 INside OUTreach
OUTREACH
At the NER, Outreach happens in many different ways.
The NER exhibits at national meetings and conferences. We exhibit at regional and local meetings, conferences, and events. Each time we do an exhibit, we are helping to inform people about the amazing array of information available from the National Library of Medicine and the services we in the NER are ready and willing to provide. Exhibiting is aimed at increasing awareness.
Outreach also happens through the work done by our Network Members. During this past year, there have been several projects ongoing in this Region, bringing access to health information to people. Whether this is done to help parents or patients learn to find reliable health information, to teach librarians how to more effectively answer their patron's health related questions, to improve health literacy, to increase access to health information in other languages, to improve the information-finding skills of health professionals, or to bring improved technology to libraries so that health information can be received in a more timely manner at the point of care, it is all Outreach - and Outreach that is happening all over the New England Region, thanks to our members.
Education and training is another facet of Outreach. Here in the NER, staff members provide free training on NLM resources and other topics to meet the needs of the Region. PubMed, MedlinePlus, TOXNET, Docline, LinkOUT, the NLM Gateway have all been taught in the Region. NER staffers have also been tapped to do more specialized projects, such as moderating a forum on scholarly publishing or providing information about contingency planning or doing a poster for NAHSL on PDA resources from NLM. Whatever the needs in the Region, the NER is there to help.
During this contract year and continuing, there are two specialized Outreach initiatives from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM): Outreach to Public Health and Outreach to Public Libraries. In both cases, it is the vision of the NN/LM to bring useful, appropriate information tools to both public health workers and public libraries. Although their patrons and their specific information needs may differ, each of these groups serves society in important ways and both are often challenged economically. The information resources provided by the NLM are free and should be part of the tools available for these professionals to perform their functions. However, if they aren't aware that the resources exist, how can they use them? Hence, the need for these Outreach initiatives. As the NER looks for ways to make this vision a reality, we are not by any means forgetting the needs of all the other constituent groups in the Region - rather, we are broadening our Outreach efforts.
If you've got an itch for Outreach, we'd love to have you participate! If you're interested in subcontracts or awards, big projects or small, let us know. We are willing to assist you in assisting the Region.
And, as you make plans for the coming year, please remember that the NER is committed to Outreach. If we can assist you with a PubMed class or a Consumer Health class or a TOXNET overview or a CME session, please contact our office. We would be happy to assist you and, you have to admit, the price is right - there is no charge for our services!
Donna Berryman, Outreach Coordinator
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