AD-Perspective

NNLM-NER announces the availability of support for extended outreach projects in the areas of Consumer Health and Public Health outreach.

Over the past 3 years 13 member libraries have run 22 outreach projects in direct service to patrons who would otherwise not have access to health information.

Projects can serve consumers, multi-type librarians, allied and public health workers. Funds are available through competitive outreach subcontracts issued to NNLM members. Up to $40,000 is available for each program area. Projects proposed will be selected with the help of the NER's Outreach Subcommittee of the Regional Advisory Council and are subject to approval by the National Library of Medicine.

Proposals should be submitted to the NNLM-NER by October 15, 2004. We anticipate projects would begin January 2005 and would have an end date not later than March 31, 2006.

Here is a brief description of the two subcontract programs:

Health Information for the Public (aka Consumer Health RFP): The primary purpose of the Health Information for the Public outreach subcontract is to assist member libraries in providing librarians in the NN/LM NER to provide information services and training to groups that do not have access to medical information.

Potential partners for the award might be local public libraries, community health centers, Community based-organizations, or school libraries.

The full Request for Proposal and instructions is available at: http://nnlm.gov/ner/RFPs/consumer_rfp_y04.html

The primary purpose of the Health Information for Public Health Professionals Outreach Subcontract is to assist health sciences librarians in the NN/LM NER in providing information services and training to public health workers who do not have access to health information. Potential partners for the project might be local public health organizations, state public health organizations, school health nurses, community based health agencies, or other groups who serve public health needs.

The full Request for Proposal and instructions is available at: http://nnlm.gov/ner/RFPs/publichealth_rfp_y04.html

Depending on the proposed projects, there can be more than one subcontract selected for each program area. A list of NER funded outreach projects is available at: http://nnlm.gov/ner/FundedProjects.html (This list also includes projects funded through separate outreach RFPs from NLM)

If you are considering an outreach project please feel free to contact me via Email: javier.crespo@umassmed.edu or 508/856.2223.

NER ANNOUNCES FUNDED PROJECTS FROM NLM'S Access to Electronic Health Information RFP

In addition to the 22 past and present outreach projects, three new projects have been approved by NLM. These projects took part in NLM's 2004 competitive RFP. Projects were either reviewed and scored locally by NER's Outreach Committee or reviewed by a committee at NLM. While all three projects serve consumers, they vary emphasis and approach. The following projects have been approved

Holyoke Consumer Health Library Inc. Holyoke, MA

Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc. will support and enhance access to reliable health information in coordination with six Community Partners (Holyoke Public Library, Holyoke Health Center, Mercy Women's Health Center, Girls Incorporated of Holyoke, and the Holyoke Council on Aging. The vision of the project is to create a network of consumer health access stations at health and human service agencies in Holyoke, MA. A Consumer Health Information Coordinator will train staff at site to use NLM consumer health databases and will work with agency staff to plan and conduct outreach to their clients, including low-income Spanish speaking consumers, women seeking health care, pregnant and parenting teenagers, families raising vegetables in community gardens, teens at the Holyoke Teen Center, elders at the Senior Center, and the general public.

JSI Center for Environmental Health Studies Boston, MA

Informed Communities: Environmental Health Initiative will assist residents of Dorchester, MA to access, understand, and apply environmental health information. Partners include the Dorchester branch libraries of the Boston Public Library system and the Dorchester Environmental Health Coalition. The project will train environmental and community advocates, health professionals, librarians, and public health workers by showing them how to access environmental health information via the Internet, how to evaluate available information critically and how to disseminate information to community members. The long term goal of the project is to create a cadre of environmental health resources leaders available in the neighborhood of Dorchester.

University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library Worcester, MA

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School Lamar Soutter Library, in collaboration with the UMass Medical School Department of Psychiatry and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, will develop the e-Mental Health in Central Massachusetts. "e-mental health" refers to mental health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet to improve access to evidence-based information and decision making for professionals and consumers. The purpose of e-Mental Health in Central Massachusetts is to provide an integrative information web-based resource, training, reference and document delivery services. This program will target an underserved population and will build on the success of a recently completed NLM funded project to teach parents and pediatric agency staff to find and assess the quality of health information on the Internet. The target population is mental health agencies, mental health care providers and consumers of mental health information.