In This Issue:

• Home
  
  
• The Upper Corner
  
  
• Announcements
  
  
• Chic Chat
  
  
• ILLAdvised
  
  
• Public Health Review
  
  
• PubMed Particulars
  
  
• Tech Time
  
  
• From the NLM Technical Bulletin
  
  
• Links
  
  

The Upper Corner

May 1st marks the end and beginning of our fiscal years. With our first contract year behind us, here’s an update on the year we had and what to expect in the coming year.

The Previous Year

A quick review of the numbers:

Number of instructional sessions for PubMed, MedlinePlus, TOXNET, LinkOut, DOCLINE, Technology, Public Health and Consumer Health topics: 99

Number of instructional activities conducted remotely (Distance Education): 24

Number of participants at instructional sessions: 1,288

Funded projects for Outreach, Library Improvement, and Internet Connectivity: 7 (some still pending completion of paperwork)

Michelle Eberle and our fellow NN/LM coordinators throughout the country have rolled out an array of distance-based courses. The courses use Moodle as an asynchronous web-based delivery system where instructors guide participants through the course topics. Michelle’s Caring for the Mind course was offered this winter and spring. We will be promoting these courses as they become available throughout the network. See a list of classes at the National Training Center and Clearinghouse website at http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/ch/browse.html?FormatID=16#results.

The Gale Medical Library at Littleton Regional Hospital will provide outreach to underserved clinical practices sites in northern New Hampshire through the Northern New Hampshire Health Information Outreach project. Practice sites currently do not have convenient (if any) access to health sciences library services.The primary goal of this project is to ensure that Health professionals at rural health care facilities in the northern New Hampshire have regular access to health information resources in order to provide high quality care.

The Worcester Campus of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will conduct a library and science related curriculum for 6th grade students. The goal of the Kids to College through the Library project is to introduce 6th graders to the role of libraries in higher education, educate students about lead poisoning, and to improve students' ability to find, use, and apply quality health information. The project involves the collaboration of key institutions and their libraries in the city of Worcester.

You’ll read about the latest resources developed by the Hospital Library Subcommittee in this issue: http://nnlm.gov/ner/newsletter/26/illadvised26.html#hosplibraries.

The Year Ahead

Nothing beats face-to-face training with skilled instructors and motivated participants actively engaged in learning. That will continue. We also expect to continue using Moodle and traditional distance based delivery systems (i.e., telephone) to deliver instruction throughout the region. We are also excited about using Adobe Connect Professional (ACP). We have begun to work with this format and we expect to explore new and interesting ways of delivering web-based real-time instruction to network members. We will also be exploring ways of using ACP to conduct our RAC and related work group meetings.

A national collaboration working group of RML staff have been putting together a framework for action to promote emergency preparedness planning throughout the membership. We expect the work of this group to be completed in the coming months after which NER will assemble members in the region to develop a regional approach to promoting emergency preparedness.

Our Hospital Library Subcommittee will build on their growing list of accomplishments and continue its work to strengthen our hospital libraries.

As we head to a midpoint in our contract period NER will be conducting assessments of all program areas. We will ask Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) participants and network members to help us gather feedback and help us think about the future directions of our programs.

In the coming months we will be announcing our calls for participation for awards and our competitive outreach subcontracts. By the end of our second fiscal year, we should be on course to have seven active outreach projects throughout the region.

Yes, it’s another busy year ahead.

Javier

Javier Crespo, Associate Director