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September 29, 2008
Farewell to the Dentistry Library, Hello to the Future
In early July, the School of Dentistry had a farewell party for me as I shift to my new position as the Emerging Technologies Librarian, and as the Dentistry Library was closed to the public, permanently. The party was amazing. I was and remain deeply touched. Today we are having a welcoming event for the School of Dentistry at the Health Sciences Library, where the collections of the Dentistry Library were moved, and where the School of Dentistry community will now go for access to collections and for library services and support. I'd like to take just a moment to talk briefly about this sea change in our environment and how it has come about, from my own personal point of view.
In Fall 1997, at the Midwest Medical Library Association meeting, Nancy Allee and Doreen Bradley began trying to persuade me to apply here for the position of the Head of the Dentistry Library. They were quickly and enthusiastically joined by a number of other folk at UM, which I of course found quite flattering. I had one big question - "Why me? I don't know anything about dentistry - I'm a computer geek."
Well, before the interview, I made sure I learned a few things about dentistry! I read the IOM report, read reports about trends in the profession and workforce, reviewed NERB study materials, and looked at patterns of administrative structures of various leading dental schools, especially the University of Michigan. I quickly discovered my own reasons for wanting to work with dentistry.
Foremost among these reasons were the following.
- oral health is the last major social health care frontier
- there is still today prejudice and discrimination against persons of lower socioeconomic status as identified by the condition of their smile
- there is significant isolation of and discrimination against persons with facial difference
- SoD faculty have a history of working to promote the social good
- the University of Michigan School of Dentistry (SoD) is consistently ranked among the very best dental schools in the world
- the UM SoD was the only dental school in the world with both an independent library and a museum of dental history
- the UM Dentistry Library was one of the largest in the world, later the largest in the world
During the interview, I was told by my soon-to-be new boss that there was consideration of merging the Dentistry Library with the Medical Library, and that part of my assignment would be to come up with the resources to preserve it. At that time, I was given a deadline of fiver years before the Dentistry Library would be closed. Now, eleven years later, we are indeed merging the Dentistry Library with the Medical Library, and I am moving on to a new and different position. I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad about being the last librarian of the University of Michigan Dentistry Library, that I don't feel any sense of failure. I would be oversimplifying if I focused on just the sadness. It just isn't that simple.
There are many reasons for closing the Dentistry Library. I was not privy to the discussions in which the decision was made, did not know about the decision until moments before it was announced. I cannot speak to what the reasons were for that decision, but there is probably no one who knows better reasons for why this decision should have been made, and was, in my opinion, inevitable.
There are two main clusters of reasons I would give for the closing of the Dentistry Library. The first group relates to facilities issues as well as economic and fiscal resources; the second group relates to educational trends at the University of Michigan and within the School of Dentistry, trends in dental education specifically, and broader global trends in education.
I don't want to spend a lot of time focusing on what we needed and didn't have for resources to keep the library open. Very briefly, let me say that before I ever arrived there were major facilities issues that needed to be resolved, and that contributed to long standing problems over my tenure with the library. Staffing had peaked some years before I arrived, and had begun to decline. That was a concern during my interview, but the staffing increases I negotiated at that time never became reality. Everyone in academia should be well aware of the increasing costs of building and maintaining collections. There were chronic challenges in all these areas. Yes, every library faces the same challenges, but smaller libraries feel these more keenly. My personal opinion is that unless a small library is positioned in a strongly supportive organization with generous resources that is actively growing its own economic base, the smaller libraries will not survive in the way we now think of them.
Part of the reason for all of this is the evolving information environment and trends in education. I've been tracking these types of questions and trends my entire career, since I was in grad school, eating breakfast at the Little Brown Job with Carl Berger back in the mid80s, listening to his theories on gaming in education. Let me try to distill just the highlights of these long standing trends into small bits. I want to start by looking at this in the broadest sense or education overall. Take a look at the following six minute video - trust me, it is worth watching.
Stop and think for a moment. What would be the impact of these on your neighborhood library, on libraries such as the Dentistry Library? How do you justify the ongoing existence and costs of a small library located physically near your campus space in a world such as that described? If that doesn't quite convince you, you might take a look at edu@2020, a 16 minute video that focuses more explicitly on education rather than society at large.
The main issues in both of these are the impact of changing tech on education, especially how it is delivered. Most significantly is the shift toward information and education being delivered remotely via new and emerging technologies.
Over the past few months, I've had several conversations with individuals at the School of Dentistry about these issues. The initial reaction has tended to be along the lines of "but not us." These issues do apply locally.
