The MLA Social Networking Software Task Force (official blog: http://sns.mlanet.org/blog/)  has a class, Media Sharing, that focuses primarily on screencasting and how you can use the technology to expand and promote your information services. It’s a self learning activity and you can log in any time to complete the work during Jan 19 - 25th. No registration is required.

The MLA Social Networking Software Task Force is offering a series of classes on Web 2.0 tools. You can find the complete schedule on their blog. Classes are free to current 2009 MLA members.

Health games are designed using gaming technologies and principles, to improve participants’ awareness of health related issues, or to increase their engagement in physical activities.

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Many people are using the Internet as a diagnostic tool to find information on health conditions, disease symptoms, as well as treatment suggestions.  Microsoft recently published a new study on medical web-searching behavior and how search results from popular Web search engines can affect decision making.

Among other results, the study found that answers retrieved from Internet search engines can often lead users to believe that common symptoms are likely the result of serious illnesses and to increase the anxiety of people who have little or no medical training.

You can access the full article at http://research.microsoft.com/research/pubs/view.aspx?type=Technical%20Report&id=1595

Google.org’s Flu Trends (http://www.google.org/flutrends/) tracks when and where questions about flu symptoms are asked all over the country.  They have discovered that a large number of flu-related searches from a particular region may be estimating an outbreak of the flu in that region. In fact, last year Google Flu Trends estimated flu levels one to two weeks earlier than the CDC reported them.

The New York Times: “Google Uses Searches to Track Flu’s Spread”

Google.org: “How does this work?“

If you are thinking about putting your library or organization’s own website on web-capable mobile devices like iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Treo, or Motorola’s RAZR, etc., here is a project you should look at: MIT Mobile Web (http://mobi.mit.edu/about/).

This project gives you a great sense of how to present the web on mobile devices with a sleek and clean interface. It provides access to several categories including Events Calendar, Emergency Information, and latest news on classes.

It’s a free service and you just simply type in “m.mit.edu” in your device’s browser. If you don’t have a mobile device, no problem. Use http://mobi.mit.edu/about/preview.html to preview it on your desktop or laptop. I just tried it with an iPhone. Results? “Cool!”.

In the November/December 2008 issue of Marketing Library Services, Aaron Schmidt and Sarah Houghton-Jan wrote about how to bring traffic to your library’s website. It provides useful tips and ideas such as offering relevant services or interesting content on your site, participating in community conversations such as commenting on local blogs, providing services to attract and interact with current or potential library members, listing your site on directories where people are searching, etc.

To read the whole article, click http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov08/Schmidt_Houghton-Jan.shtml.

The National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) at the National Library of Medicine was created to improve the collection, storage, analysis, retrieval, and dissemination of health services research. Designed for health practitioners, health policy makers, payers and information professionals, the NICHSR website (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr) provides access to a variety of databases and retrieval services including:

Pilot Health Services Research Filters Project

Researchers, clinicians, health policy analysts and planners can use these specialized PubMed Health Services Research (HSR) searches to find information on healthcare quality and costs.

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The NN/LM SCR office is offering two classes at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Library, in San Antonio, TX on October 20, 2008.

Public Health Information on the Web
8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Class description: This hands-on class will highlight web resources tailored to the public health workforce. Topics include: the role of information in public health, resources for health education and promotion, evidence-based practice and data and statistics.

Upon completion, class attendees will receive 4 hours MLA CE credit. For more information on the class: http://nnlm.gov/training/publichealth/

Can You Hear Me Now? How to Make a Podcast
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Class description: Thinking about how to promote your services and reach out to more people? Want to learn how podcasts can help and how to make your own? This hands-on class is designed to provide a fun yet informative introduction to podcasting and how you can utilize this technology in your library services, to enable your users to access the information whenever they want, wherever they want and however they want it. Basic steps and suggestions on how to make a podcast will be covered and students will be able to enjoy hands-on practice on popular audio recording and editing software and make their first personal podcast!

Upon completion, class attendees will receive 2 hours MLA CE credit. For more information on the class: http://nnlm.gov/training/podcast/index.html

To register for these classes: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/register.html

All classes are free and open to anyone.

The NN/LM SCR will present two classes at the University of Arkansas Medical School in Little Rock, AR on September 23, 2008.

Can You Hear Me Now? How to Make a Podcast
9:00 am to 11:00 am

This popular, hands-on class provides a fun and informative introduction to podcasting and how you can utilize this technology in your library. Students will make their own personal podcast! This course has been approved for 2 hours of Medical Library Association (MLA) Continuing Education credits.

ABCs of DNA: Unraveling the Mystery of Genetics Information for Consumers
12:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Librarians working with the public need to be aware of the issues surrounding genetics and resources to assist patrons in locating and evaluating sometimes complex and confusing information. This class explores basic concepts such as genes and chromosomes and offers an overview of genetic disorders, genetic testing, genetic counseling, and the Human Genome Project. Ethical and legal issues associated with genetic disorders will be covered with regard to privacy, discrimination, and potential legislative impact on medicine and society. A variety of reliable health information resources will be demonstrated. This 4-hour hands-on class is intended for consumers, public librarians, and health sciences librarians who work with the public.

For a detailed class schedule with times and locations see: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/.

To register for a class: http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/register.html.

If you have any questions, please contact Karen Vargas at karen.vargas@exch.library.tmc.edu.

The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, a division of the American Library Association, has released “Think Accessible Before You Buy, Questions to Ask to Ensure that the Electronic Resources Your Library Plans to Purchase are Accessible.” It provides guidelines to ensure the electronic resources and Web services that libraries purchase are accessible to anyone-especially patrons and staff with disabilities.

With plenty of examples, this document breaks down the technical language barrier and helps us to understand the highest priority accessibility checkpoints, so that we can make sure our patrons and staff can effectively use our electronic services.

It includes:

• Definition list of commonly used accessibility terms
• Computer software accessibility checklist
• Internet and Web-based content accessibility checklist
• Electronic database and computer software accessibility evaluation form
• Internet and Web-based content accessibility evaluation form

Read more at: http://ala.org/ala/ascla/asclaprotools/thinkaccessible/.