National Training Center and Clearinghouse (NTCC) classes are coming to Chicago April 13-15, 2011. Attend these FREE hands-on classes on PubMed® (April 13), TOXNET® (April 14) and Gateway (April 15) offered through the National Library of Medicine. The University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences will host these sessions taught by the staff of the NTCC. They will be held in Room 303 of the Library of the Health Sciences at 1750 W. Polk St., Chicago, IL. Register here or read on for details. (more…)

Heartland Health Outreach Refugee Health Programs will be hosting a Health Information Day with their Chicago Public Library (CPL) partners as part of their New Americans Library and Internet Access Project. Heartland Health Outreach has been working with the University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences outreach librarian, Lisa Massengale, to expand access to quality health and medical information for both older and newly arrived immigrants and refugees through a Consumer Health Subcontract that that is funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region.

This is the second of two Health Information days and will take place at the Rogers Park Branch of CPL at 6907 N. Clark Street, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 15, 2010. (more…)

By Anna Ercoli Schnitzer
Liaison/Disabilities Librarian
Taubman Health Sciences Library
University of Michigan

One day at the reference desk about twelve years ago, I was helping a patron finish up work on her doctoral thesis on disability issues.  In between searching for information and correcting citations, we were chatting a bit, and she asked me whether I would like to attend a meeting to discuss what the library did for individuals who happened to have disabilities.  I did not have anything specific in mind, but I agreed to attend that meeting which turned out to be a gathering of members of the University of Michigan Council for Disability Concerns.  I had little positive news to report, but I used my imagination to describe what the medical library could and should do in the future to serve patrons with disabilities.  The variety of Council members, their expertise, lack of ego, and altruism impressed me so much that I signed on as a member myself.

Our medical library of a dozen years ago offered very little in accommodations to patrons with physical challenges. Truth to tell, it did not even have a low energy door for easy access for wheelchair users.  Gradually, month by month, bit by bit, as a Council member I began to learn about various disability issues. With the able and altruistic assistance of the members of that Council,  we managed to acquire the requisite automatic door openers for our library along with an Ergopod, a large, free-standing apparatus of many sections and elements that provided adaptive computer technology to users with various physical and cognitive impairments. We also obtained a magnifying reading device.  Eventually, we also presented and attended a few sessions for staff members on increasing sensitivity about such issues as assisting a person with low or no vision, using the preferred language when referring to various physical and emotional differences, and, in general, spreading the word and thus raising consciousness about disability issues. (more…)

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…)

If you are exhibiting or just sharing information about NLM resources, the GMR offers a variety of options.

• Visit the GMR Handouts page at http://nnlm.gov/gmr/training/handouts.html
  • Download brochures on a variety of topics including
    • PubMed®
    • MedlinePlus® and consumer health materials
    • Exhibition Program K-12 Resources on the Web
  • This one-stop page also links to a number of other Web pages including:
    • Emergency Preparedness and Response
    • SIS Outreach Activities & Resources with brochures for ToxTown and HIV/AIDS (for example)
    • Non-English Guides to PubMed
    • Planning and Evaluation
    • even NLM Traveling Exhibitions with their related brochures and handouts
• Go online to order NLM items for drawings and special events from the NLM Promo Shop
• Members may use the Promotional Materials Order Form to order up to 250 items for a single event

If you have questions, your State Contact will be glad to point you in the correct direction. Thank you for spreading the word about the wonderful and FREE databases and Web-available materials from the NLM!

By Chris Childs
Education & Outreach Librarian
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
University of Iowa

The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is collaborating with the University of Iowa’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Science’s Community Engagement Program to provide access to consumer health information for patients and their families at four Iowa community health centers based across the state in Davenport, Waterloo, Des Moines, and Sioux City. These four communities have been the focus of clinical, educational, and research outreach activities by The University of Iowa and have substantial University infrastructure already in place. These communities were also targeted based on the number of underserved populations in the area. The library will install computers in the clinics with their own custom made consumer health websites, and train both consumers and staff on accessing quality consumer health information. This project began with a meeting between Linda Walton, Hardin’s director, Jimmy Reyes, the cite coordinator for the Community Engagement Program and myself. Originally, Jimmy had hoped that a onetime instructional training session on consumer health resources could be provided to all of the clinic’s coordinators during an annual meeting, but after some discussion, that idea quickly evolved in the current project. Immediately after the meeting, Linda wrote up a grant proposal and applied for the GMR’s $40,000 Consumer Health Subcontract (http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/consumer/consumersubrfp.html). I then attended a meeting with Jimmy and all of the coordinators on campus and gave an introductory presentation on the nature of the project. Soon afterward, we learned that the we had been awarded the subtract and could begin. We were given an 18 month timeline, starting in June 1, 2009, and ending in November 30, 2010. (more…)

By Kate Saylor
Outreach Librarian
University of Michigan
Taubman Health Sciences Library

On June 23rd, 2010, two members of the Taubman Health Sciences Library (http://www.lib.umich.edu/thl) had the pleasure of attending Packard Health’s 2010 Youth Health Fair and Be Well Block Party.

Located in Washtenaw County, Packard Health (http://www.packardhealth.org/) is the only non-profit, private medical practice. Their mission is based on the belief that “everyone deserves friendly, first-rate, continuous health care, regardless of their economic, cultural, or social conditions, and no matter what their insurance status may be.” (more…)

By Fran Kovach
Reference & Education Librarian
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Springfield, IL

On June 4-6, 2010, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library participated in the 5th Annual Taylorville Black Horse Pow Wow in Taylorville, Illinois, at the Christian County Fairgrounds. This is the second year that we participated at this event.

People came from the Christian and Sangamon county areas, as well as other cities in Illinois. Others attending were from the states of Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. The 14 Tribes/Nations represented Apache, Blackfeet, Cherokee, Catawba, Comanche, Cree, Kiowa, Mohawk, Meskwaki, Navajo, Ogalala, Oneida, Ponka, and Sioux. Native American Health Information and MedlinePlus, pamphlets, bookmarks, and pens were distributed from our exhibit booth. Dancing, drumming, singing, and returning to a traditional diet of Native American foods such as corn, squash, beans, berries, and melons can improve physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Happy summer to the members of the GMR! According to the National Weather Service, although astronomical summer is still days away, June 1 launched meteorological summer. Time to celebrate the season of sand, sun and fun(ding)! With the annual MLA conference over and Memorial Day a memory, if you’re like me, thoughts now turn to what else but great outreach and other projects.

On May 1, NN/LM GMR entered into its fifth year (May 1, 2010 through April 30, 2011) of the 2006-2011 contract with the National Library of Medicine. As a result, there is no time for those larger, longer projects that the GMR funds as subcontracts to get underway and completed before the end of our contract year. However, if you have ideas for technology improvement, a small outreach opportunity or an exhibit showcasing NLM and other resources, the GMR might have just the sort of funding option to help. (more…)

By Anna Ercoli Schnitzer
Liaison/Disabilities Librarian
Taubman Health Sciences Library
University of Michigan

Three staff members of the University of Michigan A. Alfred Taubman Health Sciences Library staffed a table at the biennial VISIONS Conference on May 12, 2010. Originally sponsored by the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, this is an event currently organized and presented by the Ann Arbor District Library as an occasion for vendors to demonstrate technological advances that will be helpful to people who are visually impaired. The conference is held at Washtenaw Community College in Ypsilanti, Michigan and usually attracts about 500 or more participants and some of them travel considerable distances to attend. (more…)