What does a visit to the ADA Library really cost? By Spencer Bloom, DDS, DrBicuspid.com contributing writer
 November 27, 2012 -- In "ADA responds to debate over library cuts," Dr. Kathleen O'Loughlin, executive director of the ADA, states, "Each member that physically entered the library in 2012 came at a cost of $1,000 per use." Dr. O'Loughlin ought to know that is not how to do a cost analysis. She is demonstrating for us how we need to be very concerned about our financial stability because, by her logic, if the doors were locked to members in 2012, then the library would have cost the ADA nothing. Yes? In truth, keeping the door open doesn't cost a nickel. In fact, users that browse the books and copy their own journal articles are less expensive because library staff time is nil.
The truth is that the library costs the ADA 1% of its expense budget. Our financial stability is more likely found within the 99% that goes to who knows what. Let us have our library that, for 85 years, has served the members and the profession well.
It is sad how many ADA members were not aware we even had a library. Marketing our discounts for car rentals, appliances, etc. wouldn't have cost a nickel more if they included the library as a benefit of membership. The booklet on member benefits doesn't even mention that we have a library, and nowhere does it broadcast that members can save more money per year than they pay in dues by using the library's services.
Cutting the library down is a callous disregard for what the members expect to be done with our dues. Our grass roots movement disagrees with the analysis made about the library. Members that aren't active library users do actively want the library to be maintained. Among the supporters are the Illinois State Dental Society and the American Association of Dental Editors.
I haven't met anyone who feels $12 per member is too much. It is the only direct benefit of membership, where our dollars come directly back to us via book loans by mail, article copies, reference packages, and assistance from knowledgeable dental librarians. Cutting us out from this benefit, as planned, pretty much puts us on equal footing with nonmembers who are looking for self-education via new books and Cochrane Library full-text articles, etc.
The ADA Library's mission fits very nicely within the goals of the ADA and our core values; to make it sound otherwise is ludicrous. If membership in the ADA is to give us advantages over nonmembers, do not take away our library privileges.
If the library budget were restored and the library's benefits marketed in terms of direct dollars saved by borrowing books, obtaining the other services, etc., then even nonmembers might want to get in on this. I don't see how the ADA can toss out our built-in membership recruitment and retention tool. It is good for clinical dentists and it is good for the ADA.
Spencer Bloom, DDS, is a general dentist in private practice in the Chicago area and a 1979 graduate of the University of Illinois School of Dentistry. He is currently vice president of the northwest side branch of the Chicago Dental Society.
Related Reading
ADA responds to debate over library changes, November 21, 2012 Debate over ADA Library cuts not over yet, November 14, 2012 ADA to cut services at Chicago library, October 24, 2012
Copyright © 2012 DrBicuspid.com
Last Updated kk 11/27/2012 12:19:15 PM
Forum Comments
8 comments so far ...
11/28/2012 10:11:36 AM
carlisledds |
I think O'Loughlin and the Trustees didn't put much thought into the ramifications of this library budget cut and how to implement it. They didn't think a fuss would happen. Well they were wrong. Now they are trying to spin themselves out of this mess instead of admiting that they made a big mistake and rectifying it by returning the library budget to its 2012 level.
In short "LET IT BE - return the library to its 2012 level!"
Lynn Carlisle, DDS
Editor/Publisher, In a Spirit of Caring
http://www.spiritofcaring.com
|
|
11/29/2012 12:26:28 AM
BloomChicago |
Lynn,
Of course I agree with what you said... but let's not suggest we need for anyone to "admit they made a big mistake".
My goal is restoration of the library's budget. Then I'd like to see the ADA use the library as a member recruitment and retention tool. Eventually I hope we can budget for a modernized library, with access to significant resources online plus textbooks by mail. I want it known in the dental community-at-large that we have benefits coming directly to us for our dues money, and that our benefits give us educational advantages and cost savings compared to nonmembers.
