Deadline: July 15, 2011

A new grant announcement for an Office on Women’s Health tobacco cessation and prevention program has been posted onto GrantSolutions.gov and Grants.gov. Two awards will be funded over a two-year period beginning in September 2011 to conduct activity that will help identify successful models to increase quit attempts and provide comprehensive culturally and linguistically appropriate tobacco prevention and cessation services for Low, Socio-economic women of childbearing age, based on the Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. Program-specific information on this announcement is provided below. Organizations interested in implementing a tobacco cessation and prevention program for Low SES women are encouraged to apply.

DETAILS:
Program Name: Sustainable Comprehensive Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Clinical Program for Low, Socio-Economic Status Women of Childbearing Age
DUE DATE for Response: Friday, July 15, 2011

Catalogue for Domestic Assistance (CFDA No.) 93088 – Grants.gov

By Mandy Meloy
Student Programs Coordinator
Wisconsin AHEC
Madison, WI

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM GMR) funded Wisconsin AHEC to promote InformedCaring.org, portal for Wisconsin health professionals. This site was designed to serve those working in local health departments, federally qualified community health centers, and others providing health services in rural and underserved communities in Wisconsin — particularly those without access to academic or hospital libraries.

With GMR funds, we coordinated with 12 public health departments, Community Health Centers, and partners to train staff, share ideas, gain useful feedback, and spread the word about InformedCaring.org. Trudging through harsh weather conditions, we reached 145 in-person staff. In the west, we reached Monroe County Health Department, Western Region Public Health Nurses and Health Directors Meeting in Eau Claire, and Scenic Bluffs Community Health Center. In central Wisconsin, we traveled to Wood County Health Department, Bridge Community Health Center, University of Wisconsin’s ICTR (Institute for Clinical and Translational Research) Community-Academic Partnership Steering Committee, LEAP (Linking Education and Practice for Excellence in Public Health Nursing Project), and the Wisconsin Department of Public Health. In the east, we ventured to Manitowoc County Health Department and Ozaukee County Health Department. In snow, we finally reached the north woods to present to the Oneida County Health Department. (more…)

By Fran E. Kovach MLIS
Reference & Education Librarian
Southern Illinois University School of MedicineSpringfield, IL

On June 3-5, 2011, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library participated in the 6th Annual Taylorville Intertribal Black Horse Pow Wow in Taylorville, Illinois, at the Christian County Fairgrounds. This is our third year participating in the event.

Special guests this year were the Alaskan runners, North American Indian athletes from McMasters University who stopped by on their run to the World Peace and Prayer conference in Minneapolis, MN. Others attending were from the Christian and Sangamon county areas and the states of Iowa and Arkansas. Nations represented were from Alaskan, Apache, Blackfeet, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Mohawk, Meskwaki, Navajo, and Sioux tribal affiliations. 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. American Indian Health Information, MedlinePlus consumer health information and NIH Senior Health pamphlets, bookmarks, and pens were distributed from our exhibit booth.

See http://noteslibrary.blogspot.com/ for photos from the event.

Carol Gordon, MS, AHIP
Fran Kovach, MLIS, AHIP
Reference and Education
Department of Information and Communication Sciences
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Library
Springfield, IL

The Illinois Rural Health Association’s 22^nd Annual Educational Conference took place in Effingham, Illinois, April 12-14, 2011. In the sixteen years of our exhibit history at the conference, we have presented a variety of technologies to healthcare professionals, ranging from Grateful Med dial-up to 21^st century mobile technology.

This year the mobile version of PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/m/pubmed/) and the mobile version of MedlinePlus (http://m.medlineplus.gov/) were showcased at the conference. iTouch and iPhones with free Quick Response (QR) apps, such as i-nigma and RedLaser, decoded mobile barcodes to connect with PubMed and MedlinePlus mobile websites. The QR codes were distributed as bookmarks. Conveniently, the conference coincided with Illinois Snapshot Day during National Library Week. (more…)

The GMR is again offering to sponsor a number of sites for the upcoming MLA Webcast: Shifting Skills to Navigate the Changing Horizon: Finding Our Way in New Biomedical Research and Healthcare Environments to be held on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, from 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m., CST.

Visit: http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/mlawebcast.html 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 additional information to the GMR is NOON, Friday, March 25, 2011.

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

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!