The new product developed by Google has just been announced. The name of the new product is “Google Buzz” which will integrate social networking features such as status updates and picture sharing into your Gmail account and your cellphone.

Read more about the features of Google Buzz.

Over the summer and fall of 2009, the Hospital for Special Surgery’s (HSS) Library teamed up with the Greenberg Academy for Successful Aging (GASA) (a collaborative program between the HSS Public and Patient Education Department and New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Irving Sherwood Wright Center for the Aging) program to use funding from the NNLM Mid Atlantic region to achieve 2 program goals:

• We implemented a training series, for seniors that was age and information appropriate.
• We integrated health information resources from NLM, NIH, and other credible health information sources into GASA community outreach and health education programming.

The trainings entitled were held over 8 weeks at the Carver Senior Center/ Casita Maria in East Harlem. 20 students, all of whom were clients of the center of the center were enrolled.

The classes began with instruction on how to set up an e-mail address and get on the Internet. Students then learned to surf the net to find disease and drug information in English and in Spanish. They were introduced to websites where they could check doctors’ credentials, compare hospitals by quality and procedure volume, and even find the neighborhood pharmacy that charges the lowest price for specific prescription drugs. Throughout the course they developed the skills to determine if a health website is up to date, reliable, and free from biased opinions. Most importantly, students learned that sharing the health information found online with their doctor is a great way to begin a dialog and start a conversation that will lead to a stronger patient/provider partnership.

We modeled our program off the course structure put forth by the National Institute on Aging in the NIH Senior Health toolkit, (http://nihseniorhealth.gov/toolkit/toolkit.html) We added a section on social networking, healthy computer use, (ergonomics, posture, etc.) and NOAH (New York Online Access to Health – http://www.noah-health.org/.) The trainings used the computers in their own center and we were able to enlisted volunteers from the center to assist participants during the hands on portion of the classes. There was one facilitator for every 4 or 5 students.  We feel our successful was primarily due to these 3 factors: class structure, location and local resources, and the student to teacher ratio.

Along with the class, the initiative with the Greenberg Academy for Successful Aging programming led to nearly 600 hundred participants in the Greenberg Academy having been introduced to reliable online health information resources related to their area of interest.

All in all, the program exceeded our expectations and a warm relationship was nurtured between HSS staff and the Carver Center clients.

Report submitted by

Timothy Roberts, MLS, AHIP
Medical Librarian
Kim Barrett Memorial Library
Hospital for Special Surgery
robertst@hss.edu

PubMed has been updated!

The new changes include:

• Advanced search page will be streamlined
• A link to Clipboard will be added to the homepage, if applicable
• A new Limits page with additional limits for dates and search field tags

The 26 January 2010 NLM Technical Bulletin has an article describing these changes:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf10/jf10_pm_advanced_search.html

The Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University, in collaboration with the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC), released a new edition of the knowledge path about oral health for infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women.   Presented in time for National Children’s Dental Health Month in February, this electronic guide points to resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research aimed at improving access to and the quality of oral health care. The knowledge path contains sections with resources for professionals, resources for consumers, and resources on specific aspects of oral health. Topics include child care and Head Start, dental caries, dental sealants, fluoride varnish, K-12 education, pregnancy, school-based care, and special health care needs. The knowledge path is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_oralhealth.html. Knowledge paths on other topics are available at http://mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/index.html .

Please help in disseminating this information to the health education and health promotion communities. You may send comments to:

Susan Brune Lorenzo, MLS

smblorenzo(at)gmail.com

Maternal and Child Health Library

National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health at Georgetown University

Web site: http://mchlibrary.info

See below for additional information about the publishers involved in NLM’s Emergency Access Initiative for libraries and hospitals affected by the earthquake in Haiti. The updated wording is in bolded to enable you to more easily see the new information.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), in partnership with members of the Professional & Scholarly Publishing division of the Association of American Publishers and other publishers announce the availability of free full-text articles from over 200 biomedical journals and *over 65 reference* books for libraries and hospitals affected by the earthquake in Haiti.  The collection is also intended for healthcare personnel responding to the disaster.

