The position announcement for Associate Director for Health Information Programs Development at the National Library of Medicine is at http://www.jobs.nih.gov/vacancies/executive/nlmassociatedirector.htm. 

Posted on behalf of Angela B. Ruffin, PhD, Head, NN/LM National Network Office

From the NLM Technical Bulletin:

Nearly a quarter of all abstracts currently added to MEDLINE include section labels such as BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVE, METHODS, RESULTS, and CONCLUSIONS. These abstracts, known as structured abstracts, will soon be reformatted for easier readability. Section labels will remain in uppercase followed by a colon, but will be bolded and each section will begin on a new line. See an example here.

MAR is pleased to announce new Health Literacy Awards. These awards are for Full and Affiliate Network members to create or develop health literacy projects within their library or organization or by partnering with other libraries or organizations. Health literacy projects should address issues of the target population’s ability to read, listen, analyze, and make decisions, and the ability to apply these skills to health situations. Five awards up to $15,000 each are available. Deadline for applications is September 15, 2010. Awards will be announced in early October 2010.

There is still time to participate in MAR’s Value of Library and Information Services in Patient Care Study.   Please complete the Study Participation Interest Form, and a member of the research team will contact you regarding your eligibility and the responsibilities of study facilitators.

All MAR members who provide patient care are eligible to participate in the study, which provides a means of illustrating the impact of your library’s collection and services on patient care.

The Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan and Bronx Health Sciences Librarians (BQSI/MB) held its Spring Meeting at Lenox Hill Hospital on April 19^th, 2010.  The continuing education program was the Medical Library Association (MLA) “Getting Magnetized: Search and Service Strategies for Nursing Excellence”. The MLA Instructor was Ms. Joy C. Kennedy, MLS, from the Health Resource Library, Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, Il. This continuing education program would not have been possible without the support of MARL small project grant which covered the cost of our Instructor fees and travel. We were all very pleased with the program and wonderful response.

Ms. Kennedy was extremely knowledgeable on the topic of magnet nursing. The Five ‘Model Components” of Magnetism, transformational leadership; structural empowerment; exemplary professional practice; new knowledge, innovation & improvements; empirical outcomes were all discussed at length including background, implementation and resources. Ms. Kennedy provided the class with handouts of the Power Point presentation; an extensive bibliography; and plenty of information to return to our prospective libraries ready to support nursing magnet initiatives.

The results of 29 evaluations returned at the conclusion of the class are as follows:

Instructor Rating
based on a 1-4 rating; 4 being excellent.

Program Evaluation

* We had a couple of breakout sessions which may have been considered a “hands on session”.

The top three major strengths of the program were instructor scored 28; information gained scored 28; creative ideas scored 16. The overall rating was excellent and very well received.

Comments:

• Ideas and illustrations of what the instructor has done; audience participation excellent
• Examples by instructor and audience participants were very helpful
• Good class wonderful presenter-dynamic and knowledgeable
• Connecting materials presented to work of the librarian
• Slides were very helpful
• Ideas on how to be more involved in the magnet process/I felt inspired
• Instructor gave an excellent presentation relevant to librarians and nurses
• Handouts with websites input from other attendees were helpful
• Good brainstorming ideas
• Great background information to use in any situation
• Steps to follow in magnet application process most helpful
• Power point slides and anecdotal information were most helpful

The segment on ideas for library services for structural empowerment provided the librarians in attendance with concrete initiatives which encourage library outreach to our nursing programs. Involving our nurses in our collection development policies; supporting nursing research; encouraging library participation in Nurses Week; library newsletters should include a segment on nursing are all initiatives designed to support one of the largest departments in the hospital.

As a result of this continuing education course we as librarians are prepared to support our nursing programs whether or not the various institutions represented apply for and achieve Magnet Nursing status. This program was met with a great deal of enthusiasm and again we are grateful to NN/LM  MARL small project grant for making this possible.

MAR is pleased to announce that we have broadened the scope and extended the deadlines for two awards that were announced in June:

1. Outreach Training Award (formerly Outreach Training Award Targeting Unaffiliated Health Professionals Working with Seniors or in Nursing Homes.) http://nnlm.gov/mar/funding/outreachuhpsenior.html

This award for Full and Affiliate Network members is intended to support training for and promote awareness of the products and services of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and NN/LM. Priority will be given to applications targeted to unaffiliated health professionals who work with seniors and/or in nursing homes, but other projects are welcome. Two awards of up to $7,500 each are available. The new deadline for applications is September 30, 2010.

1. Small Outreach Project Award (formerly Small Project Awards Targeting Unaffiliated Health Professionals Working with Seniors and/or in Nursing Homes) http://nnlm.gov/mar/funding/smallprojuhpsenior.html

This award for Full and Affiliate Network members is intended to promote library services and NLM products and services. Priority will be given to applications targeting unaffiliated health professionals who work with seniors and/or in nursing homes, but all projects are welcome. Eight (8) awards of up to $2,000 each are available. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until December 31, 2010 or until all the funds have been awarded. PLEASE NOTE INCREASED NUMBER OF AWARDS.