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Henry Ford Hospital

Cut down your e-resource cataloging time

Photo of surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital
The first televised surgery at Henry Ford Hospital, 1958. From the Conrad R. Lam Collection, Henry Ford Health System. The Lam Archives is a division of the Sladen Library at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.

"Thanks to the time I've saved on cataloging with WorldShare Collection Manager, I now have more time to work with our Archives to help prepare the hospital's 100th year anniversary book."

Joe Escribano
Applications Specialist, Sladen Library, Henry Ford Hospital

Like many library staff members, Joe Escribano, the Applications Specialist at the Sladen Library in Henry Ford Hospital, fills in where needed. "I wear different hats," Joe said. "I'm the IT person here, but I also manage the e-books." As Librarian Audrey Bondar put it, "We're well-rounded here." Joe and Audrey manage the hospital library's electronic collections that are shared with other locations throughout metropolitan Detroit.

"We subscribe to five collections," Joe explained. "And the titles change year to year or the editions are updated. …Each of the five collections isn't terribly big, but it takes a while to manually compare all the library's holdings against the vendors' collections." Joe spent a considerable amount of time each year just confirming and correcting metadata for electronic collections so medical students and doctors could access the content.

"I used to have to check individual vendor sites and compare that information to our online catalog for correct URLs, titles and holdings. But now WorldShare Collection Manager delivers the records I need, which is much faster."

Since Joe began using WorldShare® Collection Manager, he has been able to streamline the process significantly. "It has helped me a lot and is much faster," Joe said. The ongoing record updates that Joe automatically receives are especially helpful. "Because of the way WorldShare Collection Manager delivers the records, I could transition away from eyeballing the record as closely as I had been and toward trusting it more. That process really made things easier."

With the time he saved by using Collection Manager, Joe put on yet another hat. He worked closely with the library archives on a special anniversary book and website, which was published in 2015. "It's historical, and it highlights Henry Ford founding the hospital and a lot of the innovations in the hospital's history. My involvement with the Archives is scanning and processing those photos," he explained. "And that takes a lot of my time these days," added Joe, who appreciates having the time to dedicate to such a lasting project.

Map showing location of Henry Ford Hospital

Library at a glance

  • The Sladen Library at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit acts as the main library branch and supports the suburban hospitals as well as all affiliated locations with electronic resources
  • Provides access to nearly 6,000 electronic journals and books through five major collections
  • Supports the teaching, research and clinical missions of the Henry Ford Health System


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