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Dragonfly, Fall 1998 MSU Receives Outreach Sub-Contract

Congratulations Kathy Kaya and MSU!

Kathy Kaya, Reference Librarian and Assistant Professor at Montana State University, has been working with tribal college libraries since 1987, writing successful grants, planning and teaching workshops, and promoting networking. The RML has received special funding from the National Library of Medicine to support an outreach sub-contract at MSU, with Kathy as the Principal Investigator, to extend her work with tribal college librarians. This project will also be used as a test of the draft Outreach Evaluation Guide, currently being written by Cathy Burroughs at the RML.

Here's Kathy's summary of the project:

Health Information Services to Indian Health Service Personnel

In order to be able to better meet the health information needs of Indian Health Service (IHS) and other health care workers, faculty teaching and students enrolled in health-related programs, and tribal members, we are proposing training for Montana tribal college librarians to provide medical reference services and end user instruction... An additional benefit would be funding for each library to add some basic medical reference titles to its collection and a computer station. Since the tribal college libraries already serve a diverse population in a variety of roles, we would not be adding an additional burden, but rather would be enhancing their ability to meet existing responsibilities... The services provided in the cultural context of the tribal college will foster comfort and trust among those requiring assistance in obtaining information and information services. The premise for this project is local empowerment. It would establish an information infrastructure that can be maintained after the duration of the subcontract period. The project would expand on a strong relationship that the MSU Libraries has already established with tribal college libraries. Serving as a prototype for projects that could be carried out in other venues, it is consistent with MSU's land grant mission to its constituent populations.

URL: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/news/199810/msu.html