In 2012, only $12 of each member's dues went to pay the library's full budget. That is not a lot of money, but it covered over 160 new textbooks added to the book collection, a LOT of journal subscriptions, the subscription to the Cochrane Library for EBD research that provided members with full-text articles, a staff of experienced dental librarians who are experts in finding information for us and for the ADA, and more.
I don't think anybody needs to admit anything, other than that the ADA Library is a valuable resource to the dental profession and an important benefit of membership and it is worth spending 1% of our expense budget to maintain it.
Spencer Bloom
Chicago
|
|
11/29/2012 5:33:11 AM
DrCaroline |
The ADA Library is a membership benefit available to each and every member of the ADA, whether they use it or not. Most ADA members do not use the ADA Library. Most ADA members do not know they have this membership benefit. Most ADA members are not aware that access to the ADA Library has been cut.
A library as defined by Wikipedia:
A library is a collection of information, sources, resources, books, and services, and the structure in which it is housed: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. The term can mean the collection, the building that houses such a collection, or both.
Public and institutional collections and services may be intended for use by people who choose not to - or cannot afford to - purchase an extensive collection themselves, who need material no individual can reasonably be expected to have, or who require professional assistance with their research.
However, with the collection of media other than books for storing information, many libraries are now also repositories and access points for maps, prints, or other documents and works of art on various storage media such as microform (microfilm/microfiche), audio tapes, CDs, LPs, cassettes, videotapes, and DVDs. Libraries may also provide public facilities to access CD-ROMs, subscription databases, and the Internet.
Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources. In addition to providing materials, they also provide the services of specialists, librarians, who are experts at finding and organizing information and at interpreting information needs.
More recently, libraries are understood as extending beyond the physical walls of a building, by including material accessible by electronic means, and by providing the assistance of librarians in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools.
I am a dues paying active member of the American Dental Association and my expectations as such include representation for the improvement and protection of my profession. One of the membership benefits that I am entitled to is being removed. By definition, as stated above, the ADA Library is an invaluable resource to its' members. I understand that in the process of modernization the ADA Library should evolve, but in principal, it should be accessible to all members at all times, with the aid of a person knowledgable in the field, namely a librarian.
As an ADA member, if the ADA library ceases to be, I feel cheated.
Caroline Scholtz, D.D.S., M.S. Illinois
|
|
11/29/2012 6:57:35 AM
carlisledds |
If O'Loughlin and the Trustees keep justifying their actions and blaming the recession, media and young dentists lack of interest etc. in the ADA, they will keep heading down the same road that led them to their budget problems. Realizing that they made mistakes is the first step in rectifying their budget and membership problems.
The next step is coming up with a vison and a strategic plan to help members discover what enormous benefits and services the library and the ADA provide - and they do. This will increase their membership. I suggest that the next step for us critics is to help them by giving them ideas on how to do the above.
It is just like building a dental practice; word of mouth buzz from existing ADA members on what great benefits and services the library and ADA provides is their greatest recruitment tool. The internet is a great avenue for this.
The first step is to "LET IT BE - restore the library budget to its 2012 level!"
Lynn Carlisle, DDS
Editor/Publisher In a Spirit of Caring
[link=http://www.spiritofcaring.com]http://www.spiritofcaring.com[/link]
|
|
11/30/2012 9:26:17 AM
BloomChicago |
Dr. Carlisle,
I know what you mean.
Read the comment above, by Dr. Caroline Scholtz. She sent that to the officers and trustees and received an email reply from Dr. O'Loughlin that simply said that all her questions will be answered in the attached "Fact Sheet". Lo and behold, the "Fact Sheet" is the text contained in Dr. O'Loughlin's DrBicuspid article... I couldn't find many facts in there at all!! I see falsehoods, exhaggerations, and some distortions that could be called "lies". Dr. O'Loughlin is a paid employee of the ADA... and she is doing the bidding of the BOT. I don't understand the willingness to put out anything other than factual information. They don't seem to want to do that. What kind of people are we dealing with here?
|
|
|
|
|