If you don't believe me, believe John King, the Vice Provost for Academic Information of the University of Michigan. This video from Dr. King is an exemplary development of these issues, positioning them broadly within a historical context and developing them in both local and global contexts. This presentation (an hour and a half in length, but a truly brilliant intellectual thoughtpiece on the evolution and immediate future of education) was given to the Librarians Forum at UM, but I have heard Dr. King deliver much the same message more recently, last May at Enriching Scholarship. This is not a passing fad.
Even within the School of Dentistry we see new online initiatives such as the degree completion program for Dental Hygiene and the shift toward moving more of the 4th year curriculum to remote sites. More and more of the education we do will be done in other locations than the physical site of the current School of Dentistry buildings. As less and less education, teaching, and research is happening in the building, can you justify a major renovation to preserve a library located in the building that is no longer being used as much for the target audience of the people who are no longer there? Sounds, pretty obvious, put that way, doesn't it?
Yes, some of the education must happen locally. I was in a meeting where Dr. King asked the audience something along the lines of, "Do you think in the future some of our courses might be given in durations other than a semester in length? Yes? What lengths? A month? A week?" The answers were all yes, and the people answering were all faculty. So we bring students to campus for just the portion of th educational process that really depends on face-to-face delivery.
No, we aren't there yet. Yes, it is too soon. But it is coming, and coming faster than we might think. I myself have seen a 3d simultation of a virtual emergency room simulation that is either equivalent or very close to equivalent to manniquin simulations, anv vastly less expensive, more widely available geographically, and accessible 24/7/365. How long until we have something similar for portions of dental education? Most of you have seen the demonstrations of the 3D Tooth Atlas and the haptic devices that are in development.
So, the Dentistry Library closed earlier than I wished, earlier than many of you wished. In good conscience I cannot argue that we should be building a new space for it to resolve the facilities issues, given the context of the shifts in education, both locally and globally. I can honestly say that I miss the people and environment of the School of Dentistry, miss you all terribly. I believe that in my new position of Emerging Technologies Librarian, I am positioned in the place where I hope I can best help you all with this transition and moving into our future. Do please stay in touch. Ask me questions; visit; and let's explore, together, options and opportunities for embracing and building on the shifts that are triggering changes like this all across the educational landscape, both within dentistry and beyond.
Posted by pfa at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2008
Who Remembers Bernie? And Why?
Last week the Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned Bernie Machen. Remember Bernie? He was the Dean here at the School of Dentistry shortly before I arrived in the late 90s. When I was interviewing for position of Dentistry Librarian, my primary cram-for-the-test study source was Dental Education at the Crossroads from the Institute of Medicine and the Committee On The Future Of Dental Education.
Dental Education at the Crossroads: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4925
The description of the book starts with this: "Six dental schools have closed in the last decade and others are in jeopardy. Facing this uncertainty about the status of dental education and the continued tension between educators and practitioners, leaders in the profession have recognized the need for purpose and direction." We are still facing these issues and addressing them in critical curriculum redesigns.
J. Bernard Machen was at this time the Dean of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, and an active member of the Committee On The Future Of Dental Education. From the University of Michigan, he has only continued to move onward and upward in the academic hierarchy, currently President of the University of Florida.
OK, so what has Bernie been doing at UF? You can take a look at this Google News search to see what is being picked up by the popular press:
Google News: "bernard machen" OR "bernie machen"
The big buzz come from the Chronicle of Higher Education, who published an article last week featuring Machen as the famed inspiration for a mixed drink in the bars of Gainesville. The Chronicle has the article locked down to subscribers, so I don't dare show you the pretty pictures or give the recipe. I can point you to the news in the Gainesville local press, which states, "The drink includes rum, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur, lime juice and grenadine syrup."
Thirsty for a Machen?: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080916/COLUMNISTS/809170298/-1/news07&title=Publication_tries_to_recreate__Machen__drink
Executive Mixers: In which we imagine cocktails named for college presidents: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i03/03a00601.htm
So what is Bernie doing academically, aside from being UF President? Well, he's still working on the issues that matter to us, here.
Machen, J. Bernard. Will We Allow Dentistry to Be Left Behind? Principles Underlying Dental Education and Practice. Journal of Dental Education 72(2_suppl): 10-13 2008. http://www.jdentaled.org/cgi/content/citation/72/2_suppl/10
What do you think will be remembered? The pretty mixed drink, or the fight for the survival of dental education?
Posted by pfa at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2008
Dentistry Collection @ Taubman
More good news: All dentistry books are now integrated by call number with the collection at Taubman, so you should have no trouble finding them on the 6th floor.
Journals are almost done as well--just a few more rows to go.
Posted by cshannon at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)