The NN/LM SCR celebrates Banned Books Week http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ with a display of medically themed banned books. Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read.  By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

Some of the books included in the display are:

• My Mom’s Having a Baby, by Dori Hillestad Butler
• What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-up Guide for Parents & Sons, by Lynda Madaras and Dane Saavedra
• Writers’ Voice: Selected from Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir, by Paul Monette
• Deal with It! A Whole New Approach to Your Body, Brain, and Life as a gURL, by Esther Drill
• Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
• It’s Perfectly Normal: A Book about Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health, by Robie H. Harris
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
• Are You There, God?  It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

These books are part of the Harris County Public Library collection in The Texas Medical Center Library.

The Medical Library Association (MLA) has declared October as National Medical Librarians Month. As part of this celebration, the NN/LM SCR is proud to highlight the following SCR funded projects and the librarians whose hard work made these programs successful.

1. Connecting Patients with MedlinePlus through Their Personal Health Records. Institution: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport. Principal Investigator: Dixie Jones
2. Good things come in small packages: a small hospital library goes electronic. Institution: Deaconess Hospital, Oklahoma City OK. Principal Investigator: Emily McEwen
3. Health Information Centers at the Mexican Consulate and 12th Street Community Clinic. Institution: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library, Little Rock AR. Principal Investigator: Jon Goodell
4. HealtheLearning for Girl Scouts: Making Reliable Electronic Health Information Accessible. Institution: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport. Principal Investigator: Kimberly Pullen
5. The Hidden Gem of JPS – The Medical Library. Institution: JPS Health Network, Fort Worth TX. Principal Investigator: Leslie Herman
6. Medical Education Mobile Outreach (MEMO) Initiative. Institution: Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans LA. Principal Investigator: Jessica Delgado
7. Mercy Crest: Outreach Programs to Increase Awareness of Access to Services and Healthcare Information for the Elderly and Disabled. Institution: St. Edward Mercy Medical Center, Fort Smith AR. Principal Investigator: Pat Morris
8. Partnering with Ville Ste. Marie Linking Seniors to NLM Consumer Health Information. Institution: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans. Principal Investigators: Deborah Sibley and Carolyn Bridgewater
9. Preserving the History of Medicine In Arkansas. Institution: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library. Institution: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library, Little Rock AR. Project Staff: Myra Suzanne Easley and Daphne Hyatt
10. Promoting Reliable Online Health Information Through School Librarians. Institution:  Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport. Principal Investigator: Kimberly Pullen
11. Shriners Hospital for Children – Galveston Consumer Health Outreach Project. Institution: University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Principal Investigator: Anne Howard
12. Technology Education & Access for Community Health (TEACH). Institution: Southeast Louisiana Area Health Education Center Foundation (SEL-AHEC), Slidell LA. Principal Investigator: Helen Caruso
13. Understanding E-Science: A Symposium for Medical Librarians. Institution: The TMC Library, Houston TX. Project Staff: Deborah Halsted, Allen Lopez, Maianh Phi and Joanne Romano

More information about these projects is available from the Previously Funded Projects page.

Several government agencies (FEMA, Citizen Corps, CDC, and others) as well as the American Public Health Association (APHA) have once again joined to promote the month of September as National Preparedness month.  As Americans remember the events of 9/11, they also encourage all Americans to prepare themselves, their families and their communities for all disasters and hazards, including infectious disease, natural disasters and other emergencies. Throughout the month, more than 3,000 organizations nationwide are supporting efforts to help Americans prepare in case of emergency, with many events culminating on “Get Ready Day, ” September 18th (see http://www.getreadyforflu.org/ ).

For more information and resources for planning an event: http://www.publichealthnewswire.org/?p=5040 .

Additional resources for Disaster Information and Emergency Preparedness from:

• CDC Features page at http://www.cdc.gov/features/BeReady/index.html
• Ready.gov:  http://www.ready.gov
• MedlinePlus Health Topics page on “Disaster Preparation and Recovery” with some information in several other languages: http://ow.ly/dELXx
• National Library of Medicine Disaster Information Resource Management Center: http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov
• Medical Reserve Corps (community-based locally organized groups of volunteers committed to improving the health, safety and resiliency of their communities): http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov

The NN/LM SCR is proud to announce the recipients of the 2012 Library Student Outreach Award.  The purpose of this award is to promote the value of outreach to library school students interested in health sciences librarianship.  The six recipients will attend the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) Annual Meeting in Lubbock, TX, October 13 – 17, 2012 and participate in meetings, conference sessions and other activities designed for them to learn about the importance of health information outreach and services conducted by librarians in the South Central Region.

