Transforming Library Services: A Look at the Use of e-TOC and Newsletter E-mail Routing Services

Abstract

This article describes the three-phase effort to transform library services by two librarians at a four–community hospital system. Phase 1: reevaluation of electronic resources, reallocation of budget dollars, and redesign of the library intranet pages. A systematic effort to market new electronic resources concurrent with the implementation of an electronic table of contents (e-TOC) and electronic newsletter routing service marked Phase 2. And the third phase is the librarian's participation in multidisciplinary clinical rounds. Phase 2, the e-TOC, and e-newsletter routing is examined in detail. The electronic routing service has been enormously successful and examples of materials routed and testimonials are included. Once established, the e-routing service became an important step in gaining clinician support for librarian participation in multidisciplinary clinical rounding. The librarians feel their three-phase effort promotes the use of library services at Virtua and contributes to Virtua's core competency of creating an outstanding patient experience.