The American Public Health Association (APHA), in support of National Public Health Week 2009 and its theme, “Building the Foundation for a Healthy America,” has released a new video series – “Why Public Health Matters.”

The videos feature public health professionals from around the nation sharing their views on public health. The topics they consider include the greatest public health successes, the relevance of public health, challenges facing public health, and much more.
Users can add their voices to the discussion by a submitting a personal story of what public health means to them.
National Public Health Week (NPHW), April 6-12, 2009, will focus on the role that public health must play in improving our nation’s health. More information about NPHW activities and about getting involved is available at http://www.nphw.org/nphw09/default.htm.

Announcing, the pilot issue of NIH MedlinePlus Salud!

NIH MedlinePlus Salud features a bilingual format with a PDF featuring one side Spanish / the other English.

The Friends of the National Library of Medicine are partnering with the National Alliance on Hispanic Health to publish this magazine. The goal is to publish at least two issues a year.  Order your free copy of NIH MedlinePlus Salud.

Also, check out the latest MedlinePlus Magazine featuring Ugly Betty’s Ana Ortiz.

The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund is currently soliciting applications from librarians/informationists for the 2009/2010 Learning Partnerships. The Fund will award two 12-month, paid “Learning Partnerships” that place experienced health sciences librarians within leading health care organizations for the purpose of both partners gaining a greater understanding of how best information sciences can be effectively applied in each environment. This on-the-edge fellowship offers mid-career librarians the opportunity to be fully immersed in the environment of a health care organization. The fellow will participate in team settings designed to utilize the librarian’s skills and knowledge in non-traditional ways, resulting in a tangible and valuable contribution to the host organization. For more information about the Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund, the Learning Partnerships, fellowship application process, and eligibility requirements, please visit the Sewell Fund website at http://www.sewellfund.org/LearningPartnerships2009.htm.

Applications are due April 15, 2009.

Moderator: Mark Goldstein

Guest Speakers: Betsy Kelly, Assessment and Evaluation Liaison (NN/LM MCR) & Barb Jones, Advocacy Liaison (NN/LM MCR)

Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009

Time: 2:30-4:00 PM

Concept: To help hospital librarians work with two “valuation” tools: (1.) the new Library Value Calculator, adapted from one originally provided by the Massachusetts Library Association, and then adapted for the web by Chelmsford Public Library; and (2.) the Cost Benefit and ROI Calculator, that helps determine a library’s contribution to the institutional “bottom line”.

Highlights / Responses to questions, such as:

• What’s your library worth to the institution?
• How much would it cost to replace your library services on the retail market?
• How much does the library contribute to the bottom line?
• How much benefit does your institution (i.e., the patrons) receive for every dollar spent by the library?
• What kind of annual return is realized for funds allocated to maintain the library’s collection?

To register, please contact Martha Pearson at martha.pearson@umassmed.edu and let her know which session you want to attend. Details of how to access the web conference and Adobe Connect session will be forwarded upon registration. Information on how to test your computer for Adobe Connect is available under Connect Diagnostics on the NN/LM NER Distance Education Web Page.

We have been notified that the tabs containing Limits, Preview/Index, History, Clipboard and Details will be going away. We don’t know when but it could be soon. The Advanced Search page is where you will find all of these functions now. In addition, a link to the Clipboard will display on the homepage, next to the search box, after selections have been sent to it.

This posting summarizes what you will find on the Advanced Search page. There are new sections in addition to the areas that cover the content of the tabs.

The familiar sections:

• The History section is at the top of the page just below the single search box. The default shows five searches but this can be expanded by clicking the MORE HISTORY button or reduced back to the first five by using the LESS HISTORY button. If items have been sent to the Clipboard then the last item on the list, numbered zero and highlighted in green, will connect to the Clipboard.
• The Limits section is mostly the same. The various groupings have been reorganized a bit and the dates section as not been included at this time. The journal and author component is covered in the multiple search box section.
• The Preview/Index section is at the bottom of the page. It is now called Index of Fields and Field Values. You can still make multiple selections there by using the shift or control keys.

The new sections:

• The section titled Search by Author, Journal, Publication Date and more contains multiple search boxes. The default is set to the fields listed previousl but these can be changed by using the drop down menus. The author and journal fields have the auto-complete feature. Additional citation related search boxes can be displayed by selecting the Add More Citation Search Fields found below the three search boxes.

This section is meant to replace the single citation matcher that is now found in the blue sidebar on the homepage. Also in this section are links to the alphabetical indexes. They are located next to the individual search boxes. Note that in this area you can only select one term/phrase at a time.

• The Queries section, found at the bottom of the page, contains links to Clinical (Clinical Queries) and Topic Specific (Special Queries) pages, as well as the MeSH and Journal databases.

The Advanced Search page does have it’s own URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/advanced. Changes and improvements continue on a regular basis. The NLM Technical Bulletin will keep you up to date on the changes.

Click to view Image 1
Single search box and history sections

Click to view Image 2
Index of fields and field values and queries sections

The NN/LM-New England Region’s online learning program on Health Information Outreach and Community Engagement:  Lessons Learned from the Experts is full.  We are pleased with the overwhelming enthusiasm for the program.  Due to a large waiting list, the program will be recorded for later viewing.  The NER plans to send the link for the recording directly to participants on the waiting list as well as post it on our Connecting with the NER site.  Unfortunately, MLA CE units will not be awarded for viewing the recording of the program.

