The next CCML membership meeting, to be held at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center at 1719 E. 19th Avenue on December 19th, will be a joint meeting between CCML and SLA. This will be an afternoon meeting, beginning at 1:00 pm for refreshments and networking. This is your chance to talk to someone you've never met before, to meet new people and to learn about other special libraries in the community. Tom Palucchi from EBSCO Subscription Services will be the educational speaker, updating us on the latest changes at EBSCO.
Be sure to eat your Wheaties and wear your thinking cap as CCML challenges SLA to a Trivia Bowl. Are you a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan? Or a Batgirl fan? Do you read mysteries that feature librarians as the main character? We need you to prove that our minds are more trivial than theirs! Even if you are just too shy to sit at a table and hit a buzzer, you may still win. For every answer that the panelists do not know, but can be answered by the audience, the audience gets a point. The esteemed Rodger Steeper, MD, emcee of the P/SL Trivia Bowls for many years, will amaze us all with the trivia he has uncovered, with the help of Dorothy Struble from Denver Medical Library. They are both devoting hours to the research and questions behind this not-to-be-missed event. Without a doubt, librarians have influenced American culture, and the Trivia Bowl will prove it. We still need one more panelist and a couple of alternates, so please contact Jenny Garcia at garciajx@hotmail.com if you are interested.
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The Nominating Committee is pleased to announce that Marianne Morrison of Denver Medical Library has stepped forward to offer to be Secretary for the coming year. We are very pleased to have her help out CCML in this way. (Marianne's biographical profile can be found elsewhere in the newsletter.)
On the other hand, the Nominating Committee has no one to offer in the position of President-elect. Perhaps you have seen emails listed to the CCML listserv to that effect. Since this seems to be a problem every year, primarily due to the three year commitment, it may be time to redefine the positions or chain of succession for President-elect, President, and Past President. Several people have suggested job sharing in one form or another, and/or somehow making it a two year term. The Nominating Committee is open to suggestions to bring to the Executive Committee and Membership for consideration. If this is to be a bylaws change, we will want to take care of it at our annual meeting in April. Please contact Glenn Pflum at Glenn.Pflum@HealthONEcares.com with your ideas. (Please see Linda Van Wert's article on potential ways the presidency can be redefined, and the benefits of volunteering to be president of CCML.)
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Finding a President-elect is a problem for the Nominating Committee every year. If it did not involve a three year commitment, there would be more response. Sometimes people say they aren't ready to do it now, but would consider next year. Since we have no offers this year and time is running out, I would like to suggest a few more flexible possibilities until we can change the bylaws. How about suggesting that two people could "job share" the position? Job sharing works great if there is good communication and rapport. The job would be less demanding for two people, and they could split it however they wish.
The Executive Committee could decide on how the title will be granted to two people for MLA/AHIP "points." Perhaps they could each serve as President for half a year, or only one of them will decide to take on the role.
If the President position were only a two-year commitment, our busy members would be more likely to volunteer for it. The three year commitment is daunting, especially with the increased demands from our employers. I think the continuity provided by having President-elect move into the President's position works well, however. Maybe it should just be President-elect, and then President. Past-President would not be necessary. Instead, an Executive "Member at Large" could be a one-year term serving one year on the Executive Committee. That person could bring issues from the membership to the Executive Committee, and take on any tasks as delegated by the Committee. It could be an attractive position for some of our members, and provide diversity on the Committee.
No, I'm not "volunteering" right now, thank you. But, has the Nominating Committee told potential officers what FUN it is to work with their colleagues as President-elect and how creative they can be in planning interesting programs? How important it is to the organization? That it's a position of Power?!
That the President-elect can plan the programs *they'd* really like to attend? And that the other CCML members help set up the programs and sites, so it's like having a committee to work with? AND, they would have the satisfaction of serving their professional organization while getting all the "points" they need for AHIP membership? And that working with Jenny Garcia (the President) would be a tremendously positive experience? That it's one way of being able to have input and shape the organization for the future? That they could acquire leadership skills applicable to their work and other areas of their life? Finally, that they get to attend the special gala Officers Luncheon for free for a few years? Just think of all of the above, and having the admiration of their colleagues too! Why wouldn't someone want to do it? It's painless.
