Behind the Scenes at the Scientific Library
Need a journal article? Visit the Scientific Library. Need a quiet place to study? Use one of the Scientific Library's carrels. Want to practice an oral presentation? Use the library's private study room, supplied with audio-visual equipment. Want to know how often an article has been cited or someone has been published? Call the library. Need to learn how to keep current with the literature, to use EndNote, Reference Manager, PubMed, and other databases? Take a class at the library.
When you make that call for help or information, you get a quick response. However, what happens behind the scenes, beyond the public rooms you're used to seeing at the Scientific Library in Building 549? One of the 22 Wilson Information Service Corporation (WISCO) staff, contractors for NCI-Frederick's Scientific Library, will be seeking the answer to your question.
Everything is interrelated.
As with any organization, “The left hand needs to know what the right hand is doing,” Sue Wilson, head of the Scientific Library, said recently. All staff, even those who work behind the scenes, take turns covering the circulation desk, because it helps them appreciate how events in one department might impact what happens in another department. Sometimes a simple question even alerts the staff to a problem that affects another library's users or staff. “This is especially true now that we partner with other libraries to offer services; while sharing has always been fundamental to the library community, our more formal consortial relationships today increase the need to communicate beyond our own walls to anticipate and solve problems,” Ms. Wilson explained.
For example, a few weeks ago a customer said that he'd been unable to access the full text in the Web of Science database. In exploring the customer's problem, the staff learned that researchers at other NIH professional libraries had also had the same difficulty, due to a change implemented by the hosting library. The question even affected training services, since Robin Meckley, the Instructional Resources Librarian, was preparing to teach a class on databases. Armed with this new bit of information, Ms. Meckley was able to teach her class what to do in just such a situation and offer alternatives.
Problems with accessing an Internet site can result from any of several causes: the partner library administering the site may not have renewed the subscription; a technical glitch such as a broken link may have occurred; there may be a licensing issue; or, you may not have entered information correctly.
“Don't give up! Even if electronic access either fails or isn't available, don't assume it's hopeless—the library offers many alternatives. Contact the Scientific Library to get the information you need, to resolve a problem, or to confirm the accuracy and reliability of Internet sources,” Ms. Wilson said. Whatever you need—whether electronic information or hard copy—the library usually can get it for you within one to two days. The library has inter/intrarelationships with NIH, as well as with other professional libraries, both national and international.
Like you, the WISCO staff uses the Internet each day. But as well as seeking information, the library staff also looks up facts, tests links, checks new resources, and keeps the Scientific Library Web site (http://www-library.ncifcrf.gov/) up to date.
The Scientific Library is available in the physical sense, (see sidebar for specific times). As well as physical availability, the Scientific Library has knowledge available: for example, through the Scientific Library Web site, whether you are on post or not, you can glean information from a multitude of electronic resources; and can obtain bibliographic data, such as who's writing what and whose papers are in the top rank of citations. You can also have confidence in the depth of knowledge available through the library's Web site. The staff has stringent standards for content of the information it posts, including which other professional groups use that material and how reliable the source of the material is.
Besides ensuring the reliability of its materials, WISCO staff is available to help you with various NCI-Frederick-centric projects and events—everything from scheduling an event to finding a speaker and preparing bibliographic materials.
The library is accessible .
A large part of the behind-the-scenes work at the Scientific Library involves assuring you of accessibility to materials. But to ensure that you have accessibility, the staff spends much work time cataloging materials, evaluating their usability, determining the materials' currency, indexing the materials, weeding from the collection out-of-date materials and those for which there is little demand.
Pamela Noble, Serials Technician, is in charge of this part of the behind-the-scenes operation. “One nice thing about BackMed [an Internet library materials exchange program, in which the recipient reimburses the donor with postage for the cost of shipping] is that journal collection gaps sometimes can be filled through the trades on the Listserv,” she said, noting that she completed the entire Langmuir set from
from 1985 through 2005,
just for the cost of postage—“much better than having to buy it from a back issue dealer at $5 per copy.”
Twenty-first century libraries for twenty-first century customers.
Some things remain the same: While binding is outsourced to a professional binder, staff takes care of minor repairs, labeling, inserting dust jackets into plastic sleeves. Newly arrived books are checked against their invoices, examined for condition, cataloged, bound, numbered for shelving, and entered into SmartStream and Purchasing.
Some things change: Nearly everyone at the Scientific Library, including library aides, routinely uses the computer to scan and e-mail articles to customers, build databases, order materials, exchange materials with other libraries, keep various library records, catalog the collection, or update the Scientific Library's Web site.
Like many other businesses, libraries are evolving to meet the needs of twenty-first century customers, whether it's providing Internet access, individual study rooms or carrels, multi-media materials, photo-copying machines, scanners and printers, electronic resources, or participating in community activities and sponsoring educational lectures and classes.
Technology changes rapidly, too. Just in the past 10 years, staff at the Scientific Library has converted entire collections of electronic files from 3 1/4” disks to zip drives, then to CDs, and now to DVDs and memory sticks. “But even with all these changes,” Ms. Wilson said, “microfilm is still considered to be the best long-lived storage alternative.”
Ms. Wilson added, “The way that we help people is still the same; but some of the things we used to do to accomplish that have changed.” For example, bound volumes of many journals, as well as the pamphlet collection, donations, archived files, and collections for trade, are stored on floor-to-ceiling shelves. What's new is that these shelving units move electronically on tracks; thus, more shelving can be placed in the same area, and the shelves moved to one side for ease of accessibility.
Keeping hard copy of materials is still imperative. Even online journal publishers stress that the only complete version of an issue is often the print one. So as the formats of information delivery grow more diverse, librarians must synchronize, becoming specialists in multiple ways of developing and managing collections concurrently. The momentum that occurs in the library field provides opportunity for personal growth and development unlike that of many other professions.
“At NCI-Frederick, we work in an information-rich environment. Accessibility to information, as we have here, is a luxury that really contributes to job satisfaction. There'll always be a need for libraries,” Ms. Wilson said.
To access the Scientific Library, go to http://www-library.ncifcrf.gov/ . On the home page, you will find links to electronic resources, including the library's online catalog, journals, and books, databases, and Web resources.
To access the library off-site, go to http://www-library.ncifcrf.gov/offsiteaccess.aspx . You will need to have a library bar code, available from the Scientific Library to registered library users (you must bring your employee ID to register in person for the bar code). At the off-site Web address, you will enter the bar code number and your last name.
Maritta Grau
Writer
Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Nancy Parrish,
Editor
Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Photography Department
Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Jillian DeShazer
Web Graphics and Development
Computer & Statistical Services
Data Management Services, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick
Behind the Scenes at the Scientific Library 
Problems with accessing an Internet site can result from any of several causes: the partner library administering the site may not have renewed the subscription; a technical glitch such as a broken link may have occurred; there may be a licensing issue; or, you may not have entered information correctly. 
Some things remain the same: While binding is outsourced to a professional binder, staff takes care of minor repairs, labeling, inserting dust jackets into plastic sleeves. Newly arrived books are checked against their invoices, examined for condition, cataloged, bound, numbered for shelving, and entered into SmartStream and Purchasing.