Volume 7 - Issue 1
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This edition is coming out in October and it is worth mentioning that it is Medical Librarians’ Month. The National Library of Medicine marks the occasion by calling attention to noted libraries and their services across the eight regions of the National Network. We know that the work librarians do in providing health information is a year-round task. Excellent projects, good works, and hard-working librarians abound in our region. We should share the news of our accomplishments with others. With this issue NER would like to feature one or more libraries and their librarians who raise the value of the library through their ongoing works or landmark accomplishments. We would like to invite members to submit their own good works to be featured in the NER'eastah. Contact me (javier.crespo@umassmed.edu) or any of our coordinators with your ideas or your finished article. We'll play a part in sharing the good news! In this issue we feature two libraries and their staff actively evolving the library from a static station to a dynamic presence enhancing the outcomes of their respective institutions. The articles are available at http://nnlm.gov/ner/newsletter/27/members27.html
There’s lots happening in the region. NER is coming off a busy summer and launching into an even busier Fall. We said goodbye recently to Donna Berryman who served as our Education and Outreach Coordinator for the past six years. We wish her well and thank her for her untiring service. NER announced the RFP for its outreach subcontract, our Review Subcommittee will be hard at work reading and reviewing submitted proposals. The selected project will join four other outreach subcontracts at work throughout the region. (see below) Our RAC and its subcommittees continue assisting us with their feedback and input. At our August meeting we briefed the RAC on our year’s accomplishments, our current plans for conducting assessments, and an update on the Network’s emergency preparedness initiative. The Hospital Library Subcommittee continues its work and will be presenting the staging of Nursing Practice Court at the NAHSL conference. (http://nnlm.gov/ner/newsletter/27/illadvised27.html#play) Fall is prime exhibit time for NER. We just exhibited at the AARP national conference and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The Pri-Med East Conference is in a couple of weeks. Regional shows include Connecticut and Massachusetts public health meetings, NELA, and of course the upcoming NAHSL conference. At NAHSL we'll meet with the region's Resource Library Directors on Sunday morning. Michelle Eberle will be teaching the recently developed Grant Proposal Writing course on Tuesday afternoon. (http://www.nahsl.org/2007/CE.html). We continue to offer instruction from our growing list of courses (http://nnlm.gov/ner/training/classes.html). Please mark your calendar for the following: NER will host a one-day workshop on Emergency Preparedness by the Northeast Document Conservation Center. When: November 16, 2007 Check the NER Web site (http://nnlm.gov/ner) for upcoming registration information.
Time to update readers on NER's funded outreach projects... Four subcontracted outreach projects began during Year One. Three of the projects were from pre-identified Outreach Libraries who planned and submitted proposals for projects targeted towards, rural, urban, and nursing care populations. The funded project submitted for the year’s Health Information Outreach RFP was from New Hampshire and targets Health Professionals at health care facilities where no health information support services currently exists. Northern New Hampshire Health Information Outreach The Northern New Hampshire Health Information Outreach project will conduct a pilot project at three sites in northern New Hampshire that do not have convenient (if any) access to health sciences library services. Cottage Hospital in Woodsville, NH, Indian Stream Health Center in Colebrook, NH, and The Morrison in Whitefield, NH. The primary goal of this project is so that Health professionals at rural health care facilitated in the northern New Hampshire will have regular access to health information resources in order to provide high quality care. Establishing a Health Information Resource Center at a Head Start Program in Revere The project will establish an onsite Health Information Resource Center at the CAPIC (Community Action Programs, Inter City, Inc.) CAPIC Head Start serves low-income families with young children in Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. The Project team will create a physical resource room and a web site containing resources on general child health and wellness, nutrition and healthy eating. The Project team will teach parents and Head Start staff how to find and use appropriate and authoritative health information. The outcome evaluation will document the impact of the NLM funded-CAPIC Head Start initiative on parents, staff and teachers. Connecting Patients, Providers, and the Community with Quality Health Information Dana Medical Library will team with medical and professional staff of the Milton Family Practice to provide educational modules on quality patient and consumer health sources. Milton is a working-class community north of Burlington. Milton Family Practice is an ambulatory practice site serving rural communities and towns in Franklin, Lamoille and Grand Isle Counties. The evaluation phase will assess whether health care providers in the target group are more knowledgeable about patient education and consumer health information available to them and their patients and family caregivers, and if they use and communicate this information more often than at the outset of the project. Information Needs of Connecticut School Nurses This project will determine the information needs of Connecticut school nurses and to develop resources and training that match those needs. The information needs of the school nurse population have not been reported in the literature, and is an understudied area. The project will center on the use of a survey as well as focus groups as the main tools to discover how school nurses currently find new information, what their needs are, and what would be the most helpful way for them to access information in the future. Results of the data collection will be analyzed to develop a strategy of information delivery and potential training opportunities. In addition, NER funded the following project under an Express Outreach Award. Kids to College through the Library Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Blais Library; Worcester 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 project’s goal 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. Javier Crespo, Associate Director Javier.Crespo@umassmed.edu |
The Upper Corner
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NLM | NN/LM | NER Comments to: Penny.Glassman@umassmed.edu |
University of Massachusetts Medical School 222 Maple Avenue Shrewsbury, MA 01545 Phone: 800-338-7657 508-856-5979 Fax: 508-856-5977 |