Can we come up with Letterman's Top Ten Reasons to volunteer for President-elect? I think that one of the top reasons is: volunteering is good for the heart/soul! I would like to offer one more thought: if you currently do not find satisfaction or a sense of achievement and appreciation in your work, you can find it, and more, by volunteering for CCML! I am certain that all of our past presidents can provide testimonials regarding their positive and transforming experiences as President-elect and President. When I served in that capacity, I came to True Enlightenment.
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Those of you who attended last year’s MCMLA meeting in Denver may recall a game, that President Anna Beth Crabtree had us play. We were each to count up such things as MCMLA meetings attended, leadership and committee positions held, etc. Then we all stood up, and Anna Beth started counting.
We each sat down as she reached our total. The last person standing was Martha Burroughs. Thus came the inspiration for her nomination for the MCMLA Outstanding Achievement Award - the Chapter’s highest honor - with which she was presented at the MLA Tri-Chapter Meeting in New Orleans on October 27.
As her nominator pointed out, "Martha is so gentle and unassuming that it's easy to take all she has done for MCMLA [and, incidentally, for MLA, NNLM/MR, and the Colorado Council of Medical Librarians] for granted. She has taught a long list of classes to a wide variety of students, from librarians (from 1992 to 1998 it was from Martha who updated CCML on MEDLINE) to nursing PhD students (part of her work for the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center), to the 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Evidence Based Health Care Conference. For MCMLA, she has worked on planning four Annual Meetings; belonged to or chaired six standing and ad hoc committees (including, currently, the Nominating Committee); and, most notably, edited the Express, for three years officially, and one unofficially. So her nomination and award should come as no surprise. I'll interject a personal CCML memory of Martha, which I shared with the crowd in N'awlins: as CCML President she gamely - no pun intended - took part in a baseball sketch I had concocted for our Annual Party - about the first big thing I did for CCML.
Martha joins a firmament of other MCMLA stars - many of them fellow CCMLers - that you don't need the Hubble Telescope to see - just go to http://www.kumc.edu/mcmla/awards.html. There are still other stars out there, but we need your help to see them. Fill out the Nomination Form behind them for your favorite MCMLA star, and send it in - or go to the online version at http://www.kumc.edu/mcmla/ awardform.html. I'll be looking for it between now and the April 30 deadline.
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YOUR PROFILE COULD BE HERE!
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I was born, raised, and educated in Detroit, Michigan. My initial degree was obtained in education during a time when teachers were in abundance. I returned to school and became a Respiratory Therapist, a career I worked at for 24 years. The last 18 years of this career were spent in Traverse City, Michigan, a beautiful area with trees, water, humidity, wonderful soil and large quantities of snow. After 25 years of direct patient care, I decided it was time for a change. Being fond of performing research over the years, the decision to become a Medical Librarian seemed the natural thing to do. I received my MLS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in 1997.
Medical librarian positions are scarce in Northern Michigan. With resumes sent all over the country, I was lucky to obtain a job here in Denver where I have family. I have worked at the Denver Medical Library since May 2000. My primary responsibility is liaison with the nursing and allied health staff. I also work closely with staff going back to school. Us adult learners have to stick together.
Last year, I was lucky enough to win free tuition to this years MCMLA conference in New Orleans. It was a great experience for me as I am still new in this field. I find it very educational to see what others are doing and how they are doing it. I would like to become involved in CCML for this same reason.
On a personal note, I am in the process of refurbishing an old house, Tim Allen style. The fact that soil in Colorado is clay, not moist black dirt, has not helped the gardening situation. This is definitely a work in progress. The antique shops on Broadway are a nice relief from manual labor. I also enjoy weaving and woodcarving.
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(I know I said I'd use this column to report the results of my online survey of CCML, MCMLA-L, and MEDLIB-L libraries on their journal donation practices; but the response has been so enthusiastic that I wasn't able to compile it all in time for the CQ deadline. Some of the verbal comments will be included in this month's edition; I'll report the numerical data to the lists later and immortalize it in these pages in the next issue.)
