A mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a new, integrated tool (adopted from Wikipedia). For instance, disease data can be mashed-up with Google Maps to create a clickable disease map giving vivid interpretation of outbreaks in different regions around the globe. Mashups have shown great potential in public health, emergency preparedness, and information sharing for local interests.

Here are some great examples:

HealthMap (http://www.healthmap.org/en) brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health.

School Safety News (http://www.schoolsafetynews.com/home.php) provides an alert system displaying Pre-K to College safety events from all around the US.

Earth Album (http://www.earthalbum.com/) is a mashup based on Flickr and Google Maps that allows you to explore some of the most stunning photos in the world.

CodexMap (http://codexmap.com/codexmap.php) is a tool combing a book’s ISBN number with its geographic location on Google Maps.

NN/LM Member Maps (http://nnlm.gov/scr/blog/?p=492) mashes up address data in DOCLINE with Google Maps to give you a visual display of our network members.

BioWizard (http://www.biowizard.com/) tops PubMed with Social Networking applications where you can share, rank and discuss about a PubMed search result, and register for an account to list publications, share research interests and join groups. It provides a web-based community for life scientists and physicians.

And here are some Google Gadgets (http://www.blyberg.net/2006/08/18/go-go-google-gadget/) to play with, to add things like “My Library’s Most Popular Items” or “the Newest Material at the Library” to your iGoogle page.

So, what can mashups do for libraries? Here are some ideas for you to start:

• A user does a search in your library catalog. A map then appears showing where a copy is available in the branch locations and its status.
• A scientist comes to a health librarian looking for some articles. The librarian searches PubMed and each article found is linked with related, tagged resources shared in Del.icio.us and Connotea.
• Several libraries are working collaboratively on a Virtual Reference service. A map with color-coded markers on the service home page shows users which librarian at what location is online and available at the moment. Once the user clicks on the available librarian, a chat window will be brought up for asking reference questions.

As of May 7, 2008, the National Library of Medicine’s premier website MedlinePlus debuts a multilingual feature, providing access to high quality health information in languages other than English and Spanish. This new service benefits people who prefer to read consumer health information in their native language. It also helps the information professionals and health care providers who serve them. Over the years, many of you have requested this enhancement. Your suggestions helped us to develop this important service.

The new collection contains over 2,500 links to information in more than 40 languages and covers nearly 250 Health Topics. Continuous growth is expected.
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The most recent update on NIH Public Access FAQ page was done on May 2, 2008.

The following changes have been made:

• Questions C7, C9 and C10 are new, and reflect improvements to PubMed. They clarify and simplify how awardees can comply with the fifth specification of the NIH Public Access Policy, which states: “Beginning May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal or progress report to the NIH must include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission reference number when citing applicable articles that arise from their NIH funded research. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.”

• Questions A4, B10-B12, C8, C11, D5, E4, E5, F5 and F6 were developed based on questions received by NIH. These questions do not signify any changes in policy or procedure.

• NIH has responded to a number of questions about issues already addressed by the January 11 version of the FAQs, and we have made a number small changes to many of these FAQ questions to improve their clarity. The biggest changes we have made is to the wording of FAQs B1-B5. These clarifications to the existing FAQ do not signify any changes in policy or procedure.

• The January 11, 2008 FAQ uses the term “article” as a generic word for a peer-reviewed scientific publication and all its versions. At the March 20 Open Meeting, some stakeholders commented that ‘article’ could be confused with the term “final published article”. Therefore, this FAQ uses the term ‘paper’ instead of ‘article’. We will be updating the website to reflect this change as well.

Libraries for the Future (LFF) announces an expansion of Fit for Life (FFL), a national program to help public libraries promote lifelong health and wellness through locally-created programs. A central component of FFL will be its organization around five pillars of brain health that have emerged from the latest scientific research: diet, physical exercise, intellectual challenge, mental stimulation through new experiences, and socialization.

