facilitators in Problem

Based Learning (PBL) Integration Seminars. This has been an

excellent experience that has contributed to strengthening

the bonds between the library and the faculty members and

students. PBL has also increase the use of the collection.

There is a liaison librarian for each School on Campus.

This librarian is also a member of the school’s curriculum

committee. This promotes faculty participation in the

selection of information resources, maintains the faculty

informed of new services and library resources, and keeps

the library aware of new courses and trends in the school.

29
The Library offers a broad and diverse activity program for

the development of the information skills. This offer is

continuously renewing. Librarians promote and evaluate the

educational activities which are integrated to some of the

curricular areas. As part of this self study we

administered a satisfaction survey

We have identified several strengths:

• We have managed to integrate the information

skills teaching process to the academic course

syllabus on our campus faculties or schools.

• The Library counts with new space and equipment

for our educational workshops and activities. In

addition to this, the library staff has access

and uses the faculties’ computer centers for this

purpose.

• Four reference librarians participate actively as

workshop leaders and other information skills

educational activities.

• The library director offers guidance and led

educational activities as well as the library

staff in our other library rooms or departments.

• We offer workshops both to diurnal and vespertine

schedule courses.

30
 Nevertheless the integration for the information

skills development activities does not occur in a

systematic and progressive form throughout the academic

curricula.

The workshop evaluations and other educational

activities are not formally analyzed. The Library evaluates

only the user’s level of satisfaction in workshops and

other educational activities. Even though several

professors have incorporated the information skills in

their courses evaluation criteria, the feedback that is

provided to the librarians, is of informal character.

6. Bibliographic Resources

The library provides varied, authoritative and up-to-

date resources that support its mission and the needs of

its users. Moreover, the resources collection includes a

variety of formats, including print or hard copy, online

electronic text or images, and other media. Within budget

constraints, the library provides quality resources in the

most efficient manner possible. Collection currency and

vitality is maintained through judicious weeding.

The collection comprises 45,953 book titles and 1,145

active journal subscriptions (not including electronic

journals that are included in different databases) covering

31
the fields offered by the campus academic programs.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the collection is developed

using Selected Lists of Books and Journals published in the

Health Sciences like “Doody’s Core Titles in the Health

Sciences”, “The Brandon Hill Selected Lists of Journals for

Small Medical Library and other selection aids (buying 100%

of suggestion for initial purchase and 100% the additional

suggested titles), and through the active participation of

faculty in the selection process. Non-print materials such

as slides, films, cassettes, CD-ROMs, DVD’s and

videocassettes programs are available at the Audiovisual

Center that provides facilities for individual and group

viewing.

EBSCOHost

ƒ MEDLINE: Provides citations and abstracts from

over 4,600 current biomedical journals on

medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary

medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical

sciences, etc.

ƒ Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health

Literature (CINAHL): Provides indexing and

abstracting for over 1,600 current nursing and

allied health journals and other publications

dating back to 1982. This database also provides

32
 full text for 56 journals plus legal cases,

clinical innovations, critical paths, drug

records, research instruments, clinical trials.

ƒ International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA):

Includes information from over 750

pharmaceutical, medical, and health-related

journals published worldwide since 1970.

ƒ MedicLatina: Spanish language collection of

medical research and investigative journals that

provides access to full text for nearly 125

periodicals, including over 50 peer-reviewed

medical journals.

ƒ Academic Search Premier: Multi-disciplinary

database containing full text for more than 3,600

scholarly publications, including more than 2,700

peer-reviewed publications.

ƒ Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC):

References and abstracts on over 980 educational

journals.

ƒ Professional Development Collection: Includes the

complete text of 515 educational journals.

ƒ MasterFile Premier: Multi-disciplinary database

that includes complete text on 1,950 general

33
 references including books, biographies, Images

collection (photographs, maps, flags).

ProQuest

ƒ Proquest Medical Library + MEDLINE with Full

Text: 0ffers more than eleven million abstracting

and indexing of scientific journal articles

compiled by the National Library of Medicine. It

integrates complete text with graphics and PDF of

200 titles of the most important publications in

medicine.

ƒ Proquest Nursing Journals Collection: A full-text

collection of more than 250 nursing and allied

health periodicals, including page images for

some articles.

ƒ ABI-INFORM Global: Includes references and

complete text of publications related to business

and administration.

ƒ ProQuest Dissertations and Theses- Full Text: Two

million dissertations and thesis published since

1980 until the present.

