New Web Portal – DigitalLiteracy.gov

Today the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released www.DigitalLiteracy.gov.  The web site provide librarians, teachers, workforce trainers and other practitioners a central location to share digital literacy content and practices. These trusted groups can, in turn, better teach residents of their communities the skills today’s employers need.

The web site, a collaboration of nine federal agencies, features the work of the medical librarian community, such a “Beyond an Apple a Day” and “ABCs of DNA.” Please have a look and continue to submit new materials for inclusion in the portal.

Thanks,

Naomi

Naomi Miller

Public Services Division, National Library of Medicine

301-496-1384  l   millern@mail.nlm.nih.gov

MedlinePlus Connect now responds to requests for lab test information. 

EHRs and patient portals may now send LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) codes to the MedlinePlus Connect system. MedlinePlus Connect responds with links to MedlinePlus consumer health information  for the lab tests related to those codes.

This functionality is available in both the MedlinePlus Connect Web application and Web service. This new feature complements MedlinePlus Connect’s ability to respond to information requests for specific diagnosis or medication codes.

See details on implementing it via the Web application at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/connect/application.html and for the Web service at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/connect/service.html. NLM has also enhanced the MedlinePlus Connect demonstration pages to illustrate how MedlinePlus Connect replies to lab codes. Visit the Web application demo page at http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/services/demo.html and the Web service application demo page at http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/services/servicedemo.cfm.

The lab test responses are available for many of the most frequently used lab tests. NLM plans to further expand the lab implementation in the future.

Thank you,

Stephanie

Stephanie Narva Dennis

MedlinePlus Team, National Library of Medicine

301-435-4898  |  denniss@mail.nlm.nih.gov

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A Message from the American Public Health Association about the CDC’s $100 million Community Transformation Grants program:

Dear Colleague,

As you may be aware, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced the availability of $100 million to support Community Transformation Grants, created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The grants were a key component of the Prevention Fund supported by APHA and other public health advocates for inclusion in the ACA. The funding is available to support evidence- and practice-based community and clinical prevention and wellness strategies that will lead to specific, measurable health outcomes to reduce chronic disease rates. CDC will be holding a conference call prior to the deadline for submitting Letters of Intent to apply for funding.  The Letters of Intent are due to CDC on Monday, June 6, 2011. The call-in information for the various time zones is posted below:

• Atlantic, Eastern and Central time zones May 25, 2011, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (EDT) -  This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-972-9343. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 8899773.
    
• Mountain and Pacific time zones May 25, 2011, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (EDT) – This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-972-9343. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 8899773.
    
• Alaska and Hawaii-Aleutian time zones May 25, 2011, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (EDT) – This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-790-3249. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 6417596.

Local and state government agencies, local and state non-profit organizations and federally recognized American Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages and Tribal organizations are eligible to apply.   

For additional information, please visit the Community Transformation Grants website where you can find additional resources and a list of frequently asked questions about the program and the application process.

Sincerely,

APHA

The Talbot Research Library of the Fox Chase Cancer Center serves the clinicians, researchers, and staff of Fox Chase; the medical staff of an adjacent community hospital; rotating medical students; and residents, patients, patients’ families, volunteers, and members of the community. The aging public computers were no longer adequate to meet the needs of our clientele to access information from the almost entirely electronic collection, databases, and website. Financial constraints did not allow us to replace our public computers in the summer of 2010.  Thus, we applied for a MAR Technology Improvement award to replace them.  We had also hoped to improve library traffic and visibility through this upgrade.

Last fall, we were able to purchase one iMac and four PCs for the library, enabling us to replace half of our existing PCs and our only Mac.  Shortly after installation, we publicized the upgrade through emails, blog postings, and announcements in our employee newsletter. We hosted an open house in early December during our traditional “tea time.”

Upgraded PCs at the Talbot Research Library, Fox Chase Cancer Center

Survey results indicate satisfaction with the new computers and that these machines have improved users’ experiences. A majority (81%) of respondents indicated that they would use the library more often to use the new computers.

There were some pleasant unexpected successes of the project, too. These include establishing a great working relationship with other departments and increasing my personal visibility in the institution. We also donated our old computers to a shelter so that residents could learn computer skills. As you can see, there were many benefits in doing this project. Thanks, MAR!

