A new Working with Library Statistics module is now available at http://nnlm.gov/mcr/advocacy/statistics. This module looks at the types of activities and materials common in libraries, giving the definition, source of the data, considerations for use and the difficulty level of collection. While originally designed for hospital librarians, this module may be useful to all other types of libraries as well. (bbj)

Check out the training and workshops by the The Homeland Defense Journal Training Workshops

For details on these and all training and workshops, visit www.HomelandDefenseJournal.net

Upcoming Emergency Management Workshops for June and July 2009

Incident Management for First Responders in Different Cultures - A two day workshop on implementing Cultural Competence in Dangerous Situations Jun 16-17, 2009 | Arlington, VA
Exercise Design and Evaluation Workshop Jun 17-18, 2009 Arlington, VA
Emergency Capability Analysis Workshop Jun 19, 2009 | Arlington, VA
Emergency Preparedness for Libraries Jun 18-19, 2009 | Arlington, VA
All-Hazards Regional Evacuation Plans - An Interactive Two-Day Workshop on Developing an All-Hazards Regional Evacuation Plan Jun 23-24, 2009 | Arlington, VA
How to Develop a Business Continuity Plan/Continuity of Operations Plan That Really Works Workshop Jul 14, 2009 | Arlington, VA
Best Practices for Disaster Communications Jul 15, 2009 | Arlington, VA
Search and Rescue Certification Standards Jul 16, 2009 | Arlington, VA

The federal government has announced open source gateway software, called Connect, which will allow the electronic health records of various federal agencies (including the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments, and the Indian Health Service) to communicate with the Nationwide Health Information Network. See the Connect project site for more information:  http://www.connectopensource.org/display/Gateway/2009/04. [SD]

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference is currently being held in Chicago, but even if you can’t attend, you can follow it online. Visit http://www.himssconference.org/ and click on “HIMSS09 Online Update.” You can visit the conference official Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/HIMSS. You can also follow comments about the conference using the #himss09 “Twitter hashtag” (a keyword that marks Twitter comments about a certain topic) - to see the updates, go to http://twitterfall.com/?trend=%23himss09!%23494234. Note that you don’t have to sign up for Twitter to view either for these since the updates are publicly published - [SD]

The March 31 issue of The Plain Dealer, a Cleveland newspaper, published an article describing early patient experiences at the Cleveland Clinic with Microsoft HealthVault. Patients with chronic conditions, such as hypertension, take regular measurements that are sent to Cleveland Clinic’s EHR system via HealthVault. Doctors at the clinic can monitor the results and adjust the patient’s treatment as needed. The article gives a real-world example and includes a video. See http://tinyurl.com/dk9uj3 for the original article, and http://tinyurl.com/c49qzs for some interesting commentary about the article. [SD]

The International Journal of Medical Informatics has published an article entitled “The State and Profile of Open Source Projects in Health and Medical Informatics.” The study reviewed open source projects listed in the open source database SourceForge. The article concluded, “A wide range of OSS applications are in development, from bio-informatics to hospital information systems. A profile of OSS in health and medical informatics emerges that is distinct and unique to the health care field. Future research can focus on OSS acceptance and diffusion and impact on cost, efficiency and quality of health care.” Find a summary of the article at http://tinyurl.com/cezabw. [SD]

A new study detailing the use of electronic health records was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 25. The study showed a very low level of adoption of EHR’s in U.S. hospitals. You can read the paper here, and listen to an NPR interview with the paper’s author here. [SD]

Looking for inspiration in marketing your library? The National Medical Librarians Month Creative Promotions Award winners were announced in the March, 2009 issue of MLA News. Read about the “Come Borrow Our Power Tools” campaign, two “Dig Deep” promotions and view the video “The Counter-Entropy Squad” on YouTube.

Or, if you want to see what’s happening in Wyoming, go to http://www.4029tv.com/automotive/18991889/detail.html to see what the Wyoming librarians are doing.

Use these and any other ideas you find to design the marketing and promotion materials for your library. Then prepare to enter them in the MCMLA Library Marketing and Promotion Contest! (bbj)

If you’re curious about knowledge management, here are some readings that will give you an overview.

Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know
Nancy M. Dixon (book excerpt) (Harvard Business School Press) http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/book/n_dixon_1.html

Knowledge Management in the NHS: positioning the healthcare librarian at the knowledge intersection
Carole Keeling, Sian Lambert (2000). Health Libraries Review. 17(3), 136-143. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120100549/PDFSTART

The Future of the Future: Rise of the Knowledge Librarian
Art Murray, Ken Wheaton KM world. Feb 2, 2009
http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Column/Future-of-the-Future/The-future-of-the-future-Rise-of-the-knowledge-librarian–52362.aspx

(bbj)

Last December, NPR’s Diane Rehm aired a radio show about e-health. The show discussed “Advances in information technology are leading to major changes in our health care system. A look at some of the trends, including health-related web searches, on-line prescriptions, digitized medical records, and doctor’s appointments via webcam.” Guests included Eric Horvitz, principal researcher, Microsoft Research; Jonathan Weiner, professor of health policy and management and of health informatics at Johns Hopkins University; and Dr. Don Detmer, President and CEO, American Medical Informatics Association. You can listen to the podcast of the show through RealAudio or Windows Media here:

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/12/02.php#23197

If you didn’t hear the show when it originally aired, it’s worth a listen!

[SD]