Other resources, most of them with remote access:

ƒ WilsonWeb: Set of databases providing citations

and full text articles on general and applied

34
 science, business, humanities, art, education,

law, social sciences, and agriculture.

ƒ MICROMEDEX: Set of databases providing full text

information on chemical, pharmaceutical, and

biological substances related to clinical patient

care.

ƒ MDConsult: Gives electronic access to more than

40 reference books, 55 clinical journals, over

600 practice guidelines, patient handouts and

drug information. Includes full text.

ƒ ISI Web of Science: Electronic version of the

Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social

Sciences Citation Index.

ƒ Science Direct: Including 615 titles of Elsevier

scientific publications.

ƒ OVID: Give access to more that 80 electronic

journals from Lippincott and 40 electronic books

on Medicine, Primary Care, Nursing, Public

Health, etc., also including Medline database.

ƒ ACS Publications: Peer-reviewed research journals

in the chemical and related sciences from The

American Chemical Society.

ƒ Annual Reviews: Annual Reviews Biomedical,

Physical and Social Science Suites.

35
 ƒ The Cochrane Library: Full access to all Cochrane

databases through de Virtual Medical Library-

BIREME-PAHO

ƒ PubMed: With LinkOut to our printed and

electronic journals.

ƒ American Psychiatry Online: Includes books,

journals, guidelines, produced by the American

Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

ƒ CRC Net Base: Electronic Books published by CRC

Publishers

ƒ Ocenet: Medicina y Salud : Medical information in

Spanish

ƒ Infotrac: Includes full text information on

biographies, history, law, literature, and other

general topics.

There are computers available throughout the Library

by which students may have access to the library’s

electronic and print resources. The library opens 206

hours a week, except on official holidays. Special

schedules are announced during academic recess. Library

personnel include twelve professional librarians and

twenty-two paraprofessional support staff.

Some of the library’s strengths related to resources

are: Liaisons work with the school’s faculty that helps

36
develop the different subject areas in the collections,

participation of librarians in the Academic Senate, Council

for Integration and Educational Planning (CIPE acronym in

Spanish) and other committees, participation in resources

Consortia that expands the collections development, our

Interlibrary Loans exceptional services and been recipient

of a book donation program from the National Library of

Medicine.

These are some interlibrary loans statistics:

Interlibrary Loans

2005-2006 2006-2007 %

Received 1,383 1,116 -19%

(From USA patrons)

Served 987 832 -15%

(To USA patrons)

Requests 1,583 1,704 +8%

(For UPR students )

Served 1,327 1,675 +26%

(For PR students )

Local (PR a PR) 1,271 1,273 ----

Requests to UPR libraries 56 34 -39%

Limitations in this area are related to the library’s

budget which is insufficient to cover the annual increase

37
in the cost of all information resources. In order to

alleviate this situation the library has searched the

opportunity to gather additional funds for resources

through federal academic grants and through the

Institutional technological funding from the UPR

Administration. Resources sharing agreements with the

World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health

Organization (PAHO) have also help.

7. Access

Access to library resources is provided in a timely

and orderly fashion. Library collections and the catalog

for accessing them are organized using national

bibliographic standards.

A central catalog of library resources provides access

for multiple concurrent users and clearly indicates all

resources. The online catalog is part of the University of

Puerto Rico Integrated Library System, but our data base is

separated from the rest of the libraries. The data base was

set up in this manner, because as it is smaller and more

manageable than the rest, it could be used to install and

test new versions of the Horizon System, which is our

actual integrated library system. After a new version was

38
tested and assured to perform right then it was installed

in the rest of the UPR Library Database.

For this same reason, when the first integrated

library system for the UPR Libraries was chosen and

installed our catalog data base was used as the project

pilot. The online catalog is available on campus as well as

from other remote areas. Users have access to the online

catalog through the Library’s Web Page with any computer

with Internet access. This is an excellent tool that helps

us keep our users informed about the collections and the

availability of the resources.

There are also links to other libraries catalogs and

data bases including the UPR Libraries.(See list of

electronic resources)57.1% of the students who participated

in the library survey mentioned that they use the library

resources and facilities from remote areas as well as in

site. The survey also showed that the students combined

site with virtual library services. 26% of the students

informed that they come to search for information to the

library in person. Only 12% utilize virtual resources.

Between both information search modalities the search and

use of information at the library was predominant with

26.7% (58 students); 7 (about 3%) did not answered.

39
 Provision is made for interlibrary loan, consortia

borrowing agreements, access to virtual electronic

collections, and document delivery to provide access to

materials not owned by the library.

