@article{cadc601d0d144a8ab28758172c9699da,
title = "From novelty to necessity impact of the PDA experience on medical libraries",
abstract = "Handheld computers are quickly becoming a ubiquitous tool in medicine. Factors that have spurred the rapid adoption of this technology in medicine include convenience and ease of use, mobility, and the enormous library of medical applications now available. Health sciences libraries in both hospitals and academic medical centers are actively promoting and supporting PDAs as a natural extension of their services. Medical libraries have quickly adopted this technology to deliver medical information in a non-traditional way. This paper discusses approaches being used to incorporate PDAs into library services and examines the impact of those approaches on the medical reference librarian.",
keywords = "Handheld computing handheld products, Library services, Medical Libraries, Medical reference, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Wireless access",
author = "Peg Burnette and Jo Dorsch",
note = "Funding Information: Providing patrons with devices to sample was a feature of several early PDA projects. Offering users a chance to try before they buy proved to be an effective way to introduce new users to the possibilities of the technology. At Texas A&M University{\textquoteright}s Medical Science Library, librarian Joe Williams was responsible for developing new library services in a wireless environment. The library purchased two Visor Pro PDAs to be circulated to patrons as a way to promote the technology (Williams, 2003). Some libraries also included pre-loaded applications on devices loaned for trial. In 2000, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Library of the Health Sciences-Peoria (LHS-Peoria) was asked to set up, distribute and support fifty Handspring Visor Deluxe devices, each pre-loaded with several freeware medical applications, to third-year medical students. In addition, the library provided PDA compatible copies of the Washington Manual of Therapeutics, Harrison{\textquoteright}s Companion Handbook, 5 Minute Clinical Consult and Lexi Drugs for students to trial during their Internal Medicine rotation. During a joint project, funded by the Illinois State Library, the Library Resource Center of OSF St. Francis Medical Center (OSF Library), and the LHS-Peoria made available a total of thirty-five handheld devices, each pre-loaded with subject-specific content, for users to trial. The final grant report is available at http://library.osfsaintfrancis.org/pdagrant. htm.1 [Note: Web sites are also listed in the order that they appear here in an appendix at the end of the article–the editors.] This project included circulation of peripheral devices including keyboards, cameras, voice recorders, and Margi Presenter-To-Go, a presentation device that facilitates PowerPoint presentations from a handheld, http://www.margi. com/.2 In today{\textquoteright}s rapidly evolving handheld market, however, providing hardware for users to trial is becoming cost-prohibitive.",
year = "2006",
month = apr,
day = "21",
doi = "10.1300/J120v45n93_07",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "45",
pages = "83--98",
journal = "Reference Librarian",
issn = "0276-3877",
publisher = "Routledge",
number = "93",
}