Our Mission

The mission of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by:

Providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information.
Improving the public's access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health.

The Program is coordinated by the National Library of Medicine and carried out through a nationwide network of health science libraries and information centers.

Goals

The NN/LM goals for the Network focus on improving the public's access to health information and developing national programs and collaborations to achieve these goals. The goals are:

To develop collaborations among Network members and other organizations to improve access to and sharing of biomedical information resources throughout the nation.
To promote awareness of, access to, and use of biomedical information resources for health professionals and the public, with a particular emphasis on contributing to the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities.
To develop, promote, and improve electronic access to health information by Network members, health professionals, and organizations providing health information to the public.

Regional Medical Library

The University of Washington Health Sciences Library serves as the Regional Medical Library (RML) for the NN/LM, Pacific Northwest Region. The RML supports libraries, information centers, and community-based organizations to ensure that quality health information is accessible to health care providers and consumers throughout Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

RML staff provide expertise about online health information, resource sharing, community partnerships, outreach program development and evaluation. We offer or sponsor distance and on-site training, and provide funding to libraries and community-based partners to promote the use of quality health information. Network members and RML staff exhibit and present about health information topics and resources for diverse professionals and community groups.