HORIZON System is used for the Library Online Catalog

and Library Electronic System. It is part of the University

Libraries System available from computers throughout the

different campuses. This online public access catalog is

available through the Internet at the Library’s web page

http://rcm-library.rcm.upr.edu. Also, there is a wide range

of databases covering every discipline, some including full

text articles. The Library provides remote access with

password and username or through the Proxy Server to access

the data bases mentioned above.

Conrado F. Asenjo Library provides community users

with intellectual and physical access to a wide variety of

health information resources. Efforts are always made to

ease the location to books, journals, audiovisual materials

and other resources of the collection. The strategic and

central location of the library at the Medical Center,

promotes the frequent use of its information resources and

services by a wide variety of health professionals.

The library has services like interlibrary loans, to

provide access to information that is not readily

40
available. The Library is affiliated to the National

Network of Libraries of Medicine of the National Library of

Medicine (NLM). As part of this Network the library

participates in its document delivery program to share its

resources with other libraries. It is also member of the

Consortium of Southern Biomedical Libraries (CONBLS).

Through these programs, materials that are not available in

the collection are obtained from other health sciences

libraries using the ARIEL software for interlibrary loan

transmittal. Also, there are collaborative agreements with

the Veterans Administration Hospital Library, the Río

Piedras Campus Natural Sciences Library, and other units of

the University of Puerto Rico Library System. FAX and

electronic transmittal of documents are available.

The personnel organize and identify all areas of the

collection. Wireless connection for Internet access is also

available. The library’s Web Page on Internet is revised

periodically. Through the Page users can have a quick

access to the library’s online catalog and a wide variety

of health information databases. Also the campus community

as well as the public is informed of news, services,

resources and all activities pertaining to the library.

Resources are organized using the National Library of

Medicine classification scheme as well as the Library of

41
Congress, which facilitates organization, location and

access to resources. Among the strengths of access to the

library’s resources we can mention: the online catalog,

the Web Page, e-journals and other electronic resources,

having the largest print collection on health information

in the Caribbean and competent and committed personnel.

Other areas of importance by which the library has

improved access:

1. Through the library’s online catalog our users

have access to a wide variety of health

information resources and their status for its

proper use. Internet communications

infrastructure has been improved for a faster and

more efficient access.

2. The library acquired a “Proxy Server” in order to

provide campus academic community with access to

the information resources they need for teaching,

learning and research.

3. Inter library loan services is very efficient and

has been commended.

4. External funds through federal grants.

5. Because of the remodeling the library’s physical

facilities, some areas are not identified right

now, but eventually will help improve access to

42
 the collections in a more efficient and

comfortable way.

8. Human Resources

The staff meets the programmatic and service needs of

its primary users. Librarians have a graduate degree from

an ALA-accredited program. In addition, there is other

professional staff that has appropriate combinations of

training, experience, and/or degrees. All library

professionals are responsible for and participate in

professional activities.

The support staff and student assistants fulfill

assigned responsibilities appropriate to their

qualifications, training, experience, and capabilities. The

further development of professional and support staff is

promoted through an on-going commitment to continuing

education, including training on security, emergencies.

We include the Ratio of FTE library staff to student

and faculty FTE

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

FTE 3,215 3,015 2,940 2,938 2,849 2,860 2,808

students

Library 28 28 28 28 28 28 28

employees

Ratio 115 108 106 105 102 102 100

43
 FTE 788 828 842 865 842 879 879

Faculty

Ratio 28 29 30 31 30 31.3 31.3

Professional library staff is covered by a written

policy that clearly establishes their status, rights and

responsibilities. This policy is consistent with the ACRL

Standards for Faculty Status for College and University

Librarians (http:// ww.ala.org/acrl/guides/facstat01.html).

These standards include: Professional responsibilities,

library governance, College and university governance,

compensation, tenure, promotion, leaves and research funds

and academic freedom.

The library’s personnel excel because of its

professionalism, a commitment with the Institution,

continuing education and with a high standards job

performance. Librarians actively participate on the

different campus academic and educational processes,

research and service. Because of the work of excellence

done by its personnel, the Library has been recipient of

local and international commendations for information

services provided with high quality.

All librarians are leaders in the profession, some

have been appointed to directive positions in professional

44
organizations in the island. They are also very committed

and responsible with the different institutional duties and

responsibilities they have to perform. Most of them have

developed an expertise in different medical librarianship

areas. Reference librarians stand out in the creation and

offering of information seeking skills workshops and

courses, using the Internet and other electronic systems to

fulfill user needs.

