Happy New Year! The NN/LM MidContinental Region’s 2009 Breezing Along with the RML series resumes with presenters Jean Shipman, Director, and Claire Hamasu, Associate Director. Jean Shipman will review the Medical Library Association/NLM Health Information Literacy Research Project results, now that this two-year project has ended. She will share how this project has helped to educate health care providers about the key role medical librarians can play with improving their institution’s health literacy efforts. Claire Hamasu will recount what happened during the NN/LM site visit including the report from the site visit team that summarized strengths and recommendations for the RML. If you want to preview the team’s report, it’s available at http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/nnlm_sitevisit.html

• Date: January 21, 2009
• Time: 10 MT, 11 CT
• Location: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcrupdate/
• All you need is an Internet connection and a phone!

For more information on Adobe Connect, our web conferencing system, go to: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/services/updates/updates.html Breezing Along with the RML is held the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Mark your calendar. /ch

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region is sponsoring a workshop on Knowledge Management. Participants of this workshop must include a team consisting of a hospital librarian and a professional from another department in the same institution. The goal of the workshop is for each team to explore the potential of knowledge management in the hospital setting, and to develop and implement a program in each respective institution.

In addition to the April 16-17, 2009 workshop, there are required readings, two required online pre-workshop sessions and post-workshop communication sessions. These pre-workshop sessions will be held on March 9 and April 7 on Adobe Connect. The post-workshop sessions will be scheduled at a later date.

Cost of the workshop is $35: this includes one lunch and all break refreshments. This workshop is open to participants nation-wide; however preference will be given to members of the MidContinental Region. The first 2 teams of MidContinental Region network members accepted for the workshop will have their travel expenses paid. Those 2 teams will be responsible to attend all sessions and either present their project within 18 months of the session or publish their work in a MidContinental Region publication.

To apply for this workshop, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mU0l95vzMYPHKD8L1WY87A_3d_3d and complete the application form. Deadline for submission of applications is January 19, 2009. (bbj)

We now know who’s on the site visit team that will be visiting the MidContinental Region on November 19. Some of the names may be familiar to you.

Kent Smith, former NLM Deputy Director, is leading the team; Reena Karani, MD from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is the health professional member of the team; Irene Lovas, MLS from Cedar Sinai Medical Center Library, is the hospital librarian member of the team; Nancy McKeehan, MLSL from Medical University of South Carolina Library, is the academic medical librarian of the team; and Javier Crespo MSLIS from the NN/LM New England Region, is the NN/LM member of the team. Representing the National Library of Medicine are Sheldon Kotzin, Head of Library Operations, Angela Ruffin, Head of the National Network Office; and Barbara Nicholson, Technology Librarian of the National Network Office.

For more on the site visit see http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/nnlm_sitevisit.html /ch

Dr. Devra Davis to Speak (twice) in Salt Lake City on November 7, 2008
*****Live streaming & broadcast for remote listeners*****

The George and Dolores Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, Auditorium
University of Utah Health Sciences Center
Friday, November 7, 2008, 8:45 am
InfoFair 2008: The Air We Breathe: Research, Community, Advocacy
The Clifford C. Snyder, M.D. and Mary Snyder Lecture - The Air We Breathe - Devra L. Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Further information & live web streaming: http://library.med.utah.edu/or/infofair/infofair2008/

AND

Salt Lake City Public Library, Auditorium
Friday, November 7, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
Authors Live: Dr. Devra Davis
“The Air We Breathe”
LIVE BROADCAST ON KCPW 88.3FM, accessible at kcpw.org

Devra L. Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H. Dr. Davis is a leading epidemiologist, public health expert, and researcher on the environmental causes of cancer and chronic diseases. Dr. Davis holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She is Director of the world’s first Center for Environmental Oncology located at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and served as a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Her book, When Smoke Ran Like Water (2002, Basic Books) has been described by the Toronto Globe & Mail as “the most readable expose of the hidden costs of pollution since Silent Spring.” Dr. Davis was a National Book Awards finalist for When Smoke Ran Like Water and is also the author of The Secret History of the War on Cancer (2007, Basic Books).

Cosponsored by the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah; Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment; and The City Library. The author’s books will be available for purchase at each lecture.

Please join your colleagues in Cody, Wyoming for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association, “Open Spaces, Frontier Places” : October 3-7. It’s a great opportunity to focus on health and information access on our rural and urban frontiers!

conference wiki: http://mcmla2008openspaces.wetpaint.com [jh]

The September 17 Breezing session recording is now available online.

Betsy Kelly, Assessment and Evaluation Liaison, and John Bramble, Utah/Network Membership Liaison continued last month’s library valuation presentation. They discussed the economics of library services and resources and how you can communicate them to your stakeholders. Using EFTS as an example, they demonstrated how you can show the value of adopting sound business practices.

Marty Magee, Nebraska and Education Liaison, showed an example of what can be learned and a product produced as a result of the Web 2.0 101 online class that MLA offered earlier this year. She presented the background and experience in creating the “Nebraska Notebook”, a collaborative project focused on MedlinePlus, GoLocal Nebraska and CHIRS (Consumer Health Information Resource Service) completed with an MLS practicum student, and the McGoogan Library of Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Are you interested in learning more about “microblogging” services like Twitter and FriendFeed? Perhaps you’ve heard about them and wondered if they had any application for the library. Join me for a 1-hour session online where I’ll demonstrate Twitter and FriendFeed as well as showing some examples of how libraries and other organizations are using these services to push information out to their patrons.

The session will be held online using Adobe Connect; all you need to participate is a web browser and a telephone. The session will be held on Thursday, September 18, from 1 - 2 pm Mountain Time, 2 - 3 pm Central Time. No sign up is required; please see the instructions below for participating.

If you can’t make the session, don’t worry; I will also be recording it for later viewing.

Class information:

Where: Online at https://webmeeting.nih.gov/psrsd/. On the day and time of the class, please go to this web address. Log in as Guest with your first and last name. There will be instructions in the meeting room for you to join the teleconference.

Description of class:

During this 1-hour session, participants will:

• Learn how to send and receive “Tweets” using Twitter clients
• Learn how to set up a FriendFeed page to push out information from a variety of services
• View and discuss examples of how library and other organizations are using microblogging.

No experience is required; however, I welcome others who have used these services to share your experiences with the class.

If you have questions, please contact Sharon Dennis at sdennis@lib.med.utah.edu. [SD]

Please join your colleagues in Cody, Wyoming for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association, “Open Spaces, Frontier Places” : October 3-7. It’s a great opportunity to focus on health and information access on our rural and urban frontiers! The deadline to sign-up for the NLM Gateway/Clinical Trials and PubMed classes has been extended to Sept.12.

To learn more about the conference, visit the website: http://www.mcmla.org/meetings/2008/index.html and the

conference wiki: http://mcmla2008openspaces.wetpaint.com [jh]

Please join your colleagues in Cody, Wyoming for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association, “Open Spaces, Frontier Places” : October 3-7. It’s a great opportunity to focus on health and information access on our rural and urban frontiers!

To learn more about the conference, visit the website: http://www.mcmla.org/meetings/2008/index.html and the conference wiki: http://mcmla2008openspaces.wetpaint.com [jh]

Due to problems with the Adobe Connect server, the August 21 online class, “Microblogging Using Twitter and Friendfeed,” has been canceled. The class will be rescheduled for Thursday, September 18, from 1 - 2 p.m. MT, 2 - 3 p.m. CT. [SD]