Susan Centner

Project Director, MAHEC Digital Library.

The Missouri Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) Digital Library (MDL) is a partnership project of the Missouri AHEC, Founding Academic Partner, J. Otto Lottes Health Science Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia, A.T. Still Memorial Library at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Medical Library at St Louis University. The MDL provides physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers and institutions throughout Missouri access to current, quality, evidence focused health information to support clinical decision making and educational activities. The Missouri AHEC system is comprised of seven regional centers and three university program offices with a mission to enhancing access to quality health care, particularly primary and preventive care, by growing and supporting Missouri's healthcare workforce. This is accomplished through collaboration with local, regional and statewide organizations.

Siobhan Champ-Blackwell

Community Outreach Liaison for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, MidContinental Region, Creighton University Health Sciences Library, Omaha, NE

The NN/LM is the outreach branch of the National Library of Medicine. There are eight regional medical libraries in the US, and Siobhan works on a subcontract with the MidContinental Region, which is located at Eccles Health Sciences Library in Salt Lake City Utah. The NN/LM MCR covers a six state region, and Siobhan's role is to work on issues around health disparities. One of the goals is to assist librarians who want to develop outreach programs with community groups. Having a library partner with a community group is good in and of itself; but it also adds value to the institution the library is associated with, and thus may give the library more status.

Bob Engeszer

Associate Director, Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. 63110

Bob currently direct the library's Translational Research Support division which includes specialized programs in bioinformatics support, scholarly communications, consumer health, and community outreach. Becker Medical Library has recently embarked on two initiatives to further their efforts in establishing community partnerships. They are working with the St. Louis Public Library to create a questionnaire to assess the health information needs of public library patrons. At the same time they are collaborating with several Washington University faculty and a local neighborhood clinic system on a research project to identify effective mechanisms and formats for disseminating the results of clinical research studies conducted at our university to community participants.

Chris Engleman

Former Director of the Grillo Health Information Center at the Boulder Public Library in Boulder, Colorado.

Chris has tremendous experience in library community partnerships gained in his work at The Grillo Center, a small-nonprofit organization which was housed in the Boulder Public Library. He currently works as a consultant and assists the working group in developing ideas and projects to improve access to health information.

Melody B. Kinnamon

Consumer Health Librarian, Johnson County Library, 9875 W. 87th St., Overland Park, KS 66212

Johnson County Library is part of the Kansas City metro area. The system includes a Central Resource Library, where Melody has an office, and 12 neighborhood libraries throughout the county. The Consumer Health Specialist position was created one year ago and Melody is the first to take on this job. Previously, she was a branch manager for the library. She also has experience as a law librarian. .

Will Olmstadt

Librarian, Washington University School of Medicine, Becker Medical Library, St. Louis, MO 63110

Will Olmstadt has worked in libraries since 1995. Prior to joining Becker Medical Library, Will was on the library faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas A&M University, and was also the library director for DeVry University in Irving, Texas. Will earned an MLS from the University of Kentucky and an MPH from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He has done research grading the quality of clinical trials for brief interventions for alcohol-related injuries. In 2005 he completed a significant project using GIS to map Medically Underserved Areas (MUA) in Dallas and Tarrant County, Texas, for the DFW Area Health Education Center. Will has published and presented on diverse aspects of library instruction, including teaching public health informatics courses and providing training for patients in support groups. He is a senior member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals of the Medical Library Association. In fall 2008, Will is also acting half-time as the librarian for St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Lori Phillips

University of Wyoming Libraries, Laramie,WY

The Univeristy of Wyoming Libraries are home for the Wyoming Liaison position. Lori meets quarterly with directors from other NN/LM MCR Resource Library directors to discuss planning and evaluation issues. She was a member of the NN/LM MCR Regional Advisory Board and in that role wroked on issues related to community outreach. The University of Wyoming is accustomed to involvement in community and state issues, since they are the only 4 year institution of higher learning in the state.

Kathy Tacke

Director of Community Impact for United Way of Southwest Wyoming

Kathy came to the United Wayafter 25 years as a Hospital Library Manager and Grant Writer. She believes that developing partnerships and forming collaborations is the key to creating positive lasting change in our communities. Her past experience as a medical library manager provided her with valuable skills that have guided her work in community impact for Southwest Wyoming. To determine what the cricital areas of need in her community were, she faciliated focus groups for a period of 6 months. Through the process, the groups would identify areas of concern and Kathy would then perform the research to back up their assumptions and make comparisions to like communites or situations. These groups have now trasnformed into action groups surrounding those critical areas of need that were identified. Kathy continues to provide research and grant writing assitance for all of their funded agencies, programs, boards, councils and work groups. She is also working to develop a small consumer health resource library for the non-profit sector.

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