The Journal Club activity is where librarians discuss

and improve their knowledge in the new trends in medical

librarianship and information technologies. This activity

has been maintained throughout the years. Other librarians

stand out for their expertise in collection development and

evaluation, as well as in electronic bibliographic systems

maintenance and performance.

Some areas of concern are:

1. A librarian manages the library and receives a

bonus because the position of director does not

exist as such. Likewise, the current

administrator holds a secretarial position

because the position of administrator does not

45
 exist as such. It would be convenient to create

the positions of director and administrator.

2. There are two basic salary scales, one

specifically for the Medical Sciences Campus,

another one for the rest of the University

System; librarians are paid by the latest which

is lower.

9. Physical Facilities

The remodeling of the library included the

reorganization of both personal staff space and space for

providing user services. New technologies and computer

rooms were incorporated. As part of the remodeling process,

many meetings were held with all the staff and users and

with the architect and his staff, so that they could

identify current and foreseeable needs. They were then

presented with different models that were discussed and

analyzed.

The facilities have a complete inventory of furniture,

study space, and equipment for students. The building has

security and fire alarms. The library is also supervised by

the Campus Security Office. They provide continual

surveillance inside and outside the facilities. The library

facility are well planned; it provides secure and adequate

46
space, conducive to study and research with suitable

environmental conditions for its services, personnel,

resources and collections. The library's equipment should

be adequate and functional

The library’s physical facilities are been remodeled.

The planning, the design and all phases involved in the

process have been done considering the further development

and improvement of all library services.

Among the students surveyed, 70% stated “satisfaction”

or “high satisfaction” with the facilities (See

Satisfaction Questionnaire Results). This is very

interesting since the Library’s physical facilities are

being remodeled since the last two years.

Strengths:

1. Physical facilities remodeled, enlarged and safe

2. New air conditioning system, to avoid complete

library closure

3. Collection growth spaces

4. New Technologies installations

5. Establishment of new services

6. Workstations and work areas remodeled

Limitations:

47
 1. Because of budget limitations, plans had to be

altered pertaining to the modern technological

equipment that was to be acquired.

2. The original plan was to remodel the whole

building at once. Actually there is guarantee

for only three floors. However, there is an

institutional agreement to complete the

remodeling of the rest of the building.

10. Communication and Cooperation

The library has effective communications systems and

internal cooperation (at all levels) as well as external

cooperation with other units of the Institution. The

director of the library is constantly in contact with the

library staff, as well as with the senior management of the

Campus.

The director of the library encourages the

participation of the staff in the department’s decision-

making process through periodic meetings, written

communications, telephone calls, monthly, semi-annual and

annual reports, e-mails, memoranda, bulletins, and faxes.

In this way, the staff is informed of the decisions that

affect them. Communication is essential to ensure the

smooth operation of the library.

48
 Communication flows from all levels of the library:

from the director to the staff and from the staff to the

director. The library has a regular mechanism to

communicate with the campus. Library staff works

collaboratively and cooperatively with other departments on

campus.

The communication generated within the Library between

the department staff members at all the levels of our

organizational structure and the one that arises from the

Library towards other offices and areas of the campus

constitute an important element in the total Library

operation.

The Library counts on librarians that serve as a

liaison between each one of the campus schools. These

librarians participate on diverse activities such as

involvement in courses (Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing

Schools) and the development of teaching and learning

processes.

The effective communication between the faculty and

our staff allows the integration of all the services with

the purpose of satisfying user’s information needs. The

administrative staff attitudes as well as the rest of the

personnel, promote the steady development of communication

channels at all levels.

49
 We have developed diverse methods and communication

strategies to keep our patrons informed about library

services and changes. Some of them are:

o Bulletin-Ciberboletín

http://rcm-library.rcm.upr.edu/ciberboletin/

o Web page http://rcm-library.rcm.upr.edu

o Virtual reference webpage

http://llamadavirtual.wordpress.com/about/

o Brochures

o “Blogs”

http://rcmlibraryweek.wordpress.com/

http://referenciarcm.wordpress.com/

http://llamadavirtual.wordpress.com/

Our good communication with the academic departments,

offices, the faculty and the administration of the RCM and

the University in general remains in good standing.

However, our attention is directed to the active promotions

of services and resources of the Library.

For this issue, workshops and other efforts are being

planned such as mayor changes in the library website, and

the integration of the Web 2.0 technologies, applications

and tools.

