Volunteering Firsts
Daneen Richardson
Reference Librarian
Graham Hospital
School of Nursing Library
Canton, IL
Have you seen the request from the NN/LM GMR for volunteers to help exhibit at conferences? Well, I did and thought that it sounded interesting. I felt that it was a way I could help them as they had helped me when they awarded my 2005 Technology Improvement Award: Providing access: Digital nursing resources past and present.
I am the reference librarian at Graham Hospital School of Nursing Library in Canton, Illinois (35 miles southwest of Peoria). The closest conference to me here in central Illinois needing volunteer assistance was in Chicago. My library director felt it was worth my travel time to volunteer.
Wow! Was it worth the time! I emailed Holly Burt from the GMR office to let her know I could volunteer at the American Diabetes Association annual conference held at McCormick Place on June 22-26, 2007. I offered to help really thinking that I did not know much about PubMed® or the National Library of Medicine, but I found out that I knew more than I thought and then I learned even more.
At first, I felt like a carnival barker trying to lure people into our booth. Some came reluctantly wondering what the catch was to “Free”. Others replied, “I’m not from the United States.” We quickly told them that they could access the information we had to offer anywhere via the Internet. When they replied “Oh, I use that every day,” we then asked, “Did you know you can save your searches and get alerts when new information is available?” “Really?!” Then we would give a quick demo and provide them with pamphlets with more details to help them at home later.
Just the week before the American Diabetes Association conference, the speaker at our quarterly HILC meeting (Heart of Illinois Library Consortium) was Tom Bartenfelder from Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Library, Maywood, IL, who spoke to us about the Illinois Go Local project. I was able to introduce physicians and health care providers to Go Local and its availability in Illinois and various other states. We gave out prescription pads with MedlinePlus information for physicians to give to their patients as an authority for medial information. I know that I talked with physicians from all over the United States, South Carolina, California, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana and Illinois and the world, including China, Canada, Japan, Ireland, United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Mexico and Australia.
Not only was this my first time exhibiting for the GMR, but it was a day for firsts. I was able to tell hundreds of people about the great things the National Library of Medicine provides to us for free. I even rode the Metra all by myself! I stayed south of the city and hopped on the Metra – Electric (University Park to Chicago). I transfered once, and the line stopped at McCormick Place. It was easy and well worth the $4.30 (one way) not to have to worry about driving downtown and parking, let alone the traffic I would have faced leaving in the evening. I walked around the exhibit hall a bit and gathered information for our diabetes educator and picked up a few cool freebies from various vendors.
If you have not had the opportunity to volunteer at the NLM booth ,and you can take the time from your library, do so. They will reimburse for mileage and parking. It was fun and informative and a great way to say thank you to the NNLM/GMR for all they do for us. I just heard that I was awarded a 2007 Technology Improvement Award, Enhancing Library Services through Digitization. I’m looking forward to volunteering again at a future conference for the NNLM/GMR.
This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. N01-LM-6-3503 with the University of Illinois at Chicago.
