Christopher J. Shaffer has accepted an appointment as University Librarian at Oregon Health and Science University Library, Portland, which he will assume on August 1, 2008. Chris has most recently been the Assistant Director, Technology and Outreach, at Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, University of Iowa.

Many of you will remember that Chris was Technology Coordinator at the GMR from 1996 to 2002. Congratulations and best wishes, Chris!

Maureen Watson, Reference Librarian, Ferris State University, Michigan College of Optometry Reading Room, shares the following information from MLA-FOCUS: Michigan librarians and GMR network members Misa Mi, Sandra Swanson, and Marie Lise-Shams received the Hospital Librarian Research Award for their poster Health Sciences Librarians in Michigan: Connecting to Emerging 2.0 Technologies. Congratulations!

The Outreach Express Award entitled Only Connect….to the Community was funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM GMR). This award allowed the Medical Library Association’s (MLA) National Planning Committee ‘08 to provide the first annual community service events. The two community service events held in Chicago, Illinois, allowed medical librarians to put words such as advocacy and visibility into action by creating partnerships with public librarians and volunteering in the neediest community, North Lawndale on the west side of Chicago. (more…)

by Barbara Platts, MLIS, AHIP
Munson Healthcare
Traverse City, MI

Registration is now open for the Midwest/MHSLA 2008 Conference!

You can register online via http://www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?459908. Payments for registration may be made by credit card or check.
In order to get the member rate for conference registration, you must be a member of either Midwest Chapter MLA or MHSLA.

• Click to join Midwest Chapter MLA
• Click to join MHSLA (Michigan Health Science Libraries Association)

To keep the planet “vibrant and healthy,” we will not be providing bags at this conference. Please recycle and “BYOB” (bring your own bag!).

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…)

The June 23, 2008, posting of new National Library of Medicine (NLM) web pages includes several timely MedlinePlus topics in English and many in Spanish. Check the links below for information on earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes and other natural disasters. In addition, the NLM Technical Bulletin for May-June announces the release of the new Enviro-Health Links page on Disaster Recovery and Environmental Health page. (more…)

The aim of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Disaster Information Management Resource Center (DIMRC) http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/ is to provide access to quality disaster health information to the nation at all stages of preparation, response, mitigation and recovery. For more information about the DIMRC, see the Fact Sheet: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/dimrcfs.html

Find out more information About the Center, NLM Disaster Information Resources, and Projects, Partnerships, and Program. The DIMRC is a service of Specialized Information Services (SIS).

Several states in the Greater Midwest Region have been seriously affected by storms and flooding.

We have received reports from several regional medical and academic centers and hospitals. So far we have the following reports.

(more…)

How we spent the week before spring break with several hundred teenagers!

Kathy Smart, MS, RN (KS): A significant strength of the Children’s Health Resource Center (CHRC) collection at Advocate Lutheran General Children’s Hospital (ALGCH) is the depth of educational resources we have for parents and children. As CHRC coordinator, I noticed an increase in requests for sensitive teen health information. To address this need, I met with hospital professionals and community stakeholders to discuss our perceptions of teen health information needs. While these discussions provided valuable information, I wondered, How will I truly assess what our local teenagers want to know about their health unless I ask them? Nurse that I am, I did not want to ask teenagers about their health information needs without giving them any resources to guide them in return.

Lisa Jacob, MALS (LJ): For several years as an Advocate Library Network librarian, I had been forwarding the GMR consumer health funding announcements to Kathy. She took the bait in 2007 and was told she needed a GMR member to be her sponsor so she came back to me. Together we decided to develop a presentation featuring MedlinePlus® to educate teens about how to find reliable health information on the Internet. (more…)

By Barbara Platts, MLIS, AHIP
Munson Healthcare
Traverse City, MI

My 3-year journey to explore the feasibility of embracing federated search engine technology, recently culmunated with a trip to the 2008 Computers in Libraries Conference (CIL) in Arlington, Virginia. Thanks to the generous support of a GMR Professional Development Award, I was able to attend a number of sessions specifically related to current federated search engine applications. In addition, I was able to speak with identified vendors to set up trials upon my return from the conference, and network with colleagues who use this technology. (more…)