The first annual meeting of the 2006-2011 Greater Midwest Region (GMR) Regional Advisory Council (RAC) was held in Chicago on December 5, 2006. Four breakout groups followed the orientation and introduction sessions. The following topics were discussed by the groups: elicensing, communications technologies, public health, and partnering with community based organizations.

In the area of electronic licensing (elicensing), the GMR proposes to provide a variety of ways that network members can learn about elicensing so as to negotiate more effective agreements with vendors and to inform network members about group licensing opportunities. The elicensing work group discussed these issues, reviewed the current GMR ejournal webpage http://nnlm.gov/gmr/resourcesharing/ejournals.html, and contributed recommendations for implementation.

The communications technologies session focused on ways of fostering communication through a variety of tools, such as lists, The Cornflower, web conferencing, email, and wikis.

The public health breakout session identified potential partners for members and for the GMR. National Library of Medicine resources needed by public health professionals were also discussed.

One suggestion from the community based organization (CBO) breakout session was for the GMR to concentrate on a bottom-up approach to CBOs. Also discussed were ways to engage CBOs in the partnering process.

Other recommendations will be forthcoming.

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