The NLM Technical Bulletin recent announced a change which went into effect at the end of last week.

The Limits Page has been replaced by an easy-to-use Filters Sidebar. Similar to the way Limits worked, Filters will remain in effect, once selected, until they are cleared. The Filters Sidebar will not be visible until the search results are displayed, so this will require a slight change in searching habits for some. A new tutorial about Filters has been published on YouTube.

Another recent change to PubMed is the ability to click on an author name in a citation to execute a more relevant search. PubMed will search for the same author by comparing metadata for more precise results.

Your feedback on these and other changes to PubMed is welcome! Please use the “Write to the Help Desk” link at the bottom of every PubMed screen.

Hi there Dragonfly readers! My name is Mahria Lebow and I am the new Regional Technology Coordinator for the Pacific Northwest Region. I was lucky enough to meet some of you before I got started here at the Regional Advisory Council meeting a few weeks back.

This position brings me back from the Midwest to my favorite part of the country. I am a native Oregonian, going back six generations to Thomas Simpson Lebow who trekked on the Oregon Trail from Tennessee to Lane County, settling in 1850.  I’m excited to again be sandwiched between the Pacific and the Cascades. I enjoy both camping and surfing, so my recreational activities will be much improved upon from my time in a landlocked state.

Prior to obtaining my Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of British Columbia, I had a wide range of experiences from providing technology support to clinical work (including phlebotomy!) at Oregon Health and Science University. I am coming most recently from the University of Iowa where I was acting as a Data Manager.

For those of you I had the opportunity to meet before, hello again.  For everyone else, I hope I have a chance to meet you in person sometime soon.  In the meanwhile, please feel free to contact me via e-mail (mahria@uw.edu), skype (mahriatalksonhermac) or call me (206-221-3489).  I am here to support you and your endeavors as they relate to technologies (old and new) and improving health information access, so please feel free to introduce yourself!

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is accepting applications through the Community Connect Broadband program for grants to provide broadband service to residents of remote, rural communities.

“Ensuring that all Americans have access to reliable broadband is a key part of the Obama Administration’s effort to help create jobs and expand economic opportunities in rural areas,” Vilsack said. “These grants not only are critical for businesses and residents, they also help first responders, educators and health care professionals by providing them with access to broadband service.”

Information on available funding and application requirements are published on page 26241 of the May 3, 2012 Federal Register. More information on Community Connect Grants, including the application guide, can be viewed from the USDA Rural Development website. Applications must be received by June 18, 2012.

There are a limited number of spaces available for these free training opportunities from the National Library of Medicine Training Center (NTC) in Portland, OR next month. The PubMed online sessions begin on May 30th – don’t miss your chance! Details about the classes and how to register are below.

Read more »

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies has made available a discussion paper, describing 10 attributes of a helath literate organization, to guide health care organizations that seek to ensure that everyone gets the greatest benefit possible from health care information and services. The authors are participants in  the Workgroup on Attributes of a Health Literate Organization of the IOM Roundtable on Health Literacy.

A PDF of the discussion paper is available free of charge.

By Joana Ramos
Founding member, Board member, and Chair, Healthcare Committee,
Washington State Coalition for Language Access

The Washington State Coalition for Language Access (WASCLA) is a young organization that seeks to eliminate language barriers in all areas of public life in the state, through education and advocacy. WASCLA is currently an all-volunteer group with very limited resources, so members were excited to learn that the 2011 National Immigrant Integration Conference would be held in Seattle. Not many major national conferences are held here, let alone one so specific to our mission. Travel costs usually limit the possibilities for those of us in the helping professions and community services sector from being able to participate in such venues, as important as they are for our work. We soon realized however, that the registration fees for the NIIC were beyond the reach of our organization. Read more »