The Emergency Access Initiative collection is a combination of common biomedical journal titles and reference books, and also emergency medicine related titles.  The Emergency Access Initiative serves as a temporary collection replacement and/or supplement for libraries and hospitals affected by disasters that need to continue to serve medical staff and affiliated users.

The literature is being provided as part of the Emergency Access Initiative – a collaborative partnership between NLM, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and participating publishers to provide free access to full-text articles and select reference books to healthcare professionals and libraries affected by disasters.  While the project was established to assist libraries affected by disasters in the United States, NLM and the publishers are activating the Emergency Access Initiative in light of the medical disaster unfolding in the aftermath of the earthquake.

If your library is working with a library or organization involved in relief efforts or was impacted by the Haitian earthquake, please let them know of this service.

Emergency Access Initiative:  http://eai.nlm.nih.gov

NLM thanks the participating publishers for their generous support of this initiative:  *American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American College of Physicians, American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists, ASM Press, B.C. Decker, BMJ, Elsevier, FA Davis, Mary Ann Liebert, Massachusetts Medical Society, McGraw-Hill, Merck Publishing, Oxford University Press, People’s Medical Publishing House, Springer, University of Chicago Press, Wiley, and Wolters Kluwer.*

For questions regarding the Emergency Access Initiative, please email custserv@nlm.nih.gov or call 1-888-346-3656 in the United States, or 301-594-5983 internationally.  Libraries in the United States can contact their Regional Medical Library for assistance and support at 1-800-338-7657

Check out the February issue of NIH News in Health, the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research. In this edition:

Keeping Bones Strong and Healthy
Let’s Talk about Osteoporosis
As you get older, your bones may become weaker and more likely to break. The good news is, it’s never too late to promote bone health.
full story

Things Forgotten
Simple Lapse or Serious Problem?
Occasional forgetfulness is a normal part of life. In most cases, it’s no cause for alarm—unless it begins to hamper your daily activities.
full story

Health Capsules:

• Fit Teens Succeed as Adults
• Can’t See Certain Colors?
• Featured Web Site: The Heart Truth

Click here to download a PDF version for printing.

Visit our Facebook wall to suggest topics you’d like us to cover, or start a discussion about how you use the newsletter. We want to hear what you think! Also check out the NIH Health & Science Gifts and send some to your Facebook friends. Please pass the word on to your colleagues about NIH News in Health.

Posted on behalf of the Friends of the National Library of Medicine (FNLM):

Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award

Nominations Are Now Being Accepted

We need your help to recognize an outstanding health science librarian!  The Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award honors a health science librarian who serves rural or underserved communities.  The award was established in the early 1990s to recognize the contributions to medical education and librarianship by Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.

The recipient of the Michael E. DeBakey Library Services Outreach Award is publicly recognized at the FNLM Annual Awards Dinner on May 11, 2010. The Dinner honors leaders in the fields of medicine and public service.

Previous winners of the DeBakey award include Ada M. Seltzer, Rowland Medical Library at the University of Mississippi; Ellen Howard, MLS, KKS Sherwood Library at Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington; and Greysi Reyna, MLS, Mario E. Ramirez MD Medical Library at University of Texas Health Science Center.

Nominations for the 2010 Award are currently being accepted. Forms and materials are available on the Friends of the National Library of Medicine website.  Please visit the FNLM website at http://www.fnlm.org/Events-2010-Dinner.html for further details and forward any inquiries regarding the Award to Sarah Pease (spease(at)oai-usa.com).

Deadline for submission is February 5, 2010.

Posted on behalf of Chris Rottler, Senior Communication Manager K4Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (crottler(at)jhuccp.org):

To help assist the thousands of aid workers responding to the Haiti earthquake, the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has organized the Haiti Relief Toolkit, a collection of practical and technical resources to help health workers respond more effectively to the relief efforts underway.

We are seeking your input to ensure that the toolkit is as practical and relevant as possible. Practical resources such as manuals, guidelines, and checklists are welcome. The toolkit covers all vital sectors related to disaster relief, including  health, water and sanitation, food security, and shelter, as well as key  field activities supporting the operations, such as logistics. Resources should focus on meeting both immediate emergency needs and long-term recovery efforts. Please contribute materials in English, French, Spanish, and Creole, as available. Please use the toolkit’s discussion board to discuss issues, suggest additional resources, and comment on existing content. A list of current contributors appears on the About page.