If you hadn't guessed from previous columns, much of my time this year has been spent in trying to justify spending money on current journal subscriptions, largely by anticipating the questions other departments are likely to raise. This month's question is "Why does the Library need to buy the journals? We/the docs will just donate our/their own."
On the face of it, it's a win-win situation. The library saves money and/or gets things it might not have otherwise; the doctors get clean offices, somebody to organize their journals (which of course they can still use), and a tax deduction (unless - as a couple of my respondents pointed out - they already deducted the original subscription as a business expense).
My experience has been that this is fine, with some drawbacks, for archival materials or for trading to other libraries for their excess journals, but problematic for current awareness. My own concerns, some of which are shared by many of the respondents to my survey, are Online Accessibility; Reliability; and Legality.
Online Accessibility: This is easy to discuss, because there's no room for disagreement: For journals with online access, only the original subscriber is licensed to use the online version. If you want to use the journal, you have to come to the library.
Reliability: Regular journal donations are easy to promise, but in my experience don't seem to be a high priority to deliver. Some of my respondents (numbers to follow in the next issue) have managed to solicit them successfully - effusive thanks, reminder notes, and signed contracts were each cited repeatedly. Self-motivated donors are the key for others. The rest of us are still looking for the right way to do this, or don't accept such offers.
Legality: This is where the biggest controversy lies - whether the donations are even legal. From the comments of some of my responders and T. Scott Plutchak's column in the January issue of Bulletin of the Medical Library Association.(1), the issue has nothing to do with copyright, as commonly thought; it is rather a conflict between the First Sale Doctrine and the principle of Good Faith. The first sale doctrine allows the person who purchases the material to dispose of it in any way they see fit; at least two of my respondents had checked with ALA, ARL, and their hospital attorneys to conclude that First Sale allowed them to accept donations.
Good faith, which is enumerated in the Uniform Commercial Code, (2,3) comes into the matter by way of differential pricing. In order for publishers to maximize their profits, an institutional subscription to a journal may (and usually does) cost much more than an individual subscription (for example, the New England Journal of Medicine costs $399.00 for institutions, but only $135.00 for individuals), because each institutional subscription replaces an unknown number of individual subscriptions (Hey, would you pay even 135 bucks for a subscription if you could read the Library's copy for free?)
They are allowed to charge different prices for different segments of their market, just as hospital cafeterias are allowed to give discounts to employees. In this case, the publisher sells the journal at the individual rate in good faith that it's really for a single individual. For a library or someone acting on the library's behalf to represent themselves as an individual subscriber in order to supply an institution brings up another popular business term: fraud.
The compromise position is to accept the donations only after the donor has met his/her own needs from it - i.e., both good faith and the first sale doctrine have been satisfied. At least two of my respondents had arranged with regular donors to send each issue when the next one came. My druthers would be to buy what we need for current awareness and wait six months from publication for donations (the fact that even some of the pricier journals provide a free online archive after a given lag time suggests that this is OK) - to avoid even the appearance of fraud.
I'd like to close with a philosophical statement from one of my respondents. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to agree with it in practice. Despite all my efforts and writing (which I'm not convinced has gone beyond my boss's desk other than as CQ columns), I have had to make huge cuts (55 of 94 titles, after already cutting 25 we were doubling in MD Consult) based on this year's budget, with no redress coming in next year's. I just hope some of you are able to more successfully use my arguments to defend your own collections. But I like her principles:
"I feel very strongly about the ethics and appropriateness of libraries using personal subscriptions and/or donations to extend their journal collection. If an institution has a documented need for a journal to be in their collection, then they need to purchase it the way libraries are supposed to. Being willing to develop and/or maintain a library collection through donations and the like makes us sound like some kind of third-world library. Folks have to recognize that our willingness to do these sorts of things weakens us and perpetuates the problem. I have been in the position of having to defend or cut my budget. I have generally been able to defend it, however, if the hospital won't support the library financially, then I cut it. If the docs suggest we do this as a donation, etc. I tell them it's not possible from the legal, ethical, and appropriateness standpoint and make it clear that I can't be a part of that. I have had to make minor cuts to journal budgets, never huge ones like I've heard about but I am convinced that libraries absolutely cannot depend on donations as a means of collection development and maintenance."