50
11. Administration

Library administration is the responsibility of the

director, who has a master’s degree in Library and

Information Sciences, accredited by the ALA. The person who

holds this trust service position is appointed by the

Chancellor (General Regulations of the University of Puerto

Rico 2002), Article 30, Section 30.1.8 – Appointments to

trust service positions) and reported to the Dean of

Academic Affairs until 2005. Today, she reports to the

Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. The administrative

offices have one administrative secretary, an

administrator, a librarian in charge of the assessment

process and two part-time student aides.

This office deals with personnel matters related and

supports all the activities carried out to meet the

information needs of the academic community. The level of

funds allocated guarantees access to quality information

and users are trained in the retrieval and critical use of

the information. The services are extended to health care

professionals and the general public.

The purpose of the services we offer is to meet our

mission by achieving the goals in the library’s Strategic

Plan. The work plans presented by the sections for each

fiscal year also describe activities that result in better

51
services and more effective use of the resources. The

Strategic Plan is in line with the Strategic Plan of the

Medical Sciences Campus, which is also in line with the Ten

for the Decade, the Strategic Plan of the University of

Puerto Rico. The library director and the administrative

office staff support all library staff activities that

promote the effective use of the resources in a variety of

ways. The offices work with the allocation of funds and the

process for acquiring office materials, equipment, and

bibliographical resources and with continuing education for

the library staff and other administrative matters. The

following is a description of the activities designed to

provide the most effective use of the resources.

The Library Director is appointed by the Chancellor

and it responds to the Dean of Academic Affairs and the

Assistant Dean for Access and Integration of Technology.

The Library Director duties are described in the University

of Puerto Rico Bylaws. There is no permanent Advising

Committee for the Library. However, the library personnel

and administration manages to utilize other mechanisms to

obtain all the information necessary to fulfill user

information needs, which are further described in this

standard. The library administration and staff activities

are geared to promote the effective use of health

52
information resources by the academic community throughout

the year. Activities which are described in the library

departments annual reports. The print and electronic

collection development processes, orientations and

presentations on library resources and services, documents

which describe general information on the library and its

services and information seeking skills workshops, also

promote the effective use of the library resources.

Strengths in this Standard:

1. All library services and activities are aligned

to the Library Bill of Rights parameters.

2. The Library Strategic Plan and Operational or

work Plans (Appendix 1.9) serve as a guide in

order to comply with the Library Mission.

Areas for Improvement:

1. There is a need to increase library’s recurrent

budget. It should be periodically revised

according to the annual increase on information

resources costs.

2. Library budget should fulfill and match library

plans.

53
12. Budget

As a non profit state-owned corporation of the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the University obtains most of

its funds from appropriations of the Commonwealths budget.

Under act No. 2 of January 20, 1966 as amended, the

Commonwealth appropriates for the University an amount

equal to 9.6% of the average total amount of annual

revenues collected under the laws of the Commonwealth in

the two fiscal years immediately preceding the year of

assignment. Other appropriations are received under various

laws, which assign certain percentages of revenues obtained

from racetrack bets and net income from slot machine

operations. In addition, the Commonwealth has appropriated

amounts of general current obligations, capital improvement

programs, and for loans and financial assistance to

students.

Since 1995 school and campuses of the University of

Puerto Rico System have been required to base their budget

petitions on their strategic plans. Although the process

has taken place uninterrupted since that date, budget

allocations are greatly determined by the University’s

incoming revenues. Thus changes in the external environment

54
particularly in government policies, often affect the

attainment of projected goals and activities.3

The Library’s budget is assigned by the institution.

The library director administers it. Funds for resources

are not sufficient since library budget remains the same

for over ten years. It has a special account which receives

funds from photocopy and printout services. The library

also receives special money assignments coming from the

Technology fee and Title V funds.

General Recommendations

As a result of this self-study process, we have

identified various strengths which have been written and

included in this document. Some of these are:

ƒ Our participation in consortiums, which increases

the possibilities for developing collections.

ƒ The receipt of book donations from the National

Medical Library, which are added to the

collection.

ƒ The Proxy Server, through which we ensure that

members of the Campus community have access to

3
University of Puerto Rico. Medical Sciences Campus, School of Pharmacy
Self-Study Report, March 2003.

55
 the resources needed for teaching, learning, and

research.

ƒ Access to equipment, databases, and the Internet

helps provide a service of excellence, even in

areas that are not covered by the Library

collection.

ƒ We have an excellent collection of full-text data

banks which has continued to grow through the

years.

Our service has received excellent evaluations by

Middle States and other organizations. Training in

information skills has been integrated into the syllabuses

or course descriptions of the different Campus faculties

and schools.

56