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.

We are very pleased to announce that Mahria Lebow has been appointed Regional Technology Coordinator for the NN/LM Pacific Northwest Region, effective May 7, 2012. Mahria will support librarians and information professionals in the Pacific Northwest Region with training and other opportunities to help them engage more fully in Health IT and emerging technologies.

Mahria, who received her Master of Librarianship from the University of British Columbia, is currently working at the University of Iowa as a Data Manager. She has previous experience working in research laboratories and universities on research teams including UBC and OHSU. She is the recipient of the 2011 MLA Rittenhouse Award, which is presented annually for the best unpublished student paper on health sciences librarianship or medical informatics. Please join us in congratulating Mahria!

Recently announced in the NLM Technical Bulletin are several items of interest to PubMed users:

• A new FAQ about article versions in PubMed citations: Certain citations will now be “versioned”, depending upon new data findings. The original article will be retained. Criteria not to be considered in defining a version are re-publication of an article, publication stages, and length of time after which an update occurs. Read all about it here.
• Citation management software and PubMed results: PubMed has been updated to include the choice “Citation Manager” as a destination for search results. This allows creation of a file to download into the software.
• PubMed and MyNCBI: It’s now possible to save citations directly into a MyNCBI Collection, via a new button in the PubMed Abstract view. A new Collection can also be created at this point, via a dropdown menu under Save Items.

 Enjoy enhanced PubMed searching with these new features!

The National Library of Medicine has decided to end its support for ToxSeek.  For ten years the National Library of Medicine has supported ToxSeek, a research project involving natural language processing and semantic technology.  This federated-search engine helped users to search across diverse biomedical and environmental health resources and provided a method for locating information resources on topics related to toxicology and environmental health.  Since there are now several comparable alternatives for users needing a federated search such as Science.gov, NLM will realign the resources to support other mission-critical programs.  ToxSeek will not be available after March 23, 2012.  Please direct any questions to tehip@teh.nlm.nih.gov

[http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/toxseekending.html]

Don’t forget that as an NN/LM Network Member, you are entitled to borrow items from our Professional Development Library. View the list of what’s available, including our newest offering, Changing Roles and Contexts for Health Library and Information Professionals, edited by Alison Brettle and Christine Urquhart. To see what’s been added recently, look for the “New” button. To borrow, email us at nnlm@uw.edu.

Another resource is our Netlibrary Collection, which includes 23 books. Email us for the password to this collection.

Are you interested in improving the health information literacy of your organization?  The Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA) invites you to attend the Eleventh annual Health Literacy Conference, “Operational Solutions to Low Health Literacy,” May 9-11, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency, Irvine (near Orange County/John Wayne airport).  Medical Library Association continuing education contact hours are offered for attending.  There is even a special discount for librarians!  Use discount code MLA12 when you register, and save $50 off the regular low registration rate.  Register early to get this special rate – early registration deadline is on or before April 11th. (more…)