Next time: The numbers that show what is really happening in the journal donation world.
References
1. Plutchak TS. What we don't know. Bull Med Libr Assoc 2001 Jan; 89(1):77-8
2. Colorado Revised Statutes, Vol. 2. Title 4, Art. 1-203. Obligation of good faith. 2001.
3. Ibid., Title 4, Art.4-2-201. General definitions.
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Review Of The CE: “Proving Your Worth” Submitted by Jenny Garcia
The dynamic, vivacious Michelynn McNight presented an excellent workshop on the last day of the Tri-Chapter meeting. The practicality of her class was applicable to any library setting and could be immediately incorporated at work. This is the bare bones of the many useful tips that she packed into a few hours:
Professional Tools:
Business Tools
Political Tools:
A five-page bibliography was included in the class handout.
New Orleans Report Submitted By Jerry Carlson
Other than staying at a time share, then a hotel, in the Quarter, and hiking 20 minutes to the Hilton every morning, my most unique experience at the Tri-Chapter Meeting was the CE class "Alternative Medicine: No Longer Just A Fad". The class was presented by Sharon Lezotte (formerly at NNLM/MR in Omaha, by now probably moved to her new job in New Mexico) and Teri Arndt (of the University of Michigan - seems to me she was also at Omaha at one time). They covered not only the basics of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) such as terminology and major medical systems, but also information resources, trends in medical education relevant to CAM (I was gratified to see one of my former residents listed as an instructor for UCHSC's program), and the ethical, legal, and regulatory issues of CAM.
I did feel that a long segment on homeopathic medicine could have been shortened in favor of giving more than a sentence or two on some of the other systems (e.g. Ayurvedic), but the class included some unique compensations: live, interactive demonstrations of massage, Qigong (aka Tai Chi), and guided imagery. (These, by the way, recalled a lesson in class design that came up in an article about my Old Testament professor in college, who would periodically tell personal stories both to illustrate points and to give us time to stop taking notes and let some of the teaching sink in).
My most important take-home messages from the general sessions and contributed papers were that when the Three Sisters move to Moscow and I get my website, I need to keep it simple enough that docs can use it on the 2x3" screens of their PDAs (which I need to get up to speed on in general); and that if PVH's nurses are like the ones Michelynn McKnight shadowed in Oklahoma City, my efforts to get electronic resources on the nursing units are a waste of time as far as the nurses are concerned - when they're at their posts, they don't think they can take time to look things up for themselves. They'd rather ask somebody.
The closing banquet, "Halloween on the Bayou" at Michaul's Live Cajun Music Restaurant, was fun, especially the costumes our colleagues had donned. Next time you're at Denison, be sure to ask Lisa, Jeff, and Sandi about the photos I gave them. I did have a bit of a tiff with a Susan something who, like me, had dressed as Sherlock Holmes (just can't get away from the job, can I?) She kept calling me an impostor; I kept proving she was (J: "WHAT was the curious incident of the dog in the night?" S: "You're an impostor!" If she were really Sherlock Holmes she'd know that the dog did nothing in the night - THAT was the curious incident.)
Of course, the real highlight for me was as Lord High Honors & Awards Chair (interspersed with Lord High Recording Secretary, Lord High Acting Parliamentarian, and Lord High Acting 2003-Meeting-in-South-Dakota Promoter), grateful my tux still fit so that I could present awards to Karen Wiederaenders of Kansas, Kay McCloskey of Utah, and, above all, our own Martha Burroughs (see story elsewhere in this issue) in the style usually reserved for mere movie, TV, and Broadway stars.
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The Joint Directory has been deferred until after the CLA/CEMA merger.
