The ILLINOIS RURAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE, “Building a Sustainable Future”, was held April 24-26, 2012, at the Keller Convention Center in Effingham, Illinois. In rural Illinois, many different mobile devices including iPhones, Androids, BlackBerries, and iPads are the new stethoscopes. Exhibitor immersion in the conference sessions led to discussions of the use of the National Library of Medicine mobile apps and mobile sites in rural communities.  TOXNET, Medline Plus Farm Health and Safety, and Wiser NIH all received high praises from the HazMat teams.

Through a NN/LM GMR exhibit award, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library displayed the new NLM exhibit banner, provided NLM pamphlets, gave out the afghan of “The Curious Herbal” as a booth prize, and offered demonstrations on the iPad of the various NLM mobile sites and apps, including Wiser. After seeing the Wiser demo, a family physician immediately downloaded it onto his iPad. Exhibiting and participating in the annual Illinois Rural Health Association meeting continues to be a worthwhile and rewarding experience.

For information on the webcast and a list of additional sites, visit: http://www.mlanet.org/education/distance_ed/techtrends/

ILLINOIS

• Chicago, IL: NN/LM GMR (Registration: View Training Opportunities); Site: Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago Library of Health Sciences
• Decatur, IL: Illinois Heartland Library System, Decatur (Contact: Beverly Obert)
• New Lenox, IL: Silver Cross Hospital (Contact: Estelle Hu)
• Peoria, IL: UIC Library of the Health Sciences – Peoria (Contact: Peg Burnette or Jo Dorch)

INDIANA

• Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University School of Medicine, Ruth Lilly Medical Library (contact: Elizabeth Whipple)

IOWA

• Des Moines, IA: Des Moines University Library (contact: Joyce Lindstrom)
• Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences (Contact: Amy Blevins)

KENTUCKY

• Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky, Medical Center Library (contact: Susan Foster-Harper or Rick Brewer)
• Louisville, KY: University of Louisville, Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, History Room 301, (contact: Nancy Utterback)

MICHIGAN

• Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Taubman Health Sciences Library (contact: Kate Saylor or Irina Zeylikovich)
• Detroit, MI: Wayne State University School of Medicine, Shiffman Medical Library (contact: Wendy Wu or Toni Janik); site: WSU P/K Auditorium
• East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, MSU Libraries (contact: Heidi Schroeder)

MINNESOTA

• Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, Bio-Medical Library (contact: Anne Beschnett)

NORTH DAKOTA

• Fargo, ND: University of North Dakota Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences (contact: Mary Markland) Site: UND Medical Education Center
• Grand Forks, ND: University of North Dakota, Library of the Health Sciences (contact: Theresa Norton)

OHIO

• Cleveland, OH: Medical Library Association of Northeastern Ohio (MLANO) (contact: Holly Kimborowicz or Suzanne Earle); site: Hospice of the Western Reserve, End-of-Life Library (HWR)
• Rootstown, OH: Northeast Ohio Medical University (contact: Elaine Forsch)

SOUTH DAKOTA
No Requests

WISCONSIN

• Fond du Lac, WI: Fox River Valley Area Library Consortium (contact: Mary Horan, Hans Baierl or Michele Matucheski ); Site: Moraine Park Technical College, Date: May 18, 2012
• Milwaukee, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ebling Library for the Health Sciences, Health Sciences Learning Center (contact: Stephen Johnson or Rhonda Sager)

The Midwest Veterinary Conference, hosted by the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association, draws over 5000 veterinarians, technicians and others from Ohio and neighboring states. I often field calls from practicing veterinarians and alumni of OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine regarding how they can access the veterinary literature. Exhibiting at the 2012 MVC seemed like a good opportunity to reach these veterinarians on their own turf to let them know about some of the resources available to them.

The practicing veterinarians who visited our booth had varying degrees of familiarity with PubMed. Some were completely unaware that a free resource for searching the medical literature was available to them, and were eager to have a more targeted search tool than Google. Others who already used PubMed were happy to gain demonstrated and written tips on effectively searching the veterinary literature. Most veterinarians we spoke with were unaware, and pleased to learn, that they were eligible for library cards from the State Library of Ohio, which would give them convenient access to materials from the OSU Libraries and those of other OhioLINK member institutions.

We were surprised to be visited by a good number of veterinary technical students from throughout the state. Because of these students’ affiliation with their schools, they already have access through their libraries to the resources we were sharing with practitioners, but were not necessarily aware of them. They were grateful to learn about tools such as PubMed that would help them in their studies and in their future careers.

The MVC has a densely-scheduled program of events, which is something I appreciate when I’m a conference attendee, but it makes for many hours of very light traffic in the exhibit hall. The first day of the conference, in particular, had very sparse foot traffic through the exhibits. To top this off, our booth was in a less than ideal location, far from the front of the hall. We received relatively few visitors as a result.

In summary, I am happy to have talked with the conference attendees who visited our booth and to be able to share information that they found valuable. However, if the Veterinary Medicine Library returns to exhibit at the MVC in future years, we would likely benefit by partnering with the College of Veterinary Medicine. Sharing a booth with our OSU colleagues would save costs and would help draw additional visitors who could benefit from learning about the scholarly resources that are available to them.

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

The GMR will cover the registration costs for up to two (2) sites per state in the region for this webcast. Because of the limited number of sites we can sponsor, we encourage you to work with your state and local librarian groups to identify centralized locations. Sites will be selected based on geographical location, accessibility, and potential number of attendees.

The deadline to email/fax your registration and email supporting information to the GMR is NOON, Friday, March 23, 2012.

Contact Holly Burt at the GMR, if you have any questions.
For more information on this webcast, visit:  http://www.mlanet.org/education/distance_ed/techtrends/

Would you like to gain new skills, brush up on existing PubMed skills and collaborate with colleagues to help create an effective training strategy? Join us for three Adobe Connect distance education classes and a one-day in-person class at the University of Illinois at Chicago Library of Health Sciences in Chicago, IL. These hands-on classes will include 9 presentations created by the National Library of Medicine, interactive demonstrations, hands-on exercises and networking opportunities. Upon completion of all four sessions the course will be worth 15 hours of MLA CE credit.

View the full announcement and register at: http://nnlm.gov/ntc/promos/PMT_Chicago.html
For other classes in the GMR, Register at: http://tinyurl.com/gmrregistration