The MAC Contributed Papers and Posters committees invite you to submit your proposals for the 2013 MAC MLA Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from October 13 through 15, 2013 at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel. Papers and posters may range from innovative program descriptions to reports on collaborative outreach activities to behind the scenes technical innovation. This is your chance to share with your colleagues the results of interesting work or research you are doing.

For both paper and poster abstracts, please submit a blinded abstract (one that does not contain any identifying information) as well as your regular abstract.

For contributed paper proposals, submit a 300 word structured* abstract to describe your paper. Include your name, position title, address, phone number, and email address. Both the regular and blinded abstract should be sent to Ellen Detlefsen, Chair of the Contributed Papers committee, at mac2013papers@gmail.com

For poster proposals, submit a 300 word structured* abstract to describe your poster. Include your name, position title, address, phone number, and email address. Both the regular and the blinded abstracts should be sent to Melissa Ratajeski, Chair of the Posters committee, at mac2013posters@gmail.com

The submission deadline is May 31, 2013

The primary author of each paper or poster will be notified of the committee’s decision in early July. Additional information (i.e. time, location, set-up instructions, etc.) will be sent with the acceptance notification. Those presenting papers or posters must register for the meeting.

The MAC Research and Assessment Committee will recognize 3 papers and 3 posters at the Annual Meeting as work that demonstrates high-quality research. All submitters are required to either select a type of research or to designate that their presentation is not to be considered as research. Only those who select a type of research will be considered for the Research Awards judging process. For help in selecting the type of research, please see the “Inventory of Research Methods for Librarianship and Informatics,” published in the January 2004 issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association.  Research papers and posters are scored using similar criteria to those used by the MLA Research Committee at MLA Annual Meetings. Points are awarded for study design, validity, reliability, presentation, and implications of the research.

New this year!  The 2013 MAC annual meeting will also feature a People’s Choice award for the poster session.  After viewing the posters, attendees will be able to vote for their favorite.  The author(s) of the poster garnering the greatest number of attendee votes will be honored with a certificate and a bookstore gift card.

*Use of a structured abstract is encouraged. For more information on writing a structured abstract, please see MLA’s Research Section’s “The Structured Abstract: An Essential Tool for Researchers

The web adaptation of the traveling exhibition, “A Voyage to Health,” is now online! “A Voyage to Health” explores how the revival of Native Hawaiian sea voyaging traditions spurred on a cultural renaissance and helped heal the soul of the community. The website is augmented by education resources, including K-12 lesson plans, higher education modules, online activities, and more. To visit “A Voyage to Health” online, follow the link: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/avoyagetohealth/

Check out the May 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:

A Bang to the Brain
What We Know About Concussions
Concussions are a type of mild brain injury, but they need to be taken seriously. Learn to recognize the causes and symptoms of concussion, and take steps to prevent head injuries.

On Sound Footing
The Health of Your Feet
Your feet are pretty small, considering they have to support the entire height and weight of your body. But they can cause big problems. So take steps to keep your feet healthy!

Health Capsules:

• Ex-Smokers Gain Health Benefits Despite Added Pounds
• Allergies and Complementary Medicine
• Featured Website: NIH BRAIN Initiative

Click here to download a PDF version for printing.

Visit our Facebook page to suggest topics you’d like us to cover, or let us know what you find helpful about the newsletter. We want to hear what you think!

Please pass the word on to your colleagues about NIH News in Health. We are happy to send a limited number of print copies free of charge for display in offices, libraries or clinics. Just email us or call 301-435-7489 for more information.

All MAR staff are attending MLA in Boston as we speak.  So we ask your patience while we’re out of the office.  We hope that if you’re attending MLA, we encourage you to drop by to visit us at one of our presentations or posters.  We’d love to see you!

HSLANJ is happy to announce that the MLA 4 credit hands-on computer class, “From A(norexia) to Z(its): Providing Health Information to Teens” has been rescheduled.  HSLANJ thanks LibraryLinkNJ and the Middle Atlantic Region (MAR) for their support of this class. 

The class will be taught by Lydia Collins, the Consumer Health Outreach Coordinator at MAR, at two New Jersey sites as follows:

• Tuesday, June 14, 2013, Morris County Library Training Lab, Whippany, NJ  9:30 am – 2:00 pm
• Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Mercer County Library, Lawrence Branch, Lawrenceville, NJ 10:00 am – 2:30 pm

The class is open to interested librarians from member libraries of LibraryLinkNJ and to HSLANJ members.

” From A(norexia) to Z(its)” can also be counted as a four credit Specialty class for the MLA Consumer Health Information Specialization program.

The registration form with further details is available at: http://www.hslanj.org/froma.pdf.

NLM’s spring lecture series continues. The fourth lecture is coming up on Monday, April 29th from 3:30-5:00 pm.  Dr. Brad Hesse, Chief of the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute, will be joining us on the NIH campus in the Natcher Conference Center, Balcony B.  The title of his talk is: “Quantifying the Health Information Revolution: Triangulation in an Era of Big Data.”

More information about Dr. Hesse can be found at: http://staffprofiles.cancer.gov/brp/prgmStaffProfile.do?contactId=1546&bioType=stf

This event will be videocast live and archived at:  http://videocast.nih.gov.

Thank you to Dr. Andrew Pleasant for the exciting lecture he gave on April 10^th.  If you missed any of the first three lectures, they are available under “Past Events” on videocast.nih.gov.  Past lectures are listed by date (starting with the most recent).

