If you work in a hospital library, you probably don’t need me to tell you that hospital IT departments frequently block Web 2.0 applications due to concerns about privacy, security, and/or productivity.  As a result, hospital librarians have had precious little freedom to experiment with using blogs, wikis, and other social media to improve communication and enhance service. Here is some evidence to suggest that the rules are (just maybe) starting to relax.

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Congratulations to Kootenai Medical Center, Northern Rockies Rural Health Clinic, and Bastyr University. These three network member organizations were recently awarded funding  for technology improvement projects. Read on to learn more about their exciting plans.

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Internet Cool Tools for Physicians
by Melissa L. Rethlefsen, David L. Rothman, and Daniel S. Mojon
Springer, 2009

Given how rapidly things change on the Web, writing a book about Internet tools seems like a risky endeavor.  Will the content still be relevant once the book makes it to press? Rethlefsen, Rothman, and Mojon took on this challenge and produced the very relevant Internet Cool Tools for Physicians, a manual for physicians and others who want to understand how to use the Internet to discover, manage, and organize information.

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Geeks Bearing Gifts: Unwrapping New Technology Trends
Free Online Learning Opportunity
February 2 to March 20, 2009

The Pacific Northwest RML is now accepting registrants for the online version of “Geeks Bearing Gifts: Unwrapping New Technology Trends.” We are offering this course free of charge as a benefit to our Network members.

UPDATE 1/23/09: The February-March class is now full. Contact Alison to have your name added to a waiting list for the next time this course is offered.

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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!

You’ve heard of blogging, but have you heard of microblogging? Twitter, the most popular microblogging platform, is a place on the web where people give updates on their lives by answering the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less.  The character limit makes it “micro.” Is this a practical way to share information? Is it a colossal waste of time? You’ll be the judge of that! Here are a few reasons to give Twitter a chance, along with some basic instructions for getting started.

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