Plan for Distribution of New York State Medical Information Subsidy for April 1999-March 2002

Report of New York State Medical Information Task Force

I.

The current New York State Medical Information Subsidy provides funding to the New York State Reference and Research Library Resources Systems (3R's) to provide connections to the National Network/Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). The Task Force recognizes the success of the current program in helping to provide fast, efficient access to health information to meet the needs of the people of New York.

II.

The Task Force further recognizes that changes in procedures at the Contracting Agent institution provide an opportunity for streamlining of the current procedures for this program. Therefore, the Task Force makes the recommendations that follow.

III.

It is further recommended that this Plan be implemented as soon as possible and be in effect until March 31, 2002. If by March 31, 2002, there have been no changes to the New York State Law that governs this program, this program as outlined below will remain in effect.

IV.

Specifics of the recommended Plan are:

1.

Division of Library Development (DLD) will contract with an agency or agencies (hereinafter called the "Contracting Agent") to provide services to the 3R's for access to the Regional Medical Library (RML) network. The responsibilities of the Contracting Agent shall include, but not be limited to:

  • Distributing program funds and 3R's administrative fees to the 3R's in a timely fashion
  • Work with the University of Connecticut to assure that New York libraries participating in the Electronic Funds Transfer System (EFTS) program receive quality service
  • Provide a template for use by 3R's and the New York State Library which can be used to explain and promote the Program [see below]
  • Report on the use of Program funds as deemed necessary by DLD.

2.

Each 3R's will submit a Plan

  • Each 3R's would submit a plan (to be approved by each region's governing board) to DLD for approval
  • Plan should be submitted on one page, easy-to-fill-out form
  • Allowable expenditure categories (see below) can be adjusted during the year without a budget amendment, but any changes must comply with the overall goals of the program and be reflected in the final report
  • The Task Force strongly recommends that "allowable expenditures" be interpreted as broadly as possible to allow for the greatest amount of flexibility in the program and to achieve the most beneficial results for libraries and their customers.

Each 3R's is responsible for creating a Plan that meets the needs of its member libraries. Categories of allowable expenditures that may be include in the Plan are:

  • Document delivery from: 1) Any NN/LM DDP (not just in Region 1 and 8); 2) NLM
  • Mediated searches through a NN/LM DDP
  • Locator tools for medical information (e.g., UCMP)
  • Other locator tools: Creation and maintenance of medical information locator tools; e.g., loading a region's medical libraries' serial and/or monographic holdings in a special database searchable online. (Needs to be verified by NYS counsel that this use of funds is permissible.)
  • Communication -- to explain and promote the program; Contracting Agent provides template for use by 3R's and DLD
  • Training -- subsidize cost/expense relating to training in how to access medical information through libraries who are members of NN/LM

Expenditures not allowed:

  • Payment to commercial document delivery providers, such as CARL UnCover
  • Payment to non-DDP's for document delivery

3.

Disbursement of funds:

  • The formula, which determines the allocation of "medical subsidy" per region, will remain the same
  • 3R's will receive an administrative fee of 2% for administering this program on the regional level
  • The 3R's disburse the funds according to their plans
  • 3R's have the option as to whether to reimburse libraries for allowed uses of the subsidy, distribute the money ahead of time to libraries, pay DDP invoices for libraries, or other options or combination of options
  • The "contract year" shall be the state fiscal year, April 1 through March 31. The "program year" shall be July 1 through June 30

Program plans from the 3R's should be submitted and approved prior to June 1. The contract between the State and the contracting Agent should be in place prior to April 1. If an approved contract is in place, the State Library should release funds to the Contracting Agent as soon as possible after the approval of the State budget. If all approvals are in place, the State Library should instruct the Contracting Agent to release funds to the 3R's within six weeks of the Contracting Agent's receipt of State Program funds.

Example: 1999-2000 funds would be available to Contracting Agent around July 1999 assuming approval of the contract and a timely State budget. Funds released to the 3R's in August/September for Program Year beginning July 1, 1999.

2001-2002 funds could be available to the Contracting Agent in May 2000, assuming timely State budget. Released to 3R's in June for Program Year beginning July 1, 2000 (program year 2000-2001).

4.

Reporting:

Reporting by 3R's to the State is on the "Big picture" level, not at the individual library level:

  1. % of money spent on "type" of service;
  2. Who delivered the service? (Keep it broad, e.g., "used DOCLINE, OCLC");
  3. Libraries keep records of their transactions

Funds disbursed: trust libraries to spend money as they said, but require a signed report or statement from libraries for a "paper trail" (DLD will specify the length of time records must be kept).

Go to Medical Information Services Program Page
Last Updated: July 27, 2009