Four outstanding projects were funded in response to the 2013/14 Request for Proposals: Express Outreach/Training/Technology Awards. These projects will be funded for approximately $9,000 each, for a period of 12 months, beginning May 1, 2013. The projects strive to improve access to health information for health professionals and health consumers, and to promote the awareness and use of products and services available from the NLM and the NN/LM. Target groups include K-12 students, faith-based organizations, and ethnically and culturally diverse populations in the region. Read more »

by Judith Kammerer, MLIS, MA, AHIP
Medical Librarian/Manager
UCSF Fresno and Community Regional Medical Center
Fresno, CA

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) has organized an annual summit on translational bioinformatics (TBI) since 2008. I was fortunate to attend the 2013 Summit, which took place in San Francisco, CA, on March 18-20, 2013. This was made possible by an NN/LM PSR Professional Development Award, that supports hospital librarians in attending continuing education workshops and conferences. Read more »

We would like to recognize the following network members by highlighting their accomplishments, promotions, awards, new positions and departures. We welcome your submissions for possible future announcements! Read more »

by Patricia Vader
Executive Director, University Library
Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library
Western University of Health Sciences
Pomona, CA

The Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library is hosting the National Library of Medicine (NLM) traveling exhibit, Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War, from April 15 – May 18, 2013. This exhibit presents information about the disabled veterans of the Civil War and how they were impacted by the latest technology in weapons of the time. The death toll was huge and many of the injuries required amputation, the sacrifice of “life and limb.” Read more »

by Mabel A. Trafford, Medical Librarian
Tripler Army Medical Center Library
Honolulu, Hawaii

On March 28, 2013, the Health Sciences Library and the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI, hosted Supporting Open Access: Librarians as Advocates, Researchers, Educators and Role Models, a workshop sponsored by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region (NN/LM PSR); with presenters Lauren A. Maggio, MS (LIS), MA, Lane Medical Library & Knowledge Management Center, Stanford University Medical Center; and Laura Moorhead, MS, Stanford University School of Education. Read more »

by Yamila El-Khayat, MALS
Outreach Services Librarian, Arizona Health Sciences Library
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

The Eighth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations: Achieving Equity in an Era of Innovation and Health System Transformation, which took place at the Oakland Marriott City Center March 11-14, 2013, was a spectacular event! I attended the meeting, along with Kay Deeney and Lori Tagawa from NN/LM PSR. Cheryl Rowan, MSLS, Consumer Health Coordinator from the NN/LM South Central Region, kicked off the event with a pre-conference session called From Beyond our Borders: Providing Health Information to Foreign-Born Populations. She covered the importance of quality health information for refugee and immigrant communities, not only in their language, but in ways that are easier to understand culturally. Her session included demonstrations of resources that are designed to fulfill the need for this kind of information. Read more »

On Wednesday, March 27, 2013, a meeting of the NN/LM PSR Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) was convened at the UCLA Faculty Center. The committee had not met as a large group for several years, so the membership was completely reconstituted and revitalized! Fifteen committee members, representing the constituencies served by the RML, attended the meeting, along with RML staff. Composition of the committee includes health professionals, hospital librarians, academic librarians, school and public librarians, community college librarians, community health librarians, and community-based organization representatives. A complete list of RAC members, along with minutes and presentation slides of the 3/27/13 meeting, are available on the NN/LM PSR web site. Read more »

by Michael Kronenfeld
University Librarian
A.T. Still Memorial Library
Mesa, AZ

In honor of Martin Luther King’s January 17 birthday, the Arizona Branch of the A. T. Still Memorial Library, at the A.T. Still University of the Health Sciences, working with the University’s Cultural Competency Educational Committee, hosted Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine. From December 7, 2012, to January 23, 2013, this traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) explored the roles that slaves, former slaves, and African-American freemen/women played in the medical theater of the American Civil War. Read more »

On Friday, March 8, 2013, I attended the second annual Latino Health Equity Conference at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). This conference, organized by the Hispanic Health Opportunities Learning Alliance (H2OLA) and funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, is a project of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) / CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training, in collaboration with the CSULB College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Health and Human Services. Read more »

The Medical Library Association’s educational webcast, “Partnering to Prevent Diagnostic Error: Librarians on the Inside Track,” held on March 13, 2013, was a success!

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region (NN/LM PSR), sponsored nine (9) regional sites for the broadcast of MLA’s Educational Webcast. There were a total of 97 people who viewed the webcast. Read more »