Background

There are more and increasingly diverse ways for health information to reach the public. The interest among Americans to receive health information also remains high compared to most other topics. To maximize the impact of health information on the nation’s well-being and empower consumers, communicators need to know whether their messages are reaching the right audience, whether the information is understood, and whether the materials make a difference in decision-making and health outcomes. As a result, evaluation is an integral and crucial part of health communication.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) will host a spring lecture series to highlight innovative approaches and best practices in evaluating health communication. As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NLM diversify their use of mass communication channels to dispatch health information, a fresh consideration of evaluation’s cutting edge is timely and important.

NLM and NIH employees are encouraged to attend this series, as are members of the public, other governmental agencies, as well as faculty and students from area universities. The lectures will feature discussion and participation by audience members.

Lecture 4 – April 29^th, 3:30-5:00 pm, Balcony B, Natcher Building 45, National Institutes of Health

“Quantifying the Health Information Revolution: Triangulation in an Era of Big Data.”

Brad Hesse, Ph.D., Chief, Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Hesse directs several of NCI’s cancer communication research initiatives, including the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) and the Centers of Excellence in Cancer Communication (CECCR).

Gary Kreps, Ph.D., discussant

The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) launched the Genetics Home Reference (GHR) Web site on April 25, 2003 as a new consumer health information resource focused on human genetics. The creation of GHR coincided with the completion of the Human Genome Project, a 13-year international effort to map the entire human genome:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma13/ma13_ghr.html

The Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association (MLA) will be held May 3-8, 2013 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA. Attendees are invited to visit the NLM exhibit booth #226 (May 4-7) to meet NLM staff and see NLM Web products and services. The NLM Theater at the booth will feature demonstrations and tutorials on a wide variety of topics.

Check out all the events that include presentations/posters by your friends from MAR, as well as NLM:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma13/ma13_mla_invite.html

PubMed for Experts

Presenter:      Kate Flewelling, Outreach Coordinator, MAR

Location:         Albany Medical College, Albany, NY

Date:                 April 26, 2013

Details:            http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/class_details.html?class_id=28

Beyond an Apple a Day:  Providing Consumer Health Information at Your Library

Presenter:      Kate Flewelling, Outreach Coordinator, MAR

Location:         Albany Medical College, Albany, NY

Date:                 April 26, 2013

Details:            http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/class_details.html?class_id=30

Meet the instructors who will lend their professional knowledge and experience to the 4 sessions of this class.  Each presenter has written a very brief bio about who they are.

May 31, Session 1 / Michelle Burda

A Paradigm Shift:  Asking “Why” Before Saying “Yes”

As the NN/LM Network and Advocacy Coordinator for the Middle Atlantic Region, Michelle’s position allows her the opportunity to see first-hand the challenges that hospital librarians face  in the current healthcare market.  Michelle has worked in small community hospitals and in a large academic urban hospital in both clinical services and consumer health, as well as a faculty medical reference librarian.  With more than 30 years of experience in the hospital environment, she has seen the many changes in healthcare.

June 7, Session 2 / Joy Harriman

Writing a Business Plan

Joy has worked for over 20 years in the health care industry as a medical librarian as well as in marketing, training, and research.  She is currently the Medical Librarian at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in Provo, UT.  She was formerly the Director of the Medical Library at the Mobile Infirmary, in Mobile, AL, and a consultant with Right Management Consultants, Inc.  Harriman’s book, Creating Your Library’s Business Plan:  A How-To-Do-It Manual was published March 2008.  A second book, Health Care in Mobile:  An Oral History of the 1940s was published in September 2011.

June 14, Session 3 / Barbara Epstein

The Art of Negotiation

Barbara is Director of the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System and of the NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region.  Previous positions included Director of a psychiatric hospital library, and high school librarian in an urban school district.  Her career has depended on successful negotiation with administrators, staff, students, vendors and peers.  Barbara is an experienced instructor and presenter and has held offices in several organizations, including MLA and AAHSL

June 21, Session 4 / Helen-Ann Brown and Claire Joseph

Proving Your Worth / Adding to Your Value

Helen-Ann is a champion for hospital librarians.  Her clinical librarianship brings the hospital library to the bedside directly contributing to improving health.  Her professorship at the Pratt School of Library and Information Science in the Health Information Concentration inspires future hospital librarians that they can make a difference in patient care, educating the healthcare team and research.

Claire Joseph is a solo librarian at a 435-bed teaching community hospital on Long Island’s south shore.  Claire is committed to working for the survival of hospital librarians.  As Chair of MLA’s Hospital Libraries Section (2012-2013), Claire’s mission is to work with HLS to create a plan to aggressively support its membership in its ongoing fight to survive.  Claire will offer real-life strategies, based on her over 30 years of experience, that hospital librarians can use to proactively prove their worth to their administrators.

Beginning May 31 running four successive Fridays, 1:30 – 3:00 pm (ET)

Participants in this series of programs will further develop their library business skills.

Members of NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region will be given first priority. Those outside of the NJ,NY,DE and PA region will be put on a special waitlist.

**Registration: Register < http://nnlm.gov/mar/training/register.html?schedule_id=2255> No cost
Deadline: May 28, 2013 **

Sponsored by   Middle Atlantic Region

Additional questions:  Michelle Burda  / mburda@pitt.edu / (412) 624-1589