Join us for a very exciting Lake Effects on Thursday, December 15, 2011, from 1-2 pm CT. Hospital librarians Denise Rumschlag, Melinda Orebaugh, and Barbara Platts will be sharing how librarians can become advocates for change in their institutions. We will examine ways of reducing waste and the cost of care, addressing services lines, and increasing the visibility of the library. Learn about collaborating to create tools for advocacy and participating in business performance reviews and LEAN projects. Hear about successful activities revealing that library expertise can have a powerful impact on the larger organization. Discover how you can add value to your library and library services. This is one webinar you won’t want to miss. Register today as space is limited.

By Sandi L. Bates MLIS
Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences
University of North Dakota

The University of North Dakota’s Library of the Health Sciences exhibited at the Grand Forks Women’s Show Oct. 1, providing an opportunity to share NN/LM resources with more than 1,900 people.

For the second year we shared the booth with Dr. Edward Sauter’s research team. Dr. Sauter is professor of surgery at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences and does extensive breast cancer research and education. The exhibit provided both an outlet to discuss health topics with consumers and a place for women to actively participate in the research. We will be able to continue to participate in the translational research platform being built by the University of North Dakota through efforts like this exhibit.

We were able to make contacts with healthcare professionals who were interested in consumer health resources. A local senior center encouraged us to drop brochures and MedlinePlus magazines off for their clientele. Our supply of printed materials for MedlinePlus and Household Products were depleted by the end of the day.

Each year the National Library of Medicine highlights projects from across the country on their webpage.  The web pages of featured projects for National Medical Librarians Month 2011 are available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/lo/profiles11/. This year the GMR included five projects from among recent subcontracts and awards.  Congratulations to these selected programs: Munson Digital Archive Project, Touch Technology Multilingual Health Information, Assessing Mental Health Information Needs of Clergy of Portage, Health-E Public: Improving Access to Health Information Resources for Public Health Professionals in Southeastern Wisconsin County, and Building the Future with Community Health Information.  Read about them at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/lo/profiles11/gmr.html.

For suggestions on Promoting Your Library this month, visit at: http://nnlm.gov/gmr/member/advocacy/.

National Library of Medicine
Bethesda, MD
The National Library of Medicine is part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The GMR is again offering to sponsor a number of sites for the upcoming MLA Webcast: “ABCs of E-books: Strategies for the Medical Library” to be held on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., central time

Visit:
http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/mlawebcast.html
for detailed information on how to become a sponsored site. (more…)

In this time of economic down turn you may have considered broadening your library services,  sharpening up  your professional skills or attending a motivating plenary. The problem is in this time of economic down turn you don’t have the funds to become cutting edge.  You can use the GMR funding opportunities to make some headway.

Amplify your ILL service -  Interlibrary Loan is a service that doesn’t have to change very much.  It still works if you don’t do anything.  This is an area that can easily be brought into the new millennium.  The first thing you can do is to STOP invoicing other libraries for the things that you borrow.  Apply for an EFTS Award. The staff at the Electronic Fund Transfer System are happy to assist you with the paper work. The GMR is supoorting funding for it.

Take a  class – You may be able to get to a meeting but, that’s it! You can’t take a class too.  Apply for the Professional Development Award to cover the cost of the class.  You might find that your local community college has a course that you can take.  Apply for the Professional Development Award to defer the cost of  registration.  Consider a meeting that you may not usually go to Internet Librarian, EDUCAUSE, ALA or maybe a health professional meeting. You need to have a project that you are working on that the class will support and the permission of your administration the award is issued through a cost reimbursement.  You can only apply for this award once.

Bring in a speaker -  Sometimes we could benefit from the opportunity to be reminded that we are a growing profession.  The skills that we have, need to be cultivated to remain viable.  Consider applying for the Professional Instruction Award to offer your group the opportunity to enjoy a speaker you may not otherwise have been able to invite.

Greetings to all in our region focusing on information and health services to the Public Health community.  The GMR has created an email discussion list to help connect those who are working in this specialized field of librarianship.  Join us at:  GMRPH@uic.edu

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Recent discussions on many of our library related discussion lists have revolved around library closings and librarians losing their positions. I have spoken to more than one of our colleagues during this time. When asked, I have made some suggestions that they could use to seek future employment. I would like to share these tips with you and encourage you to use this opportunity to comment on this post adding suggestions of your own to assist our friends in their efforts to find new employment in these troubled economic times.

Obtain a free email account and subscribe to GMRLIST@uic.edu, chapter-members@midwestmla.org and MEDLIB-L@LIST.UVM.EDU to remain abreast of upcoming trends, educational opportunities and job announcements. The Midwest Chapter discussion list requires active membership. 

Consider making immediate use of alumni and professional association avenues.  If you attend a meeting, remember there are often job clinics of one kind or another offered during the conference. Here are some online options:

ALA – Joblist http://joblist.ala.org/

SLA – Career Center http://careercenter.sla.org/search/index.cfm?

MLA – Career Development http://www.mlanet.org/jobs/

Top 10 Social Sites for Finding a Job

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=57419276669&h=VW5NS&u=7Xacs

by Denise Rumschlag MLS, AHIP
St. Vincent Hospital
Indianapolis, IN

Looking to raise awareness of the library by administration? Want you or your library to move up in the eyes of your institution? Try creating an elevator speech to boost the worth of your work!

This year for National Medical Librarians Month, the Advocacy Working Group of the Regional Advisory Council to the GMR discussed how to advocate our worth to our administrators.  In the past we have looked at ways to market the library to clinicians and consumers; this year we wanted to focus on reaching administration.  Time is in short supply for most of as we multi-task our way through our busy days. So how do we even reach administration when our paths cross only briefly through out the week?  One proven method is to be prepared with an elevator speech. (more…)

I am very happy to report that Max Anderson joined the GMR staff as Technology Coordinator on May 12, 2008, and Samanthi Hewakapuge joined the staff as Consumer Health Coordinator on May 16, 2008. They literally hit the ground running, as they both attended the RML Directors’ meeting on May 16. Now that my 2007 start date is a few months away, I am no longer the newbie, and I think that is terrific news. I thought that I was nimble, since I started my appointment on November 1 and left for AAHSL and NLM Orientation on November 2, but Samanthi was an even quicker study since she started work and went to an NLM meeting on the very same day! Our new colleagues bring significant experience to their work, and they have already begun to make a difference in the GMR office.

Max earned his MLIS from Florida State University in 1999. He worked as Public Access Computer Trainer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as Educational Services Instructor at SOLINET before coming to GMR. (more…)

GMR began a new year on May 1, 2008. We are delighted to announce that we again have multiple funding opportunities for Network members for Year 3 of our contract with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). For a summary, go to: http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/current.html

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