To browse the contents of the toolkit, use the tabs to view key topics. You can also use the Quick Links from the Home page to access key information quickly, such as maps of Haiti and a list of relief organizations working on the ground. The toolkit is accessible online, but K4Health will also be uploading it to flash drives and shipping them to Haiti so that those on the front line can access the information easily and quickly.

If you have any questions concerning the toolkit, please contact the team at toolkits@k4health.org or leave a comment on the discussion board.

Please excuse any duplicate postings. Feel free to forward this email message.

About K4Health

K4Health’s mission is to increase the use and dissemination of evidence-based, accurate and up-to-date information to improve health service delivery and health outcomes worldwide. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the project is implemented by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs, Family Health International, and Management Sciences for Health.

Looking to expand your knowledge of health literacy? Need practical tools for improving health literacy in your hospital, community or university? Join leaders in the field of health literacy at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, California (near OC airport) May 6-7, 2010, for the 9^th Annual Health Literacy Conference sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA). Focusing on “Health Literacy in the Real World: Programs and Solutions that Work,” the conference features the latest in health literacy practical tips and tools for improving health literacy, poster presentations, and opportunities for small group discussion and networking with a variety of health professionals.

In addition, this year’s program highlights librarians’ roles in health literacy. A panel of health sciences librarians will report on MLA/NLM’s Health Information Literacy Research Project funded by the National Library of Medicine and several other “librarian/health provider partnership” initiatives in a session, “Looking for Health Literacy Solutions? Partner with a Librarian.”  Participate in this and other informative sessions and visit the IHA-sponsored Joint MLA and NN/LM exhibit table. A complete conference program is available at  www.iha4health.org; click on 2010 Health Literacy Conference.

To further spark your interest, MLA CE credit will be granted for attendance, and librarians will receive a $20 conference registration discount (use Discount Code ML10 when you register to get the discount).

For additional information, visit www.iha4health.org and click on 2010 Health Literacy Conference, or contact:

• Kathleen Amos or Jean Shipman (for general information)
  • Email: Kathleen.Amos(at)utah.edu; jean.shipman(at)utah.edu
• Michael Villaire (for conference logistics)
  • Email: mvillaire(at)iha4health.org

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), in partnership with members of the Professional & Scholarly Publishing division of the Association of American Publishers announce the availability of free full-text articles from over 200 biomedical journals and over 30 select reference books for libraries and hospitals affected by the earthquake in Haiti.  The collection is also intended for healthcare personnel responding to the disaster.

The Emergency Access Initiative collection is a combination of common biomedical journal titles and reference books, and also emergency medicine related titles.  The Emergency Access Initiative serves as a temporary collection replacement and/or supplement for libraries affected by disasters that need to continue to serve medical staff and affiliated users.  It is also intended for medical personnel responding to the specified disaster.

The literature is being provided as part of the Emergency Access Initiative – a collaborative partnership between NLM, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and participating publishers to provide free access to full-text articles and select reference books to healthcare professionals and libraries affected by disasters.  While the project was established to assist libraries affected by disasters in the United States, NLM and the publishers are activating the Emergency Access Initiative today in light of the medical disaster unfolding in the aftermath of the earthquake.

NLM thanks the participating publishers for their generous support of this initiative:  American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American College of Physicians, BMJ, Elsevier, Mary Ann Liebert, Massachusetts Medical Society, Oxford University Press, Springer, University of Chicago Press, Wiley, and Wolters Kluwer.

If your library is working with a library or organization involved in relief efforts or was impacted by the Haitian earthquake, please let them know of this service.

Emergency Access Initiative:  http://eai.nlm.nih.gov

For questions regarding the Emergency Access Initiative, please email custserv(at)nlm.nih.gov or call 1-888-346-3656 in the United States, or 301-594-5983 internationally.  Libraries in the United States can contact their Regional Medical Library for assistance and support at 1-800-338-7657