Our next submission in our library advocacy series for our contest to recognize National Medical Librarians Month comes from an anonymous hospital librarian. Remember, entries are due by October 31.

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. (more…)

Kenneth Pfaff, Librarian at the Grotto Library of the Cortiva Institute in Seattle, continues our series on librarians and advocacy for our contest to recognize National Medical Librarians Month. Other entries will be featured later in the month of October.

Be Vital or Be a Museum Exhibit

I know history, and about my forebears, in addition to being a healthcare librarian for Massage Therapists.  I can tell you from historical perspective that any profession that failed to provision for and support its depositories of knowledge ended up with only the consolation prize; an exhibit in a natural history museum.  Mad Hatters, anyone?

Massage Therapy as a form of medicine has a very long history, and can be found in practically every culture.  Despite that long history, a concerted effort to conceptualize and structure a true Body of Knowledge began only five years ago.  Because I know a bit of history, I’ll tell you about The Grotto Library historically.  This library was literally created from the remnants of a simple 4’x8’ wooden box at a long-time Massage Therapy school in Seattle.  The overarching institution integrated with another competitive school a few blocks away, which itself had a small, neglected room with a few hundred books.  Whereas the institution wanted the library to be, they had no plan or time or strategy.  The simple mandate was “to take care of the library, and by the way, there’s no budget.” (more…)

Beshia Popescu, MBI, MLS, AHIP, Medical Librarian at Peacehealth St. John Medical Center in Longview, Washington, tells her story for our contest to recognize National Medical Librarians Month. Other entries will be featured later in the month of October.

As a hospital department at PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center, Longview WA, the Minthorn Medical Library participated in the hospital’s annual employee benefits fair on September 21st from 7am to 3 pm. A poster proudly displaying photos of the library, list of databases, library services available to all hospital employees and community, a laptop computer, and a librarian comprise the library’s booth. (more…)

photo by erix! on flickr

Here at NN/LM PNR, our mission is to improve access to quality information for health professionals and health consumers in the Pacific Northwest. We need your help! If you work in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Washington and have a great idea for health information outreach or improving library services, we would love to provide the funds to set your project in motion. We’ve announced five new funding opportunities over the past few weeks, bringing our total number of available awards types to nine. To help you (and us!) keep it all straight, we are summarizing the possibilities for you here in one handy blog post. Here are our currently available awards listed in order of application deadline. Our funding page will be continuously updated with the latest information about available awards and descriptions of projects we’ve funded. (more…)

NN/LM PNR is pleased to announce another funding opportunity: Express Outreach Awards.  Up to four (4) awards of up to $15,000 are available to NN/LM member organizations in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.  Goals of Express Outreach programs are:

• To improve use of quality online health information resources by priority populations
• To promote health information literacy in health education and health care
• To build or strengthen partnerships between network members and other community organizations
• To foster local health information expertise in community organizations
• To promote awareness and use of the products and services of the National Library of Medicine and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine

Applications from libraries and other organizations are welcome.

Consideration of requests for funding will begin on August 26, 2011. Proposals should be submitted using the Application for 2011 Express Outreach Awards.

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
Alison Aldrich, NN/LM PNR Public Health Outreach Coordinator at aldrich3@uw.edu, 1-800-338-7657

L-R: B. Bartholomew, A. Lee, A. Gleason

The National Association of Free Clinics sponsors C.A.R.E. Clinic events throughout the United States. C.A.R.E. Clinics provide opportunities for the uninsured to receive free basic medical care and preventive health services. The Washington C.A.R.E. Clinic took place on April 30, 2011 in the Tacoma Dome. Four medical librarians from the Pacific Northwest Region were on hand to direct patients to reliable sources of online health information. We would like to thank Angela Lee, Ann Gleason and Joanne Rich (University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries, Seattle) as well as Betsy Bartholomew (Multicare Health Systems, Tacoma) for volunteering their time and expertise to support this event.

(more…)