A grant from the MetLife Foundation has allowed LFF to offer training and grants of $10,000 to $25,000 to 15 urban library systems. Fit for Life will extend grant awards to 15 urban library networks. Each participating library will be required to submit a proposal in collaboration with at least five community organizations, to expand possibilities for community outreach and activities. FFL libraries will be charged with launching community-wide public awareness campaigns to promote the importance of fitness and nutrition, offering health programming for individuals of all ages, distributing free health publications, and recording accomplishments related to all of the above.

For the application, click here: http://www.fitforlifelibraries.org/RFP.html

Here are some interesting data from the American Library Association’s (ALA) blog Marginalia:

As of April 18, 2,671 participants were in ALA’s Facebook group

ALA’s National Library Week 2008 events attracted 2800 visits from around the globe in Second Life

…

Read more at Conversations at ALA: http://discuss.ala.org/marginalia/2008/04/30/conversations-at-ala/

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipients of the Year 02 DOCLINE Library Improvement Project Award. This award is designed to provide an opportunity to DOCLINE libraries, or libraries that are interested in becoming full DOCLINE users, to expand and improve existing library services.

Institution: University of North Texas Health Science Center, Gibson D. Lewis Health Science Library, Fort Worth, TX
Project Title: Acquisition and Implementation of a New Overhead Book Scanner for Document Delivery Use
Principal Investigator: Clayton Crenshaw

Institution: St. Edward Mercy Medical Center Library, Fort Smith, AR
Project Title: St. Edward Mercy Medical Library Electronic Document Delivery Equipment and Software Upgrade
Principal Investigator: Pat Morris

Congratulations to the awardees!

A recording of the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s (NCBI) three-day course “Introduction to Molecular Biology Resources” is now available online at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/courses/molbio.html. The course is intended for librarians with an interest in searching molecular sequence databases.

The course had been offered in person until April 2008 when NCBI suspended their educational programs due to budget constraints.

For more information on all National Library of Medicine Distance Education Resources, see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/dist_edu.html.

The January - March issue of Consumer Connections is now live at: http://caphis.mlanet.org/publications/consumerconnections.html. Consumer Connections is the newsletter of the Consumer and Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS) of the Medical Library Association, and is published on the CAPHIS website quarterly.

Table of Contents:

CAPHIS at MLA 2008
CAPHIS Events
CAPHIS CE

Articles
CAPHIS Kudos
Update from the National Library of Medicine, Division of Specialized Information Services

• NLM Disaster Information Management Research Center
• Drug Information Portal Released
• TOXMAP: New Health Data, Roads, TRI 2006
• Radiation Event Medical Management (REMM)
• Special Populations: Emergency and Disaster Preparedness

Reviews

• A Woman’s Guide to Hormone Health: The Creator’s Way for Managing Menopause
• Autism in your Classroom: A General Educator’s Guide to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Last Call: Alcoholism and Recovery
• The Art of Aging: A Doctor’s Prescription for Well-Being
• Overcoming Urinary Incontinence: A Woman’s Guide to Treatment
• Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children With Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives

For more information about Consumer Connections, please visit the CAPHIS website: http://caphis.mlanet.org/publications/newsletter.html

In 2007, the Institute of Medicine convened the Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans to determine the health care needs of Americans over 65 years of age and to assess those needs through an analysis of the forces that shape the health care workforce, including education and training, models of care, and public and private programs.

The resulting report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, says that as the population of seniors grows to comprise approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and critically unprepared to meet their health needs. The committee concluded that for aging family members and friends to continue to live robustly and in the best possible health, bold initiatives are needed to:

• explore ways to broaden the duties and responsibilities of workers at various levels of training;
• better prepare informal caregivers to tend to the needs of aging family members and friends;
• and develop new models of health care delivery and payment as old ways sponsored by federal programs such as Medicare prove to be ineffective and inefficient.

Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce
Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans, Institute of Medicine, April 14, 2008
News Release: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12089
Available online at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12089

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announces the solicitation of quotations from organizations and libraries to design and conduct projects that will improve access to HIV/AIDS related health information for patients, the affected community, and their caregivers.

Standard Awards are offered for up to $60,000;  Express Awards are offered for up to $10,000.

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