Meet the Special Library
The Center for Organization, Leadership, and Management 
Research Information Center
By Maureen Festa, Maureen.Festa@va.gov

• Name of library & location:
• Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research (COLMR) Information Center in the Boston VA Medical Center at 150 South Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02130, Phone: 617-232-9500 x45647, Direct line: 857-364-5647, Fax: 617-278-4438 

• Manager of library:
• Maureen Festa, MLS

• Patron base:
• Approx 35 patrons, incl. health services researchers, web content developers, writers and support staff, excluding external parties. 

• Staff size and type of staff:
• document specialists, archivists, reference folks, etc., including 1 full-time MLS and 1 part-time library assistant (MLS candidate)

• Collection Description: 
• Print monograph collection of approx 250 volumes, 40 print subscriptions (30 available electronically), and a diversion collection of approx 100 volumes.

• Library History:
• The COLMR Information Center began as the Management Decision and Research Center’s Information Center in 1993, with the inception of the MDRC. The information center was founded to support and supplement the research initiatives and projects within this federally funded research medical center, which it still does today.

• Examples of current projects researchers at COLMR are pursuing:
• Pursuing Perfection:  This project’s major goal is to evaluate the success of the Pursuing Perfection program as it is implemented in seven demonstration sites throughout the United States.
• Evaluating of Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Centers (PADRECC):  This is a five-year, multi-method, quasi-experimental study examining the extent to which PADRECCs (Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education and Clinical Centers) affect utilization, processes, and outcomes of clinical care, research, education, and the diffusion of state of the art knowledge about Parkinson’s disease.
• Strengthening Organization to Implement Evidence-Based Clinical Practice: COLMR investigators are collaborating with the leadership of VISNs 1, 10 and 23 in a three study. They are seeking to create organizations with structures, processes and cultures that support the use of evidence-based clinical practices in their daily operations, and to test their effectiveness.
• Dissemination and Implementation of Supported Employment in VHA:  This project addresses the implementation of supported employment, an evidence-based practice for people with serious mental illness.
• Organizational Cultural Competence Assessment - An Intervention and Evaluation: This project is examining the influence of an organizationally-based cultural competence assessment and intervention project on the job experience and satisfaction of front-line nursing care workers in long-term care facilities.

• Patrons’ Response to the Information Center:
• “I so appreciate your assistance.  We are doing a journal issue and your efforts help me help others!”
• “Simply fabulous!  This is what I call just-in-time library work.  Thanks so much.”
• “You Rock!  Talk about quick turn-around!”

• Patron Services:
• The information center is primarily responsible for conducting literature searches, creating bibliographies, and providing access to articles and books requested by the researchers.  The information center also provides assistance in preparing grant proposals.

• Collection Usage:
• The circulating book collection is used only by the COLMR staff.  Approximately 23% of the book collection is out on loan at any given time. The collection contains approximately 218 unique titles and 250 volumes. All of the resources collected by the Information Center support COLMR’s research into health care management and organization.  Monographs focus on management topics, health care topics and hospital statistics.  The book collection ranges in date from 1977 to 2006, but the bulk of the collection dates to 1990s. 
• The journal collection is also a circulating collection used only by the COLMR staff.  The Information Center subscribes to 40 print journals and for approximately 30 of these journals the Information Center has access to an online version. Access to these online journals is available to COLMR staff members via passwords.  The print journals are unbound and in good to excellent condition.
• The Information Center also provides access to Dialog and PsycArticles.  The researchers may access PsycArticles via password, but use of Dialog is limited to the Information Center’s librarian.
• The Information Center also maintains a small circulating diversion collection of trade books, approximately 100 volumes.  These books are not cataloged, and the collection is maintained through donations.

• “Dream” enhancement to the library:
• A library intranet page where patron’s can log in to access resources and input information requests.

• Current challenges that that library / information center faces:
• Budget restrictions are always an issue. 
• Shelf space is filling up and there is no room for growth.

• Library’s involvement with organization wide initiatives:
• The Info Center falls under the umbrella of the Management Practices Data Unit, and we are working with that unit on initiatives to make past work and materials accessible to staff in an orderly and organized fashion.  

• Partnerships with other organizations:
• As an Information Center for a VA Center of Excellence, the COLMR Information Center has access to numerous resources licensed for the VA Healthcare Network (VISN 1)  Learning Resources through the VA’s intranet. These resources include MD Consult, Micromedex, UpToDate, and Web MD. The VA also provides access to a number of full-text journals and databases including the New England Journal of Medicine, CINAHL, and Health Buisness Fulltext Elite. They also provide links to free full-text journals and books online. The Information Center can also request books and articles via interlibrary loan from any VA hospital library within the network.
• As a member of the VA, the Info Center also has access to Harvard Medical School’s Library, Countway Library, with a valid VA Medical Center ID.  The Info Center can access the print and online journal collection as well as the print resources on site, but it does not have lending privileges or remote access to e-resources.  Professional contacts, through organizations or business contacts, are also a source for materials, assistance and advice.

• Unusual reference questions asked:
• The Info Center staff is well known for being knowledgeable well beyond its official duties. Restaurant recommendations, travel tips, esoteric fact checking, and wild goose chases are all part of our workday. 
• Our “unusual moments largely have nothing to do with “work”.  An example is the family of hawks who’ve built their nest just above the windows of the Info Center. All day, we see the hawks soaring and sailing outside, occasionally stopping to rest.  Once landing with a loud thud on our through window AC unit!