by Stephen Kiyoi, Second Year NLM Associate Fellow
NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region
UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library

During the month of April, 2012, the RML offered a newly developed training series targeting community college librarians. The series, entitled Navigating the Health Information Maze, was offered in a set of four, one-hour webcasts every Tuesday during the month. Twenty-nine librarians from 24 different institutions took advantage of the opportunity to gain expertise in National Library of Medicine resources; including PubMed, MedlinePlus, the NLM Gallery of Mobile Apps and Sites, and Health Information for Special Populations. Additional information about the series and archived training sessions are available from the preceding series website. Outreach to community colleges is a major NN/LM initiative for the coming year. (more…)

A half-day NN/LM Earthquake Summit was held Friday, April 6, 2012, at the University of California, San Francisco, Library and Center for Knowledge Management. Roughly twenty-five people attended the event, which was organized by Dan Wilson, Coordinator for the NN/LM National Emergency Preparedness & Response Initiative. Attendees represented both the Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest regions of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). The excellent roster of featured speakers included Keith Knudsen, representing the United States Geological Survey (USGS); Monica Gowan, PhD Candidate, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; Siobhan Champ-Blackwell, representing the National Library of Medicine; Randy Brawley and Angela Nak, representing the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and Roberto Lombardi, representing San Francisco Public Library. A detailed meeting report with numerous photos from the event is available from the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit. (more…)

by Kathleen Carlson, MLS, AHIP
Arizona Health Sciences Library, Phoenix Campus
University of Arizona, College of Medicine

On April 3, 2012, more than 600 of the best and brightest young scientific minds were present at the 2012 Arizona Science and Engineering Fair (AzSEF) in downtown Phoenix. The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Arizona Health Sciences Library (AHSL) was represented by Yamila El-Khayat, Outreach Librarian, Tucson Campus; and Kathleen Carlson, Education Librarian, Phoenix Campus. The librarians demonstrated National Library of Medicine resources, including PubMed and MedlinePlus, using iPads. (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…)

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…)

The National Library of Medicine® Training Center (NTC) has announced some changes to the way they teach the PubMed class. See the Technical Bulletin article for more details.

The University of Utah was awarded the NTC contract. The NTC will tour the country teaching PubMed for Trainers. The one-day PubMed class is replaced with a hybrid PubMed for Trainers class. This hands-on course consists of lectures, individual exercises, group work and discussions in four sessions, with independent work before or after each session. The course will consist of three 1½ hour online sessions and a six-hour in-person session. NLM or NTC trainers will deliver the lectures and facilitate discussions.

The objectives of the class are for current and future PubMed trainers to discover and develop:

1. functional knowledge of the MEDLINE® database,
2. understanding of the structure and use of the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH®) vocabulary in MEDLINE/PubMed,
3. expertise in the use of features and functions of the PubMed system, and
4. techniques and best practices in MEDLINE/PubMed instruction with fellow trainers.

The class is intended specifically for those who train, or will train others to use PubMed. This class could be for you if you teach PubMed to large groups, small groups, or one-on-one training. We look forward to lively discussions on PubMed instruction and adult education best practices.

NTC will continue to teach the TOXNET® and Beyond class but not the ½ day NLM Gateway & ClinicalTrials.gov class.

Web-based PubMed training is also available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html.  NTC will be developing more distance training opportunities.

The NTC website and blog is at http://nnlm.gov/ntc/

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! The term “Asian American and Pacific Islander” includes all Americans with descent from the Asian continent and/or the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. It began in 1978, after a joint congressional resolution established Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week during the week of May 4th. This week was chosen to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the United States on May 7, 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, where a majority of the workers were Chinese immigrants. In 1992, the week-long celebration was officially expanded into a month-long celebration, now known as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. (more…)

The following are some updates from recent Technical Bulletin articles of interest to our Network members
MeSH Database updated in PubMed

The MeSH Database was redesigned to provide users with the same streamlined interface now available in PubMed® and the NLM® Catalog. These changes were implemented in PubMed on February 14, 2011.. (more…)