On Tuesday, December 7, 2010, the NN/LM Midcontental Region hosted a free webinar, Biomedical Publishing 101. This webinar was created by the Chicago Collaborative, a joint partnership of librarians, publishers and editors. (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…)

On June 2, 2010, a forum was held at the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., introducing the Community Health Data Initiative (CDHI). The forum’s opening two-hour plenary session featured remarks by Harvey Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine, and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Following that were demonstrations by eight organizations, showcasing new, cutting-edge examples of how the government’s raw health data could be transformed into freely available applications for health professionals, policy makers, and the general community. The entire plenary session was recorded and is available for viewing. (more…)

The Medical Library Association’s educational webcast, “MLA Fall 2009 Webcast: Cut the Cord: Connecting to Our Mobile Users,” was a success! (more…)

Would you like to create a custom library toolbar for your users to search your library catalog and other important resources? LibX, a free online tool available at http://libx.org, allows you to do this without programming. (more…)

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region, will be sponsoring eight (8) regional sites for the broadcast of MLA’s Educational Webcast: (more…)

By Alison Aldrich
Technology Outreach Coordinator, NN/LM PNR
University of Washington
Health Sciences Library

Congratulations to Dr. John Clarke, winner of the 2009 Flu Prevention PSA Contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Here is his winning entry: (more…)

David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, recently announced the rollout of the first two in a series of HITECH priority grant programs which represents a critical step forward in laying the groundwork for meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). (more…)

A few years ago, I was co-teaching a consumer health class to library school students. In addition to the traditional health websites, my colleague presented a few examples of user-generated content—sites where ordinary people were posting stories about their own health conditions on discussion lists or on their personal blogs for anyone to see. One particular example involved a young woman who had a suspicious mole that turned out to be a type of skin cancer. She posted her story and pictures on her blog, which elicited a flood of responses from people with their own stories. Another example was Ronda’s Migraine page, a support community that offers a journal area where people can post their own stories, a live chat area and discussion forums. This site was started in 1996 and is still going strong! (more…)

This one day symposium, held at the Cerritos Public Library on Friday, March 6, was an overwhelming success, thanks to the efforts of Co-Chairs Cheryl Bartel and Jeff Williams and of all their diligent and hardworking committee members! The Symposium focused on the application of innovative technologies that build a sense of community, connecting users both within the library and the greater organization. (more…)