This year's Colleague Connection brought in a surplus of about $1200. This money will be used toward hiring a major speaker. Jerry suggested Kathy Wells, who spoke at our Annual Meeting in April, as one of the possibilities. While the question didn't come up in Prez Group, the CCML Executive Committee considers the past two years' panel discussions by members of the associations to have been successful, so we shouldn't count them out for the future.
RMSLA will have a wine tasting fundraiser for their scholarship fund on Sunday, December 2, 6:30 p.m., at Park Hill Golf Course. The cost is $35 per person or $60 per couple (see "Differential Pricing" in the President's Column". Besides wine, the event will feature hors d'oeuvres, a jazz band, an M&M guessing contest, and an auction (for which they're collecting donations). All are welcome - not just librarians.
RMSLA's January meeting will feature Rose Mazone, author of What I Think Is Why It Is. It will take place at the new Broomfield Public Library on January 30 at 6:30 p.m. In May they will offer an array of workshops. Chris Sherman, author of The Invisible Web will be the keynote speaker.
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STOP THE PRESSES!! On second thought, make that STOP THE PURCHASE ORDERS!! An innocent looking envelope received in the mail at our library (and probably many of yours...shame on those of you who tossed it), apparently contains the solution to the problem of shrinking book budgets for medical libraries
Boldly marked PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL, creating a special postal moment for Mr. Webb Memorial Library, the plain white envelope contained a number of pages from Dr. Alex Livshin, MD, PhD, most prominently a copy of the newsletter "Secrets of Robust Health."
Hidden away on page four (the "secrets" will be revealed shortly) is the budget solution. It turns out that Dr. Hulda Clark (credentials: "much quoted") has written two books...the only two any of us will need. They are The Cure for All Cancers, and The Cure for all Diseases. I guess you would really only need the second, which appears to outflank the first. OK, a quick check reveals that the diseases volume is in the Denison Memorial Library collection at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and, as I understand it, that collection still includes several other books. It was just a theory.
Still, the thrust of Dr. Livshin's newsletter is that there is a relatively simple solution to virtually all of the health problems afflicting mankind: clean colons. Of course this is not a new idea. People have been obsessing over the state of their nether regions for centuries. It's hard not to notice what's going on down there, even for those who are not terribly self-centered.
What's staggering is the vast reach that a sparklingly fresh colon provides one in wiping out one nasty condition after another: constipation (could have guessed that one), diarrhea, gas and bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, joint and muscle aches and pains, anemia, allergy, skin conditions, granulomas, nervousness (more than just the "when was the last time I went?" type of nervousness), sleep disturbances, tooth grinding/clenching, chronic fatigue, immune system dysfunctions, excess weight, acne, cancer and "others." Among the others, identified later, is heart disease, which pretty much gets all of the big ones inside the corral.
What, you might ask, is in my colon that can wreak such havoc? If you follow the cleansing program offered at the end of the newsletter (herbal supplies available to you at the mere flick of a credit card), you'll soon find out. According to the newsletter, you'll spend the next couple of months gazing at what comes out of your colon and coming face to face with a menagerie of parasitic monsters unlike anything you might have hoped to see outside of a 1950's science fiction film. They are, of course, pictured in the article, from tapeworms (yours might be the length of our border with Canada) to hookworms (nasty tooth-like things shown up close) to the Schistosome fluke (didn't Haggrid raise some of those in one of the Harry Potter books?). We are all absolutely loaded with them, and they are up to no good.
Apparently they are also fairly tenacious, because it's quite clear that you should not try to eliminate them on your own. Don't go running down to Walgreen's for a truckload of Fleet's Enemas. This is no place for an amateur. What is offered is a "Powerful All-Natural Cleansing Kit," the cornerstone of a three-part program to "help the body get rid of parasites, colon build-up & toxins." When you're done...if you follow through rigorously...you will own a colon you'd be proud to show off to your friends. I imagine some folks carry albums to display their colonoscopy snapshots...possibly before and after.
