A hearty “thank you” to all Network Members that responded to our membership renewal drive!  Very early in the new year, we will send out the new 2011-2016 membership certificates with an accompanying acknowledgement letter. (more…)

November is National Native American Heritage Month! Beginning as “American Indian Day” in 1915, National Native American Heritage Month recognizes the achievements of American Indians and Alaska Natives during the month of November. The Pacific Southwest Region is home to over 1.1 million American Indian and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), nearly 20% of the country’s AI/AN population. Unfortunately, AI/ANs have disproportionately high prevalence of diabetes, suicide, infant death, unintentional and motor vehicle injuries, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis than other Americans. These health disparities may be the result of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services, and cultural differences, caused by economic adversity and poor social conditions. As health information professionals, we work not only with our patrons, but we work with our hospitals, our institutions, and our communities. This allows us a unique role in the fight against health disparities: we have the health resources and we have the ability to bring these parties together to make change. (more…)

The NN/LM National Library of Medicine Training Center (NTC), located at the University of Utah, offers in-person and online training related to NLM products. (more…)

In April 2011, The National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health, invited people to show off their apps. NLM challenged people to create innovative software applications that use the Library’s vast collection of biomedical data, including downloadable data sets, application programming interfaces (APIs), or software tools – all of which are free and available for public use. The winners and honorable mentions of the Show Off Your Apps Challenge have been announced, including a winner from NN/LM PSR! (more…)

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is accepting applications for its Associate Fellowship program, a one-year training program for recent MLS graduates and librarians early in their career. The application deadline is February 3, 2012. Between 4 and 7 fellows will be selected for the program. Applications and additional information are available on the NLM web site. (more…)

The National Library of Medicine has funded awards for the 18th round of AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects. Since the beginning of this program in 1994, NLM has continued its HIV/AIDS-related outreach efforts to community-based organizations, patient advocacy groups, faith-based organizations, state and local departments of health, and libraries, including public libraries. (more…)

Do you provide outreach that is not funded by the RML? Do you want an opportunity to show collective outreach activities beyond those funded by the RML? This is a chance to build on each other’s good works. PSR has set up a project called PSR Outreach Connections in which all Network members can participate. This open-ended project highlights training, demonstrations and presentations of PubMed, MedlinePlus and/or other NLM resources that PSR network members present to groups beyond the primary clientele of their library or information center. (more…)

by Tom Shreves, MLIS
Manager, Library Services
Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, West Los Angeles

In recognition of National Medical Librarians Month, Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center’s Health Sciences Library is hosting a Special Exhibition and Open House. (more…)

DOCLINE 4.7 was released on September 28, 2011. The major enhancement to this version of DOCLINE was the introduction of changes to the serial holdings module in support of MedPrint, a new NLM and NN/LM national cooperative medical serials print retention program. MedPrint seeks to ensure the preservation of and continued access to selected biomedical journals in print. The program is open to participating DOCLINE libraries in the U.S. (more…)

October is National Medical Librarians Month (NMLM)! Highlighting the fact that medical librarians are the best resource when searching for health information, this year’s NMLM theme is “Medical Librarians: Your Ultimate Search Engine.” In honor of this event, the National Library of Medicine and the RML are celebrating the contributions of medical librarians by promoting Network member outreach projects. The National Library of Medicine has published a new web page featuring the noteworthy work of medical librarians in all NN/LM regions. Congratulations to the four PSR librarians that were highlighted! (more…)