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

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.

Fortunately, earlier in the year, WASCLA had become a member of the NNLM/PNR as part of our own capacity-building process. Language access services are vital to improving personal and community health, so it is critical that we have access to reliable health and health policy information. In addition, WASCLA helps to support the information needs of its members, many of whom are direct service providers as independent medical interpreters responsible for their own continuing education.

We applied for and were awarded a Professional Development grant, which allowed Abukar Ali, Kristi Cruz, Louise Morehead, and Joana Ramos of WASCLA to attend the October conference. For 3 days we had the opportunity not only to hear national experts opine on policy issues and challenges to immigrant integration today, but also to participate in topical workshops and discussion sessions with peers. Themes related to health and dissemination of health information included workshops on: the current status of immigrant access to health services; the need for more relevant work-oriented ESL programs like the Welcome Back Program for those who had been health workers in their homelands; the important role of community-based organizations in consumer education; the future of the safety net services; and health care reform. Especially valuable were networking sessions, including a Language Access Caucus, where health topics were a major focus and colleagues from across the country met for the first time.

Since the conference, we have utilized knowledge gained at NIIC into WASCLA’s ongoing program planning and development. A first step was the creation of the WASCLA Healthcare Committee in December, building on our Pharmacy Workgroup. In addition, facilitators of Health Track sessions continue to keep attendees informed of advocacy opportunities like the Region X HHS Listening Session on Essential Health Benefits, where several of us testified on the need for language access services. We are most appreciative that NNLM/PNR offers this kind of support for community groups like WASCLA.

NLM Information Resource Grants to Reduce Health Disparities (G08)

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) solicits resource grant applications for projects that will bring useful, usable health information to health disparity populations and the health care providers who care for those populations. Access to useful, usable, understandable health information is an important factor during health decisions. Proposed projects should exploit the capabilities of computer and information technology and health sciences libraries to bring health-related information to consumers and their health care providers. Preference will be given to applications that show strong involvement of health science libraries. Because this FOA focuses on providing health information to health disparity populations, institutions with demonstrated commitment to the needs of health disparity communities (including Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and other institutions in rural and socially disadvantaged areas) are encouraged to apply.

The Homer Public Library, in collaboation with the Friends of the Homer Public Library and local emergency responders, held a month of activities aimed at increasing the community’s emergency preparedness thanks to a $5000 NN/LM Community Preparedness Day Award.  Events, which were timed to coincide with national Disaster Preparedness Month, kicked off on September 21st with a special Story Time about safety and natural phenomena that occur locally, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

On September 24th the library hosted a Community Preparedness Day. Area emergency responders gave 15-minutes presentations throughout the day on emergency preparedness issues.  In addition, the public was invited to visit information booths operated by various agencies, including the Alaska Division of Forestry, the Homer Volunteer Fire Department, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management and the Homer Senior Citizens.

One of the biggest draws of the day was the bright orange buckets, used to distribute 75 emergency preparedness kits funded by the award.  These buckets included a first aid kit, an emergency radio, and pamphlets from FEMA and the local veterinary clinic on how to prepare for an emergency.  The bucket itself was a useful water-storage device.  Community members, including the Homer City mayor, flocked to the library to pick up their buckets and then stopped by the booths to fill those bucket with more safety information.

Additionally, on September 28th the library hosted a forum for survivors of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake to tell their stories.  More than a dozen survivors shared compelling stories to an audience of over 30 people, imparting wisdom and perspective about the very real risks faced by Alaskans living on the “ring of fire.”

The Homer Public Library is also purchasing materials on emergency preparedness, survival, self-sufficiency and related topics to better serve this end-of-the-road community.  The activities and material funded by the NN/LM award have improved community awareness about emergency preparedness and placed helpful tools into the hands of Southern Kenai Peninsula residents.

Note: If you organization is interested in holding a Community Preparedness Day event, we are currently offering funding.  Please see the funding announcement – applications are due December 16, 2011.

The purpose of the Disaster Health Information Outreach Project is to design programs for improving disaster medicine and public health information access for health professionals, first responders and others (paid or volunteer) that play a role in health-related disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Emphasis is on providing information or access to health and medical information in a way useful to the target audiences, and increasing the awareness and utilization of high-quality professional-level online medical and public health information resources on disaster, all-hazards, and emergency topics including resources from the National Library of Medicine. The purpose is also to promote new and creative collaborations on disaster health information needs among and to the mutual benefit of librarians, information specialists, or informationists and the disaster workforce.

Approved projects will be funded up to $15,000.

For more information, see the full funding announcement or contact Gail Kouame at gmarie@uw.edu or 206-221-3449.

Proposals will be accepted until February 1, 2012. However, if you plan to submit a proposal, we need a brief statement of intent no later than January 13, 2012 to help our planning process. Please submit your statement of intent to apply to nnlm@uw.edu.

This is an award of up to $5,000 for projects that promote the value of health information services offered by an information professional within the organization or community. Proposals are due December 30, 2011 and projects must be completed by April 30, 2012. Projects could include:

• Working with public relations staff or a firm to develop a promotional/branding campaign;
• Using social media to highlight health information services; or
• Holding a special even that advertises new or unique services.

