Season’s Greetings to the GMR membership!

Our character-building Midwestern winter began in earnest in November this year, bringing an abrupt end to favorite fall activities. The economic conditions, however, in which our institutions operate were anything but moderate during the past weeks.

Rescissions, hiring freezes, layoffs, furloughs, subscription and license cancellations, moratoria on travel, and deferred maintenance deferred longer still comprise the challenges that most, if not all, of our institutions are addressing now. The new austerity also affects the GMR. Our budget for the Year 4 contract is approximately 3% less than the amount budgeted for Year 3. We will be looking at ways to reduce expenses and enhance focus on regional priorities.

One way that we plan to accomplish these goals is to incorporate the feedback that we gathered in our NLM site visit on August 12, 2008. (more…)

The Southeastern Atlantic and Greater Midwest regions of the National Network of
Libraries of Medicine are now accepting registrants for the online version of “Geeks
Bearing Gifts: Unwrapping New Technology Trends.”

(more…)

If you have not had a chance to enjoy the benefit of the GMR’s free Lending Library, be sure to take a look at what it includes.  Many of the materials are meant to assist you in your daily jobs, so there are a lot of items about management of a library (big or small), and various reference help books.  There are also some great resources for you to earn MLA CE Credit.

Some items that have arrived recently:

• “The First 25 Years: 1978-2003, ” Corinne F. Dorsey and Joyce M. Schowalter for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing
• “Answering Consumer Health Questions,” Michele Spatz
• “The Medical Library Association Guide to Health Literacy,” Marge Kars, Lynda M. Baker and Feleta L. Wilson (additional copies added to library)
• “Evaluating the Impact of Your Library,” Sharon Markless and David Streatfield
• “The Successful Academic Librarian,” Gwen Meyer Gregory
• “Managing Stress and Conflict in Libraries,” Sheila Pantry
• “Business Cases for Info Pros,” Ulla de Stricker
• “The Medical Library Association Guide to Becoming an Expert Searcher,” Terry Ann Jankowski (2008)
• “Creating a Comprehensive Information Literacy Plan,” Joanna M. Burkhardt, et al
• “Defusing the Angry Patron,” Rhea Joyce Rubin
• “Managing Budgets and Finances,” Arlita W. Hallam, et al

Remember, you can access the GMR Lending Library at the following URL: http://www.gmrlibrary.org.  As long as you are a Full or Affiliate Member, you can borrow for FREE!

Please visit these GMR sponsored events and activities! Hope to see you all there, come by the booth and say hello and meet the staff of the GMR.

Exhibits – Salon F-H
Monday, October 20, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Welcome & Grand Opening of Exhibits
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Dessert Break with Exhibitors & Drawing for Prizes

MLA CE Classes
Saturday, October 18, 2008
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. #6 Patient Safety – Teacher: Holly Ann Burt

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon #7 PubMed: Keeping Your Search Vital
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon #9 Community Assessment – Taught by NLM’s OERC

Additional Events
Sunday, October 19, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. GMR and NLM Updates

Monday, October 20, 2008
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Poster: Expecting the Unexpected: National Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan for Libraries

1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Paper Presentation: Using Patient-Oriented Evidence to Reduce Health Disparities – Moderator: Holly Ann Burt

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Technology Forum: Wikis, Widgets & Whatchamacallits

by Denise Rumschlag MLS, AHIP
St. Vincent Hospital
Indianapolis, IN

Looking to raise awareness of the library by administration? Want you or your library to move up in the eyes of your institution? Try creating an elevator speech to boost the worth of your work!

This year for National Medical Librarians Month, the Advocacy Working Group of the Regional Advisory Council to the GMR discussed how to advocate our worth to our administrators.  In the past we have looked at ways to market the library to clinicians and consumers; this year we wanted to focus on reaching administration.  Time is in short supply for most of as we multi-task our way through our busy days. So how do we even reach administration when our paths cross only briefly through out the week?  One proven method is to be prepared with an elevator speech. (more…)

September is the start of the new year for students, their families, and the hospitals and universities in which they begin a new annual cycle of work and study. Their thrill at taking the next step, making progress toward their goals, sustains them through the heavy workload and steep learning curve.  Health sciences librarians and staff experience a similar boost in the fall as they guide and instruct their new users and participate in local, state, and regional meetings.

That back-to-school excitement is tempered this year by the impact that severe flooding last summer and again this month is having on our colleagues in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and beyond. The NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit provides current information about emergency conditions, as well as emergency resources, sample plans, individual institutional plans, and reflections on lessons learned. (more…)

September is Emergency Preparedness Month and although the Midwest is known more for tornadoes than hurricanes, this past weekend we experienced unusual amounts of rain and subsequent flooding, in part due to the effects of what was hurricane Ike. Major flooding has occurred in northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland, causing evacuation of residents, school closings and traffic reroutes.

As if just in time, the City of Chicago has instituted a new city service called Notify Chicago http://notifychicago.org (more…)

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine has selected emergency preparedness as a major focus for the current contract. In Spring 2008, some of you received a baseline Emergency Preparedness Assessment survey about your level of preparedness as well as your barriers to preparedness. From a random sample of 117 GMR member libraries, 65% responded to the survey. Here are some highlights: (more…)

We are excited to announce a funding opportunity from the NN/LM GMR to support purchase, installation, and/or upgrading of hardware and software that enhance access to health information. This funding opportunity is the Technology Improvement Award. Awards may be used to improve information services to health professionals and health care consumers through the use of technology. What types of projects can you fund with this award? Some ideas include:

• Purchasing equipment and/or software (i.e. a scanner, web server, public access computer) to aid in delivering health information electronically;
• Paying for Internet access for one year;
• Paying for wiring and/or installation of new connections;
• Upgrading computer equipment.

(more…)

There were two community service projects funded by the GMR held during the MLA ‘08 Conference in Chicago. I had the opportunity to participate in one of them - the Rush University Free Health Fair: Spring into Health and Fitness. I was between jobs at the time, so I was representing Ohio University Health Sciences Library and the GMR. After staffing numerous health fair booths in the past, this was still a new and exciting experience.

The event started quite early and it was nice to get coffee and dough nuts to start the day! There were a large number of volunteers from various organizations, and we all worked diligently helping the participants to make the best out of this health fair. It was impressive to see some of the MLA award winners staffing the tables. I had the opportunity to work with Vijay Pawal; Cunningham Fellow from India and Sarah McCord who was honored with Lucretia W. McClure Excellence in Education Award. The medical librarians at the Rush Medical Center did a great job making sure all the MLA volunteers were doing fine. (more…)