NLM Funded Projects Enhance Public Access to Health Information

In 2000, six NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region libraries were awarded funding for projects developed in response to the NLM Request for Proposals: Access to Electronic Health Information for the Public. PSRML administered these fifteen-to-eighteen-month subcontract projects, among 53 funded nationwide. They all concluded in July and provided their target audiences some valuable new skills and tools to access health information!

CHILE

A partnership was established between the University of Arizona Health Sciences Library and the Tucson-Pima Public Library to improve access to health information resources for the residents of Tucson and surrounding Pima County. CHILE, a perfect southwest acronym for Consumer Health Information Links for Everyone, developed a web site, provided training to public librarians, and succeeded in forging a strong partnership between medical and public librarians. The CHILE web site is supported by a backend database that facilitates input of resources by library staff. It includes medical topics, links to MEDLINEplus, Gale's Health and Wellness Center, SOAHR (Southern Arizona Health Referral), and AHSL's and TPPL's catalogs. Site visitors can also "ask a librarian", suggest topics, request document delivery, and use the search feature of the site. Jeannette McCray and her AHSL team provided training to nearly 100 public librarians in health reference and resources through the CHILE project. The partnership formed through the project is serving as a basis for possible expansion of CHILE statewide, enhancing public access to health information for all of Arizona's citizens!

Health Information @ Preuss

Health Information @ Preuss was the result of a unique partnership between the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center Library and the Preuss School UCSD. Preuss School prepares low income and educationally underserved middle school students for eventual admission to and graduation from a university. The primary goal of the project was to provide access to electronic health information appropriate for middle school students. Medical librarian Craig Haynes and school librarian Marsha Korobkin provided training to the faculty, and to over 250 seventh, eighth and ninth graders at the school. The project also produced a highly interactive (and fun!) web site for the students, faculty, school nurse, and parents. A Health Information @ Preuss competition generated student excitement and interest as the project drew to a close. The competition provided tangible evidence of the health information knowledge and skills acquired by the more than 200 students who submitted video productions, skits, PowerPoint presentations, and posters on a variety of health topics, as part of the competition. The quality and originality of the student submissions served as a fitting tribute to an effective project and a highly successful librarian partnership!

Hawaii Partnership for MEDLINE Training

The Hawaii Medical Library (HML) developed the Hawaii Partnership for MEDLINE Training project with the Hawaii State Public Library System to introduce PubMed^® and MEDLINEplus to the general public and to provide computers to participating public libraries. Medical librarians Christine Sato, Tina Okamoto, and Marlene Cuenco conducted 29 training sessions for the public and a mix of healthcare providers, librarians, library staff, and students on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, and Molokai. Two online tutorials were created in conjunction with the training sessions (see the links at http://hml.org/CHIS/wsonline.html). The project librarians trained 354 people -- an impressive number! The project strengthened the existing partnership HML has with the Hawaii State Public Library System, which not only facilitated the training effort, but also received 5 computers and printers through the project. HML will continue to offer monthly training sessions beyond the end of the project. A gift to Hawaii in the "Aloha" spirit!

LINCS Clearinghouse

The LINCS (Linking Information about Children with Special Needs) Clearinghouse project was conducted by Cheryl Warren, medical librarian at the ValleyCare Health Library. The goal of the project was to make available to parents, caregivers, educators, health professionals and local agency personnel a comprehensive clearinghouse for information and referral sources for the special needs child. LINCS is a collection of reference, circulating and electronic information on special needs children for the Tri-Valley community, which includes the California cities of Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore. Training and promotion complemented the development of the project web site. LINCS resources can be accessed at the ValleyCare Health Library & Ryan Comer Cancer Resource Center site at http://www.valleycare.com/library.html. LINCS--for some very special children!

PlaneTree at the Grail

The San Jose PlaneTree Health Resource Center, in partnership with the Grail Community Resource Center and the Gardner Family Health Network, Inc., developed a neighborhood-based Planetree satellite library in East San Jose, California. Staff at the satellite location focused on the health information needs of minority and low-income families in East San Jose and of the health care professionals who provide medical services for them. Health information access training was conducted for these target audiences, equipment was installed, enhanced Internet connection was established, and a Spanish-language web site was piloted at the Grail. Through this project, the mission of PlaneTree San Jose was expanded to include non-English speakers, funding was secured for a subsequent satellite library, and guidelines and material lists were developed for other consumer health libraries that want to expand services to underserved populations. Felicidades to project director Candace Ford and her successful partners!

Consumer Health Connection

The Consumer Health Connection project was a partnership between the Health Science Library, located in the West Charleston Library in Las Vegas, and the main and branch libraries of the Las Vegas Clark County Library District (LVCCLD). To meet the increasing public demand for health care information, the Health Science Library, a specialty collection of LVCCLD, developed a web page (http://www.lvccld.org/special_collections/medical/consumer_health.htm) to meet the health information needs of the Las Vegas/Clark County community. Project director Florence Jakus and her staff also trained library personnel, conducted workshops for the public, and promoted the project and its resources through various outreach activities. The project resulted in stronger partnerships with other library districts in Southern Nevada, and with local and regional health and social service organizations. Consumer Health Connection--an oasis in the vast desert of electronic health information resources for the public. HS

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November/December 2001 volume 10, issue 6