For more details see the funding announcement, or contact Patricia Devine, devine @uw.edu, 206-543-8275.

Thanks to all who entered the contest by submitting their stories of advocacy and outreach during the month of October. Your stories provided insights, ideas and best practices about how you’ve shown your worth. We hope to continue this tradition in years to come, so keep your wheels turning and plan to share your ideas with your colleagues in the NN/LM PNR.

We also welcome articles from our Network members about other projects you may be working on, even if they didn’t fit the criteria for this contest. So keep us in mind. Contact Patricia Devine.

Medical Librarians: Your Ultimate Search Engine.

Definition: A search engine is a web site that collects and organizes content from all over the internet. Those wishing to locate something would enter a query about what they’d like to find and the engine provides links to content that matches what they want. http://realestate.about.com/od/sv/g/defsearcheng.htm.  In other words, we as medical librarians locate, collect, and organize in order to provide needed information for our patrons. The statement that medical librarians are the best resource when searching for health information goes beyond the usual perception that we can obtain or retrieve information. It also applies to the expanding role of creating vessels that assist in organizing and assembling information to create better access for our patrons.

Medical librarians have spent hours and hours online as users with a unique perspective. We not only are seeking requested information, but during our searches we are also observing and analyzing the organization of the site and its information. We can’t help it; we are wired to notice how the information has been arranged. It is like an artist noticing the colors or the composition of a painting. We notice the headings, the format, and the overall philosophy of each site we search. We appreciate those sites or repositories that make it easy to locate the information that we want. We have become experts in knowing what works and what doesn’t. So now with so many do-it-yourself technology tools such as websites, blogs, SharePoint, DropBox, Publisher, Audacity, Movie Maker, YouTube, (and the list goes on and on) that will allow anyone to create their own container to house information in various formats, the challenge then becomes what technology tool best suits their needs and how should it be designed.

Because of our expertise we can help with this. Many might see this as an extra service, where others view it as a necessary role. Medical librarians have always connected the user to the needed information and we do this very well. This new role of technology tool advisor is the same concept, but with a different wrapping. It helps the user to organize information so that it can be accessed and shared. When you think of it these sites are kind of growth off-shoots of the library. We have so much to contribute; we truly are ultimate search engines.

The goals of Community Preparedness Day are to:

• Encourage, strengthen and/or expand library partnerships with first responders and community emergency management personnel
• Provide access to emergency management information tools and resources for families or other target populations
• Integrate and involve libraries in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery planning
• Promote and publicize the roles libraries, faith, or community organizations can play in emergency preparedness
• Strengthen and expand medical and public library partnerships

Applications from libraries and other organizations are welcome.

Consideration of requests for funding will begin on December 16, 2011. Proposals should be submitted using the Community Preparedness Day Award Application.

For additional information, see the full funding announcement or contact Gail Kouame, NN/LM PNR Consumer Health Outreach Coordinator at gmarie@uw.edu, 1-800-338-7657.

I am surprised.

Many of us know the worth of medical librarians. We know we provide valuable services for our patrons and our facilities. We also know how we can help others who don’t yet know about our services.

Some of us are not afraid to speak up to promote our services. And some of us are. That’s not the profession; that’s our individual personality or our own distinctive style.

I am surprised at the number of colleagues who told me that perhaps their supervisor or direct report doesn’t know it is Medical Librarians Month! As someone who is initially very shy, I learned firsthand the importance of speaking up in addition to letting my work results speak for itself.

For a long time, I was a solo librarian with a small medical library tucked away in the corner of a hospital basement. Time has taught me the value of speaking out proactively about library services. It is very easy to fall into the trap of “well, everyone knows about us.” There are typically numerous clinical staff changes over the course of a decade. Even if your library is part of an orientation program, chances are, not everyone knows about your library or implicitly understands your services. And if they knew about the library, they may not know it is Medical Librarians Month at this very moment!

I stand in awe of those librarians having fabulous promotional activities in their libraries. They do a fantastic job of promoting their services.

As I typically do each October, I quietly put up a reusable colorful sign indicating Medical Librarians’ month on the library exit door, changed our voicemail greeting to announce Medical Librarians Month, and add one short line to my email signature. I didn’t do an announcement for our hospital newsletter. Instead, this year, I nonchalantly cc’d my Administrator when I sent an email to my staff about how appreciative I am of them in recognition of Medical Librarians Month.

Later that same day my Administrator’s assistant called for us to schedule a lunch with him – for which we three librarians got to pick the restaurant. During the delightful experience of having lunch away from the facility, we had his undivided attention. What a perfect time to tell him what the library needed!

Instead, we asked about how things were going for him. We were treated to some great inside information regarding his personal workload along with a variety of Administration projects. It was very enlightening for us, and there were a few times we librarians discreetly winked at each other during the conversation knowing that we’ve got the skills to support him and some of the Administration projects. We’ve got our Administrator’s back.

All because of a simple cc on a short email. I am surprised … and pleased.