On May 8, I visited the Lincoln Health Sciences Library Group. Tom Schmitz hosted the meeting at the Lincoln Regional Center. The library there is about the size of the Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center Library.

The meeting was a cozy gathering of Beth Goble, from the Nebraska Library Commission, Sue Echols, from Bryan LGH, Brenda Claassen, from MDS Pharma Services, Rebecca Lee, from Lincoln City Library, and Tom Schmitz. The LHSLG has 16 members, including representatives from Southeast Community College, St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center, Madonna Rehabilitation Center, the Lincoln Family Practice Program, Southeast Library System, UNL, Union College, and Nebraska Wesleyan. Some of these people you will recognize or at least be familiar with their names, since five of them are also members of ICON.

The meeting consisted mainly of updates from each member present. Some of the discussion centered on interlibrary loan activity which, for several of the smaller sites, is done by the Nebraska Library Commission for free. Some of the sharing among members is done by phone, since they don't have a union list and several don't participate in DOCLINE or OCLC.

I told the members of the HealthHQ project and the video that was recently produced with grant funds. Most of them had never heard of HealthHQ. Sue Echols readily acknowledged the benefits that ICON has provided to her institution with free or low-cost interlibrary loans. I mentioned that we occasionally offer continuing education workshops, and we provide scholarships for our members. I also indicated that ICON is looking into grants to purchase Ariel for its members. Some of the LHSLG members were interested.

We talked of meeting together to learn more about each other. Since many of the LHSLG members are one-librarian sites, it would boost attendance if we met in Lincoln. This will be addressed at our June 28 meeting.

It was a very agreeable afternoon. After the meeting, Tom toured me through his library and a visitors' museum of medical history.

To become better acquainted with our colleagues in Lincoln, I'd like to propose a meeting or even a social gathering in Lincoln. Our quarterly meetings are already booked for 2002, but we could meet on one of their meeting dates. They meet bimonthly, except for January. The next dates for their meetings are September 11 and November 13. ICON could arrange a van (perhaps Jim would like to drive?) to take as many as would like to participate. I think we have a lot to offer each other.

--Karen Mier, Senior Executive Board Member