The Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library is pleased to announce that Michelle Malizia has been appointed the new Associate Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region (NN/LM SCR). Michelle has over six years experience at the NN/LM SCR in a variety of positions. In 2002, she was hired as the Outreach Coordinator and was responsible for the coordination of outreach efforts to healthcare and public professionals in the five-state region. She became the Public Health Outreach Coordinator in 2006 at the beginning of the 2006 - 2011 Regional Medical Library Contract.

Michelle has over 10 years of experience in medical librarianship including positions at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi and the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio in San Antonio, TX.

To contact Michelle Malizia: michelle.malizia@exch.library.tmc.edu

Ruicha “Re” Mishra has re-joined the NN/LM SCR office as the Health Professionals Outreach Coordinator. She will be responsible for coordinating our outreach efforts to health professionals as well as coordinating document delivery for the Region.

Re worked as the Education-Communications Coordinator at the NN/LM SCR from 1998 – 2005. In this role, she created numerous classes including “TOXNET: Toxicology & Environmental Information.” She taught a considerable number of classes throughout the region and exhibited at conferences of health professionals, consumers and librarians. She also secured Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) accreditation for three classes that can be offered by other RMLs. This process took considerable work and diligence.

After her tenure with the NN/LM SCR, Re worked for the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) as the Health Information Specialist II. Her responsibilities included teaching classes on National Library of Medicine (NLM) databases and exhibiting on behalf of NLM at national exhibits throughout the country.

Re brings to the NN/LM SCR years of experience as a medical librarian in a variety of roles from outreach to document delivery.

Please join me in welcoming Re Mishra to the NN/LM SCR! Her email is ruicha.mishra@exch.library.tmc.edu

The Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, http://phpartners.org, has released two new topic pages: Nutrition and Workforce Development.

The Nutrition topic page includes links to government, professional and research organizations that focus on nutrition issues; grants and funding opportunities; legislation and health policy issues related to nutrition; published literature and research reports; and nutrition promotion, education and information resources.

The Workforce Development page provides links on public health workforce development activities and resources including education and training opportunities; legislative action; professional meetings, summits, councils, and conferences; new workers development programs; tools and resources on public health workforce issues; and workforce projects and research reports.

To keep up-to-date on new PHPartners resources, sign up for the weekly email update or subscribe to the PHPartners RSS feed.

The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, a division of the American Library Association, has released “Think Accessible Before You Buy, Questions to Ask to Ensure that the Electronic Resources Your Library Plans to Purchase are Accessible.” It provides guidelines to ensure the electronic resources and Web services that libraries purchase are accessible to anyone-especially patrons and staff with disabilities.

With plenty of examples, this document breaks down the technical language barrier and helps us to understand the highest priority accessibility checkpoints, so that we can make sure our patrons and staff can effectively use our electronic services.

It includes:

• Definition list of commonly used accessibility terms
• Computer software accessibility checklist
• Internet and Web-based content accessibility checklist
• Electronic database and computer software accessibility evaluation form
• Internet and Web-based content accessibility evaluation form

Read more at: http://ala.org/ala/ascla/asclaprotools/thinkaccessible/.

Do you work with public health professionals? Are you interested in public health? Are you interested in attending the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting?

This year’s APHA meeting will take place in San Diego, CA from October 25 – 29, 2008. Its theme is Public Health Without Borders.

The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund, Inc. is offering stipends to librarians and other information professionals to help cover the costs of their attending and/or participating in this meeting. Successful applicants from the greater San Diego area will receive a stipend of at least $650. Successful applicants from outside greater San Diego will receive at least $1,000. This amount covers most of the APHA Membership at $195 and Early Bird (pre-August 15, 2008) Member Registration at $380. Though significant, these amounts will NOT cover all costs, so stipend recipients will need to find additional monies to cover remaining costs.

Completed applications are due July 25, 2008–just over 3 weeks from today. To apply, download the Word application form at http://phha.mlanet.org/activities.html. Add all required application materials to the completed form and send as a SINGLE email attachment to Joey Nicholson at: jnicholson@nyam.org.

For more information, contact Joey Nicholson at: jnicholson@nyam.org.

Please forward this message to others who may be interested.

Hope you’ll join us at this colorful and fascinating meeting!

Joey Nicholson
Chair, Client Relations Committee
PH/HA Section, MLA

Database Trainer/Online Analyst
National Training Center and Clearinghouse The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029
212-822-7355

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region (NN/LM SCR) has scheduled two additional classes at the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center (HAM-TMC) Library this summer. Can You Hear Me Now? How to Make a Podcast, June 25, 2008, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and ABCs of DNA: Unraveling the Mystery of Genetics Information for Consumers, August 12, 2008, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.

To register for these classes, please go to: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/.

Read the rest of this entry »

When a family member is sick, it can be difficult to keep friends updated on the latest news. Websites like CarePages and CaringBridge allow users to create free websites to update family and friends on a person’s changing health situation. Friends can respond to the posts online with messages of support. While both services provide different features, in both cases all that is needed to create a web page is an email address and an Internet connection.

Story from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/5828320.html

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region (NN/LM SCR) announces a new web page for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery: http://nnlm.gov/scr/services/prepare.html.

This web page highlights the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit, an emergency preparedness resource for libraries. Also included are links to emergency preparedness and recovery resources from the federal government; libraries, schools, and medical associations; community-based organizations; and animal health organizations.

As the health care websites offer more interactive features and have established their reputation for reliable medical information, they have seen an increase in their usage.

The NLM’s MedlinePlus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/) is among those reliable websites. It saw an increase to its brain cancer topics after Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

According to the Chief Medical Editor at WebMD, physicians these days are more willing to tell their patients to go to credible online health information resources since they enable patients to be better prepared for their physician visit.

Read full article at: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2008/6/12/Health-Web-Sites-See-Spike-in-Use-as-Quality-Reliability-Increase.aspx?topicID=61.

The exhibition “Against the Odds: Making a Difference in Global Health” opened at the National Library of Medicine on April 17, 2008. This exhibition documents community partnerships throughout the world to prevent disease and improve quality of life. Using historical photos, first-person accounts, and examples of successful interventions, the exhibition traces a remarkable story of achievement against great odds.

To visit the exhibition online, go to: http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/againsttheodds/exhibit/index.cfm.