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1st appeared
07
April 2000
Effort to Keep Mount Zion Library Open Physicians and staff at Mount Zion are raising funds through spring to keep the H.M. Fishbon Library open for another year. Facing a significant financial crisis, the UCSF Medical Center eliminated funding for the library for the current fiscal year 1999-2000 -- the first year it has not been able to support the library since its affiliation with Mount Zion in 1990. Operating under a financial recovery plan, the Medical Center has had to make significant sacrifices as it strives to cut costs to break even. The Medical Center continues to invest in clinical programs at the Mount Zion site, which is evolving into an outpatient hub and campus for cancer care and research. But faculty and staff are hoping to preserve a part of the past. Serving the Mount Zion community for more than 60 years, the H.M. Fishbon Library has been the primary resource for current medical information for physicians, nurses, researchers and students who work and study at the site, according to Jeffrey Pearl, new associate chief medical officer at Mount Zion. The Mount Zion Health Fund (MSHF) board of directors voted to support the library this year until permanent funding can be restored, contributing about one-third of its $360,000 annual operating budget. Another third will come from the library’s own fund, which is administered by the MZHF. After hearing about the need to raise the remaining one-third or $120,000 through donations, several Mount Zion physicians pitched in $60,000. The library continues to seek donations for the remaining $60,000. "We’re pretty close to reaching that goal thanks to the generosity of users," says Gail Sorrough, library manager for the past 10 years. Special resource Pearl and physicians Robert Mendle and Ernest Ring, who all serve on the MZHF board of directors, sent a letter in January to the Mount Zion community asking for additional contributions to "preserve this very special resource." The physicians point out that the "Mount Zion family, in reflecting the Jewish commitment to lifelong learning and education, has generously supported the library’s development" before. The library was located in the main hallway on the first floor in 1950 because "physicians recognized the importance of medical information in their daily practice and ongoing research and remain committed to the idea that there should be no impediments to accessing the library’s resources," the physicians say. The library is named for a Mount Zion pioneer -- the late Harris M. Fishbon, a 1933 graduate of the UCSF School of Medicine. Fishbon, or "Fish" as his friends called him, practiced internal medicine at Mount Zion for 32 years, except for the stint he spent as Lt. Colonel in the US Army during World War II. A clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, Fishbon served as an elected representative to the medical board and served as Chief of Medicine at Mount Zion. He was respected and revered by physician colleagues and many of the students he trained through the years. Many of them sought his medical advice and knowledge and believed a fitting tribute to name the library after him. Today, the library staff sees a lot of new faces, says Sorrough. After experiencing a slight decline in use following the reorganization, the library now serves a growing contingent of cancer center researchers along with a few patients, she says. The library staff helps users obtain inter-library loans, get documents from UCSF’s main library on Parnassus and procure journal articles and books that are not available on site. It also offers Internet access, faxing and copy services. The Fishbon library is open Monday through Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Fridays, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Donations to the "Friends of the Mount Zion Library Fund" may be sent directly to Mount Zion Health Fund, 3330 Geary Blvd., 3rd Floor, SF, CA 94118. For more information about the library, call 885-7378. Link: Source: Lisa Cisneros, Newsbreak Editor |
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