1. Elizabeth Amos, Library School: University of Oklahoma
2. Ligia Groff, Libary School:  University of North Texas
3. Phill Jo, Library School:  University of Oklahoma
4. Melody Miller, Library School: University of North Texas
5. Andy Taylor, Library School: University of Oklahoma
6. Garnet Nowell, Library School: University of Oklahoma

Know a library student who is interested in learning more about health sciences librarianship and/or health information outreach?  Why not tell them about the NN/LM SCR’s Library Student Outreach Award?  The award provides funding for students to attend the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) Annual Meeting in Lubbock, TX, October 13 – 17, 2012 and participate in meetings, conference sessions and other activities designed for them to learn about the importance of health information outreach and services conducted by librarians in the South Central Region.

Applying is easy but the deadline is June 30th, so get those applications in today!

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2012-2013 Electronic Consumer Health Outreach Award.  The goal of this award is to ensure that health professionals, their patients and the general public are connected to the health information resources they need to make informed health care decisions.

Recipient: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport, Shreveport, LA
Project: The YMCA of Northwest Louisiana Project
Description: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport will partner with the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana to provide computer equipment that YMCA members and staff can use to find online health information at three fitness center locations. The Library will offer training sessions on NLM resources and will develop educational materials to publicize the public training sessions and NLM resources.

Recipient: Texas AHEC East – Greater Houston Region, Bellaire, TX
Project: CLICKS to Sip-n-Surf
Description: The Texas AHEC East – Greater Houston Region will offer a tested program of customized computer literacy classes at two senior centers. The seniors will receive 36 3-hour long coaching sessions on the computer, Internet, MedlinePlus and NIHSeniorHealth. In addition, they will create the first Internet café in Houston that is designed for underserved seniors.

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2012-2013 Health Information Literacy Award.

Institution: Crossroads Pharmacy, Mesquite, TX

Project Title: Improving Health Information Literacy in Seniors Using Internet Resources

Description:  This project will be a pilot study assessing the effectiveness of computer training on the MedlinePlus and NIHSeniorHealth databases among seniors in the Southeast Dallas area. The project will utilize two groups: the study group and the control group. The study group will participate in the educational program, while the control group will receive the standard pharmacy prescription drug information handout. An after-training assessment will measure the effectiveness of the training on health literacy.

Congratulations!

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2012-2013 Express Outreach Award:

Institution:  Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport
Project Title: Promoting the Environmental Health Student Portal through School Science Teachers and Librarians
Description:  This project will provide instruction to Caddo Parish public school science teachers and librarians on the use of online reliable environmental health information resources available through the Environmental Health Student Portal, including ToxTown, MedlinePlus, and other NLM databases.

Institution: Forest Lawn Missionary Baptist Church, Houston TX
Project Title: Operation Succeed: Help for the Homeless
Description:  The goal of this project is to increase female veterans’ use of the NLM databases through effective training in basic computer skills so that the veterans can access authoritative information about medical issues and concerns.

Institution: Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library
Project Title: Shining a Light onto MedlinePlus: Collaboration with the Light and Salt Association
Description:  This project will provide a dedicated desktop, laptop and printing capabilities for the staff at Light and Salt (an Asian American community-based organization) for use with their clients and visitors in order to promote the following NLM databases: MedlinePlus’ Health Information in Multiple Languages webpage, Asian American Health and NIHSeniorHealth.

Institution: Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX
Project Title: Promoting National Library of Medicine Online Resources to Students, Professors, and Researchers in the Social and Cultural Sciences: A Focus on Sociology and Anthropology
Description: This project will promote NLM online resources to students, professors, and researchers interested in studying human health and medicine through sociology and anthropology.

Congratulations to all our awardees!

The National Library of Medicine and National Institute on Aging have released their redesigned version of NIHSeniorHealth, the National Institutes of Health website for older adults http://nihseniorhealth.gov.  The redesign improves usability and modernizes the appearance throughout the site. Changes incorporate user feedback about the site as well as results from usability testing of proposed designs with seniors.

Buttons in the new banner allow you to link directly to over 50 health topics and 150 videos.  Once you click on a health topic, the bar along the left side allows you to to go straight to a particular section of the health topic page (“In this topic”); find quizes and videos (“Learn More”), and go to related topics in NIHSeniorHealth (“Related Topics”) and in the National Institute on Aging’s website.

For more information, go to the NLM Technical Bulletin article about the redesign http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma12/ma12_seniorhealth.html.

Since 1995, when the first full week of April was declared National Public Health Week (NPHW), communities across the United States have observed NPHW as a time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving the public’s health. This year’s theme, “A Healthier America Begins Today. Join the Movement!” will address the issue of prevention and wellnes to ensure that all is being done to ensure our nation’s health.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) serves as the organizer of NPHW and develops a national campaign to educate the public, policymakers and practitioners about issues related to that year’s theme. APHA creates comprehensive planning, organizing and outreach materials that can be used during and after the week to raise awareness.

But APHA cannot do it alone. The success of National Public Health Week lies with each and every organization and individual who takes up the cause of public health and seeks to improve health in their communities.

For more information on National Public Health Week, including ideas for planning and promotion, see: http://www.nphw.org. The NPHW toolkit includes fact sheets, outreach materials, suggested community events, and more.