NN/LM Pacific Northwest Region is pleased to announce that Go Local Montana is now live! This is the first live Go Local project in our region and we couldn’t be more pleased. Montana Go Local is a project of the Voices of Hope with partners 2-1-1/First Call for Help District XI Human Resources Council, 2-1-1/First Call for Help United Way, Montana State Library, and The Help Center. The site is possible thanks to the dedication and hard work of Jackie Fitzgerald.  Voices of Hope would like to send a special thanks to Susie McIntyre for initiating the project. More promotion of the site will follow in the coming months, but you can take a peek at: http://medlineplus.gov/montana.  Congratulations to the entire Go Local Montana team!

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has produced brief training videos to demonstrate two of the four methods for submitting articles to PubMed Central in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.

See the Public Access Homepage for descriptions of each of the four methods. The new videos pertain to Method C: submissions initiated by the author, and Method D: completing the process for submissions initiated by a publisher.

If you weren’t able to attend the three RML Rendezvous sessions on October 31, November 7 and November 14, 2008 (or if you were and want to revisit them) be sure to check out the fantastic electronic licensing information and discussions at the 3Rs of Licensing: Risk, Rights & Restrictions page with the archived session recordings. Many thanks to Diane Carroll for the wealth of information that she shared with us all!

In one week (December 8, 2008), we will join the Valuing Library Services and Cost Benefit/ROI Calculators webmeeting session at 11am Pacific Time.  Barb Jones and Betsy Kelly from the MidContinental Region, NN/LM will reprise their MLA presentation on these tools to enable health science librarians to determine the return on investment and cost benefit of their libraries and services. Come with some numbers and let’s discuss how you can use the online calculators to show the value your library brings to your institution.  We will not use the RML Rendezvous website but the following one:  https://webmeeting.nih.gov/libraryvalue/. Please call 1-866-548-4716 with passcode 243436 if the system does not call your phone at the time of the meeting.

In January 2009, save the dates for our second RML Rendezvous Continuing Education class. On January 14, 21 and 28, 2009, Susan Barnes and Maryanne Blake will offer Community Assessment for MLA CE credit. Additional information and registration for the class will be announced later this month. We look forward to having you join us!

During this first year of NIH Public Access Policy implementation, NIH-funded authors have a lot of questions about how to comply with the new rules. Here are a few resources to check for answers.

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The NIH Public Access Policy was signed into law at the end of 2007. This new law grew out of a 2005 NIH request that researchers submit final versions of their published manuscripts to PubMed Central. As of April 7, submitting manuscripts to PubMed Central is no longer a request; now it is a requirement. The goal was and is to extend public access to publicly funded research literature.

Complying with the policy is a three-step process. When submitting articles for publication, principal investigators on NIH-funded research projects are required to:

1. Address copyright issues by making sure journal publication agreements allow for submission to NIH.
2. Submit articles to PubMed Central using the NIH Manuscript Submission System.
3. Cite PubMed Central identification numbers for articles referenced in NIH grant applications, proposals, and progress reports (required beginning May 25).

Even if NIH-funded researchers are not among your library’s primary clientele, it is important for you to be aware of how much and what types of literature will eventually be made public as a result of this policy. Developments in scholarly publishing and open access have critical implications for all types of libraries.

MLA’s November 2007 webcast “Scholarly Publishing and Open Access: Straight Talk” provides an excellent overview of the key issues and controversies. The DVD and participant manual are now available in the Lending Library for NN/LM PNR network members. To borrow either or both, please send e-mail to nnlm@u.washington.edu.

Additional Resources:

Web guides from the University of Washington and Oregon Health & Science University
SPARC brochure – Information for Authors
History of Dragonfly updates on this topic - http://nnlm.gov/pnr/dragonfly/?s=public+access+policy