The Public Health Foundation and its partners are pleased to announce the launch of the Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) website. CHSI has updated county level data (covering 1994 - 2006) viewable online or in easy to download reports.

Each of the 3,141 reports, one for each county in the United States, provides public health officials, public health system partners, policy makers, and consumers with a snapshot of the health status of a community to make monitoring and addressing health issues easier.

Each report includes Healthy People 2010 targets, national rates, and peer counties (i.e., counties of similar population size, age distribution, and poverty) for comparison purposes. Data indicators include information on vulnerable populations, measures of health, national leading causes of death, risk factors for premature death, measures of birth and death, relative health importance, environmental health risk factors, preventive services use, and access to care, among others.

For more information on health indicator definitions, sources, and methods used in the CHSI Reports, please access Data Sources, Definitions, and Notes: Community Health Status Indicators 2008.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has added a new set of tools to the electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS). These tools help primary care clinicians provide consumer-friendly information about prevention and preventive care to their patients at the point of care.

The ePSS is a Web-based and PDA-downloadable application designed to help primary care clinicians identify the screening, counseling, and preventive medication services that are appropriate for their patients. The ePSS provides searchable, electronic access to the current evidence-based recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). myhealthfinder, a Web site developed by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Department of Health and Human Services, provides personalized preventive services recommendations from the USPSTF for consumers. The recommendations are presented in clear language and are broken into segments that encourage a patient to learn about the service and take action.

Over 20 of the topics in the ePSS now include a link to a companion topic in myhealthfinder that has been translated for consumers and is presented in a simple and engaging way. Through these links in the ePSS, primary care clinicians now have direct access to information they can share with their patients at the point of care. The materials are printable, so patients can take them home after the appointment. As more of the USPSTF recommendations are translated for consumers, the ePSS will be updated, so keep coming back.

You can find out more about the evidence-based recommendations of the USPSTF and AHRQ’s work to improve the delivery of effective clinical preventive services at: http://www.preventiveservices.ahrq.gov.

The Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University in collaboration with the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) released a new edition of the knowledge path about oral health for infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women.   Presented in time for Children’s Dental Health Month in February, this electronic guide points to resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research aimed at improving access to and the quality of oral health care. The knowledge path contains sections with resources for professionals, resources for consumers, and resources on specific aspects of oral health. Topics include child care and Head Start, dental sealants, early childhood caries, fluoride varnish, K-12 education, pregnancy, school-based care, school evaluation mandates, and special health care needs. The knowledge path is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_oralhealth.html. Knowledge paths on other topics are available at

Susan Brune Lorenzo, MLS
E-mail: smblorenzo@gmail.com
Maternal and Child Health Library
National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health at Georgetown University
Web site: http://mchlibrary.info

NER has been talking about Emergency Preparedness for the last few years. We’ve visited with members at their association meetings (MAHSLIN, HSLIC, SEMCO, ARIHSL, NAHSL) and presented on the different resources available to put together a preparedness plan.

NER conducted an assessment of members’ activities in preparedness planning, here are some figures:

• 76% of you reported not having a preparedness plan

• 84% of you indicated you’d be interested in assistance in developing continuity of service plans.

As part of its battery of training and professional development opportunities being offered this winter, NER is announcing a course on Developing Your Library Continuity of Service Plan.

Through the course we hope to assist NER members in developing their own plans for handling emergencies. The course is designed to meet via Adobe Connect sessions–many of you have already participated in our other Connecting with the NER sessions. The course will follow a 10-Step Process to Service Continuity Planning developed by the NN/LM National Coordinator. To provide an opportunity for librarians to work together, the class will also use the Moodle online learning platform as a collaborative virtual space for working through exercises and Steps that will serve to help build your own Service Continuity Plan

Here are the details:

Schedule

• Adobe Connect Session 1: January 27^th
• Adobe Connect Session 2: February 11th
• Adobe Connect Session 3: Feb 24th
• Adobe Connect Session 4: March 4th

Sessions will start at 2:00p.m. and may last until 3:30.

Adobe Connect Session will also operate with an audio telephone conferencing system

Course Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to the basic elements of a service continuity plan.

• Participants will learn how to:

· Conduct a risk assessment

· Assure personal safety

· Identify core services and resources

· Plan for remote service and resource provision

· Identify print and unique resources and prioritize resource recovery

• Participants will be able to develop and complete a service continuity plan for their own library.

8 MLA CE Credits have been approved!.

Javier and Penny will be the course instructors. The course is only available to NER member libraries. As with all NER offerings, the course is free of charge.

Participants will need access to workstations that enable the use of Adobe Connect as well as be able to telephone into the conferencing system.

To register, please contact Martha Pearson at martha.pearson@umassmed.edu. In your email please include: Your name, institution address with phone number and zip code and the name of the course (Developing Your Library Continuity of Service Plan).

Details on how to access the teleconference and Adobe Connect session will be forwarded upon registration.

Act fast and spread the word!