• Low Down on the iTest iPad Project
• NN/NM MCR on Facebook and Twitter:
• Best Practices & DOCLINE
• Whooo Says:
• We Want to Hear From YOU! -We are collecting stories
• Who’s Doing What in the RML
• Introducing Monica Rogers
• Refugee Health Resources
• Professional Development in Mindfulness:
• Downloadable E-books – Yes, we have them!

You may have heard the iBuzz around the iTest iPad Project, especially if you were one of the 50 who received an Apple iPad2 from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region (NN/LM MCR).

The purpose of this project is to encourage librarians at full NN/LM MCR Network member institutions to adopt a new technology and demonstrate its use to their institutions and their patrons. (more…)

What you are missing if you aren’t following us

Don’t forget to get yourself on Facebook and Twitter so you can follow the NN/LM MCR and take advantage of the health information access posts we are sending out everyday.

@NLMMCR Twitter followers will get 2-3 Tweets per day related to health information access. Twitter posts will have a wide audience (e.g. Health IT, EMRs, insurance codes, minority health and more). We hope that Twitter followers will ReTweet our Tweets to their Twitter fans (say that ten times fast!).

People “Liking” the NN/LM MCR Facebook page will get 1-2 posts per day also related to health information access. Librarians will be the main audience. Each post will be rich with information but also be conversational in tone. We want you to share your opinions and knowledge or just tell us you like the content.

Try them today!

Document delivery has certainly evolved since health professionals started seeking articles. I started using DOCLINE in 2000, as a library technician in a small cancer research center. I really respect those librarians who went on quests for documents in the days before microcomputers and OPACS were used in libraries. Even when computers were finally in use, how did librarians function without the graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that dramatically changed the usability of the Internet? (more…)

Dear Whooo,

I’m a hospital librarian, working with one paraprofessional in a mid-sized hospital. In a former job, I worked in an academic health science library, and I miss the professional relationships I found there. I’ve been a librarian for a few years now, but there are still times when I would value the advice or insight from a colleague. I try to go to professional meetings and I am a member of a local health sciences library group, but that doesn’t fill the need I have. Do you have any ideas?

Wondering,
Treading Water (more…)

We are collecting stories

- stories of how you have enriched the quality of your library program.

Have you:

• Completed the library valuation calculators and used the results?
  Examples of use could be sharing the results with your supervisor, including the results in an annual report, comparing your 2011 results with prior years, etc.

• Become involved in health information literacy in your institution?
  Involvement in health information literacy can take many forms.  Do you work with the translator in your hospital to provide consumer health materials? Do you provide trainings on health information literacy to clinical staff?  Do you provide consumer health information to your patients and staff?  These are only three of the ways you can be involved in this area.

So, tell us your story!  Help inspire us and your other colleagues with reports of how you are expanding and improving your practice.  We will use your stories to present an Advocacy session later this year highlighting the excellence of your efforts.

Contact either your State Coordinator or Barb Jones with your story.

We’ve been moving responsibilities around in the RML so if you’re a little confused, it’s understandable. (more…)

Monica Rogers is the new Health Information Literacy Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region. She is located at Creighton University. Monica earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Anthropology from the University of Illinois – Springfield and her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Missouri. She was most recently at Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine, as the Community Health Librarian, working with St. Louis Public Library to develop a Consumer Health Department.

On a more personal note, she likes to play pinball and listen to vinyl records of rock & roll music. She has over 300 LPs and over 500 45s, of which almost half have their original picture sleeve.

Research conducted over the past 25 years has shown a strong correlation between language barriers and poor quality health care. Language can affect the accuracy of patient histories, the ability to engage in treatment decision-making, poorer understanding of a medical diagnosis or treatment, under use of primary and preventative services, lower use and misuse of prescription medications, and a decreased level of patient trust.

Linguistically, the majority of the population in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region (NN/LM MCR) speaks English as their primary language. Spanish ranks second, German third, and French fourth. (more…)