We are pleased to announce the publication of the Consumer Health Toolkit, the result of a multi-year collaboration between the California State Library and NN/LM PSR. The Toolkit is a comprehensive professional development resource for librarians and library staff to build their competencies in providing excellent consumer health services to users. (more…)

September 15 through October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. Have you’ve done anything to celebrate? To commemorate the month, let’s review some authoritative health resources aimed towards the Hispanic population. Feel free to share this information with your community partners all year round! (more…)

“Meaningful use” is a phrase that is gaining national momentum as national healthcare reform moves forward. But what is meaningful use, anyway? No, it’s not evidence based health care, although there is a logical tone to that analogy. Instead, meaningful use refers to using electronic health records (EHRs) to achieve improvements in health care. (more…)

Stephen Hase Kiyoi, a June 2010 graduate of the UCLA Department of Information Studies, joins the ranks of National Library of Medicine (NLM) 2010-2011 Associate Fellows. The program is designed to prepare librarians for leadership roles in health sciences libraries and research. During their year at NLM, Associate Fellows are introduced to a range of technologies and skills through in-class learning modules taught by NLM staff, and they then put that knowledge into practice through short term projects at NLM. Learn more about NLM’s Associate Fellowship Program and the other 2010-2011 Associate Fellows on the Associate Fellowship Program web site.

During his time at UCLA, Stephen worked as a Public Service Assistant at UCLA’s Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, where he provided reference services to researchers, students, and the general public. Stephen also contributed regularly to the library’s blog, and collaborated with librarian Amy Chatfield to create UCLA’s Genetics and Genomics LibGuide. Stephen created two video tutorials, the first on how to use PubMed’s Single Citation Feature, and the second on how to batch download citations from PubMed to EndNote.

Stephen also worked as a Graduate Student Assistant for Christine Borgman, Professor and Presidential Chair in Information Studies at UCLA. In that capacity, Stephen cataloged Christine’s research and writings, edited and maintained her professional website, and helped prepare class syllabi and webpages. (more…)

Hihi! During the last few weeks, you might have come across my name on e-mails or around the website. I’m going to take advantage of Latitudes to properly introduce myself; My name is Lori Tagawa and I am the new Community Outreach Coordinator for the NN/LM PSR RML.

During the last two years, I worked closely with RML as an administrative assistant for the UCLA Biomedical Library. Earlier this month, with the support of Judy Consales and Julie Kwan, I was able to obtain a temporary appointment with RML as the Community Outreach Coordinator. My appointment will extend until the end of our current five-year contract, and if I’m lucky, will dip into the next.

In this position, I will be managing subcontracts with community-based organizations to improve access to health information resources. This will include assisting our subcontractors working with various communities to help them provide access to NLM and NN/LM resources and services. I will be communicating with our subcontractors to coordinate quarterly reports, as well as answering any subcontract-related questions.

I am also currently developing culturally and linguistically appropriate instructional and informational materials to support promotion and training efforts. I graduated from UCLA with a degree in anthropology, with a focus on sociocultural studies, and I hope to use my educational (as well as personal) background to help strengthen our efforts, especially within special population communities. (more…)

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the number of interesting links to web articles that come your way each day? You may quickly skim the articles but do not immediately have time to read them in-depth. If you have ever wished there was an easy way to save articles for later reading, then you may want to take a look at Instapaper (http://www.instapaper.com). (more…)

The NIH Common Fund (formerly the NIH Roadmap) encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high impact, trans-NIH programs. These programs are supported by the Common Fund, and managed by the NIH Office of the Director, in partnership with the various NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices. Recent funding announcements have been issued for the Transformative Research Projects (T-R01) Award Program, along with the 2011 NIH Director’s Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards, which promote innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research. (more…)

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is committed to improving access to relevant information for the public health community. A major focal point for initiatives in this area has been the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce initiative (also known as “Partners”; found at http://phpartners.org/), which is a collaboration to provide the public health workforce with timely, convenient access to information resources to help them improve the health of the American public. (more…)

I was fortunate to attend the TC4C Summer 2010 Conference at the end of July. This was my first trip to New Mexico – a very beautiful part of our country – and one which I will long remember. (more…)

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recently released a key report titled the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy. The publication is a call to action for “organizations, professionals, policymakers, communities, individuals, and families” to join together in a national response to the problems stemming from low health literacy. (more…)