The packet also lets you in on another of the secrets to robust health: "tap water is full of disease-causing contaminants...(but) bottled water may be worse." Where did you think those flukes were coming from?? Fortunately, for $149.95 plus $7.95 S&H, you can protect yourself with the R/O Mini II reverse osmosis system.
The proof that all of this works comes in a mysteriously off-handed reference, once again on page four, to Dr. Paul Bragg ("author of many best-sellers about the importance of internal cleansing and the originator of America's health-food stores").
Dr. Bragg stressed the importance of and personally practiced frequent "internal cleansing." As a result, we can only conclude that he might have lived forever had he not "died at the age of 96 in a tragic accident while engaging in his favorite hobby, SURFING!!" (exclamation points and caps are mine) Could be that he was nose riding off the lip of a hot wave when he wiped out, or that somehow he managed to get tangled up with yet another departing worm. We're not told. At any rate, at the autopsy (why do you do an autopsy on a 96 year-old killed in a surfing accident?) it was noted that his body was "almost that of an 18 year-old man." "Almost"...an intriguing choice of words, possibly meaning the body of an 18 year-old man who looked very, very old.
Bottoms up, dudes.
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The Executive Committee voted to recognize the Discussion List Manager as an appointed officer on a par with the Mailing Coordinator, Parliamentarian, Database Coordinator and the various Liaisons. Mary Walsh of Denison Memorial Library is our current Discussion List Manager.
The 2002 Annual Party will be on Saturday, July 27, at Jerry Carlson's house in Cheyenne. He's announcing this now because that is also the last Saturday of Frontier Days - people may want to go to the Rodeo before the party and/or the Night Show afterward. Tickets for both go on sale in December. Jerry will also be arranging for tickets to the Old Fashioned Melodrama for anyone interested; that one doesn't need as much lead-time. Details on both the party and Frontier Days activities will filter out as they become available.
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MLA Teleconference
Wednesday, February 6, 2002, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Denison Auditorium
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
This teleconference will provide a fundamental knowledge of personal digital assistants (PDAs). The speakers will focus on helping librarians promote this technology to healthcare professionals; highlight currently available handheld devices, software, and peripherals; provide a framework for designing educational sessions about this technology, including "how-to" information; and demonstrate innovative programs that illustrate the potential of handheld technology for physicians and allied health professionals.
Registration information will be available soon.
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Renewal Notices Coming Soon!
The New Year will bring your CCML renewal notice. Don’t toss it in the holiday bill pile to look at later! Resolve to promptly check the form to be sure that we have your correct contact information in the database, and then return the form and payment to:
CCML
P.O. Box 101058
Denver, Colorado 80210-1058
CCML’s membership committee chair, database coordinator, and website editor will appreciate complete and prompt renewals!
[NOTE: For complete information see printed Council Quotes.]
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It's past time to announce some changes that have taken place in Boulder, both at the Grillo Health Care Information Center and Boulder Community Hospital. Over the summer, Connie Cencich-Myers retired from BCH and I, Peg Fletcher, became the librarian. I work 12 hours/week and have an assistant, Ellie Hughes who works 10 hours. The library continues to be open 20 hours/week. Most recently, I was the director of the Grillo Health Care Information Center and continue to be involved on the Steering Committee and as a training consultant. The new director is Monica Lalouette.
If I can answer any questions, please e-mail or call: 303/440-2091.
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On September 27, 2001, Bel-Rae Institute of Animal Technology, training veterinary technicians, became an active DOCLINE participant. We are at present a FreeShare library with 80 journals - mainly titles in veterinary medicine. Our LIBID is COUHYW.
Return to Table of ContentsVeterans Health Administration librarians have been sharing web site resources on bioterrorism, terrorism and emergency management:
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| Council Quotes is a bimonthly publication of the Colorado Council of Medical Librarians (CCML). CCML / P.O. Box 101058 / Denver, CO 80210-1058. Subscription is a benefit of membership. Editor, Lynne Fox; Assistant Editor, Jeff Kuntzman; Contributors, CCML members. |
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This page was last updated on 11 DEC 01.
Direct questions about this page to Lynne Fox.
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