Beth A. Lewis, MLS
Talbot Library, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Philadelphia, PA

As the new medical librarian started to work at White Plains Hospital (WPH) in the summer of 2010, the institution had been without a professional librarian for about a year. The traditional library was quite tight in size and contained print and online journals and books, a couple of tables and PC workstations, and several shelving units and displays. The old-fashioned card book catalog and a Kardex visible card cabinet for serial control remained in the library and were practically of no use.

The first order of business was to implement an ILS to replace the  card catalog and to support continuous remote access to library services for the White Plains Hospital Center’s professional staff and patients.

Based on previous experience with a small library ILS, Professional Software was chosen for the WPH Medical Library ILS. In order for hospital staff members and patients to access library holdings either from inside or outside the hospital, an OPAC with a Web extension was acquired and installed on the hospital server.

Due to the part-time status of the librarian position at WPH,  the availability of professional library services were limited. Thus, online access to library information services were considered beneficial to all users. WPH provided the librarian with a  BlackBerry smart phone to assist with email access and continuous support for WPH users.  A new laptop for the librarian supplemented the BlackBerry and assisted with providing 24-hour access to various library resources, as well as fulfillment of users’ search and ILL requests. Due to the aforementioned improvements, quality and timeliness of knowledge-based information delivery and dissemination significantly improved throughout the institution, with double the number of WPH users requesting library services including, but not limited to, reference, literature searches, and ILL requests.

Rimma Perelman, Medical Librarian
White Plains Hospital  Medical Center
White Plans, NY

As part of the Staten Island University Hospital’s continuing mission to give the trainees in residency programs outstanding clinical and academic training, the Medical Library provides information literacy instruction to medical residents as a component of their curriculum.  For the last few years, two-hour training sessions have been given to the groups of residents on a regular basis. Hands-on instruction in searching PubMed, given by Yelena Friedman, Director of the Medical Library, is aimed at teaching residents the skills necessary to quickly, efficiently, and independently locate high-quality, evidence-based medical information, which can be applied in a point-of-care setting.

The teaching took place in the library office, which did not allow every trainee to actively participate in hands-on training. The library staff, along with administration and faculty, has been looking a long time for ways to improve this situation. The opportunity came with the relocation to the newly built Regina McGinn Education Center: in the process of planning the new library, the Library Director requested a separate room designated for collaborative studies and training sessions. This request was filled. It was decided to equip the new room with laptops and a wall TV to allow training to be conducted in an interactive mode.

The project has been funded mostly with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. NO1-LM-6-3501 with the New York University School of Medicine.

In February 2011 the first training sessions took place in the newly equipped library training center (seen in the above photo). In the evaluations filled by the trainees at the end of each session a question whether facilities (room and equipment) were adequate – the only question that had always received low grades  – finally got 5 of 5 on a grading scale. The project has not only enabled improved quality of PubMed instruction for residents, but has also enabled the library to extend training to other groups of users, including nurses, students, and attending physicians. The library also plans to use the new training center for lectures, webinars, and hand-on training sessions on a variety of topics, such as improving nursing research skills, advanced PubMed searching, evaluating web resources, and many others.

Yelena Friedman, Medical Library Director
Staten Island University Hospital
Staten Island, NY

If you think it’s hard communicating with your doctor, imagine the difficulties encountered by patients with limited English skills, who must depend on family, friends, and translation services. In recent years, the Belmont section of the Bronx has seen an influx of immigrants from Albania, Africa, and Latin America, many with limited English skills. In 2008, St. Barnabas Hospital provided 17,834 translation minutes; this jumped to 60,168 minutes in 2010. “What Did the Doctor Say?” offered Belmont residents with limited English skills the opportunity to acquire very basic health care vocabulary through free ESL classes at the New York Public Library’s Belmont branch.

The classes, which were 75 minutes in length, were held twice weekly for three consecutive weeks and were taught by an instructor experienced in the Rassias method, which emphasizes rapid response and play acting. Thirty-one people registered for the class. Before the first class, each registrant received a reminder call. Only two students attended the first class. Calls were made again, but produced no additional students at the second class. After that class, the instructor and I canvassed shops, laundromats, and eateries frequented by our target population. By the last class there were five committed students, who did acquire new health vocabulary, and who look forward to future classes.

Deborah Bonelli, Library Director
St. Barnabas Hospital
Bronx, NY

The New York University Health Sciences Libraries in New York City was awarded a Technology Improvement Award by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Middle Atlantic Region in 2010-2011.  The award will be used to integrate a student response system (clicker technology) into library led instruction to immediately access student learning and create an interactive learning environment.

The student response system will be installed in the Library’s computer classroom and will allow instructors to perform real-time anonymous polling of students during student library orientations, library workshops, and other training sessions.  Library instructors have the ability to pose questions to students during classes to determine whether or not students successfully understand the material.   By using the clicker technology, library classes will be more interactive and instructors will be able to gather instant feedback to determine if some content needs to be remediated.

The NYU Health Sciences Libraries plans to have the student response system installed during  summer 2011. Library instructors are currently re-designing classes to integrate the clicker technology into library instruction.  Use of the student response system will be continuously evaluated with student surveys and necessary adjustments will be made to ensure that the new technology is a positive feature in library instruction.

Aileen McCrillis
Research Librarian
NYU Health Sciences Libraries

The Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC) acts as a consortium to facilitate interlibrary borrowing and lending in our region.  The Council has been utilizing a self-hosted instance of OCLC’s ILLiad Resource Sharing Management System version 7.3 for the past several years.  OCLC released ILLiad Version 8.0 on December 20, 2010 and announced it would stop supporting Version 7.3 at the end of 2010.  As we were two phases outdated, and had recently lost our Systems Administrator due to budget constraints, it was critical that we make this transition.  Our goal for this Technology Improvement Award was to upgrade to the newest version of OCLC’s ILLiad Resource Sharing Management System, thus allowing for the continuation and improvement of our ILL process.

In order to achieve this goal, we essentially had to start from scratch, as our current hardware was in very poor condition.  This meant using the awarded grant to purchase all new hardware components as well as needed software.  Through the work of our hired consultants, Graywulf Technologies, a new server was constructed to meet the specifications for ILLiad 8.0.  Graywulf Technologies installed a fresh Windows 2008 server operating system, 2008 MSSQL, and a new installation of ILLiad 7.4 server, which is the latest ILLiad server version available.  To complete the migration, our original server database was upgraded and after testing was migrated over to the new ILLiad server (pictured below).  Finally, a new tape backup solution was installed and is currently running backups of our new ILLiad server.

LILRC's new ILLiad server, backup device, and computer station for ILL staff.

Since the completion of the upgrade, LILRC has been able to fill loans through OCLC and DOCLINE and has experienced no down-time due to server-related issues.  We were able to complete the upgrade outside of our normal hours of operation. In doing so, our users were not significantly affected by the migration.  This upgrade was a quick and smooth transition and, much to our surprise, the greatest challenge we faced was the fluctuating prices of the hardware and software components from our initial proposal to the time of purchase.

Christina Rivera
Special Projects Librarian
Long Island Library Resources Council

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

 As part of our Smart Content initiative, Elsevier Health Sciences is looking to hire a Taxonomy Product Manager. Based in Philadelphia, the Taxonomy Product Manager will oversee the strategic and implementation roadmap of the Elsevier Merged Medical Taxonomy (EMMeT). A link to the job profile and brief description follows.

Taxonomy Product Manager

https://reedelsevier.taleo.net/careersection/51/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=144807

The Elsevier Health Sciences (EHS) Taxonomy Product Manager is a mission critical position in our organization that will transform how we reach and interact with our customers by enhancing access and discoverability of our content across all channels. It is seen as vital in ensuring that EHS provides excellent products and services to its customers and business partners as we go forward into the new technologies and applications of Smart Content. The Taxonomy Product Manager will be accountable for the successful development and delivery of a new Elsevier medical taxonomy. We prefer someone with Medical Librarian, Medical Informatics, clinical expertise, or similar training and background, but we require someone who has a track record of success and the practical experience required to build a world-class taxonomy capability.

 Please feel free to share with potential candidates or to contact me directly with questions at h.moran@elsevier.com.

 Best Regards,

Helen Moran

————————–

Helen Parr Moran

Vice President Smart Content Strategy

Elsevier Health Sciences

360 Park Avenue South, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10010

office: 212-462-1976

mobile: 718-753-9690

fax: 212-633-3850

email: h.moran@elsevier.com