Check out the May issue of NIH News in Health, the monthly newsletter bringing you practical health news and tips based on the latest NIH research. And consider joining us on Facebook, where you can write on our wall to suggest topics you’d like us to cover, or start a discussion about how you use the newsletter. Go to http://www.facebook.com/r.php?page_id=45385547967&r=111&locale=en_US to sign up to connect with NIH News in Health on Facebook.

In this edition

No More Butts
Snuff Out That Cigarette for Good

If you’re a smoker, chances are you’ve already tried to quit. So you know from experience that it’s not easy. But many do succeed in the end. The health benefits you’d gain make quitting worth the effort.
full story

A Window to Your Health
Your Eyes Reveal a Bigger Picture

Your vision seems great. Your eyes feel completely fine. But if you haven’t seen your eye care professional in a while, you might have an eye problem that you don’t know about.
full story

Health Capsules:

1. Exercise Helps After Heart Failure
2. Catch Oral Cancer Early
3. Featured Web Site: Go Local

International Association of Emergency Managers

The 2009 National Conference on Community Preparedness: The Power of Citizen Corps, is being hosted by FEMA’s Community Preparedness Division on August 9-12, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, VA. The conference is open to all who are interested in making their communities safer, stronger, and better prepared for all types of hazards. It will bring together approximately 600 state and local elected officials, emergency management, fire and police services, public health and emergency medical services, non-governmental organizations, private business and industry, advocacy groups, and members of public.

Attendees at the 2009 National Conference on Community Preparedness will:

• Share best practices on collaborative emergency planning
• Discuss preparedness outreach and education for targeted populations
• Learn innovative approaches to funding
• Hear updates on DHS/FEMA initiatives
• Hear about successful training and exercises
• Share volunteer management practices
• Network with other participants

More information on the conference can be found on the conference website: http://www.iaem.com/NCCP2009.htm

by Michael Rhode, Archivist, Otis Historical Archives,
National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

Walter Reed Army Medical Center is celebrating its 100 years of care for America’s service members and their families. By Congressional legislation, construction of the Walter Reed General Hospital was authorized, and the Hospital admitted its first patients on May 1, 1909. Named in Major Walter Reed’s honor, the medical center was founded on principles that would integrate patient care, teaching and research.

From the Otis Historical Archives in WRAMC’s National Museum of Health and Medicine, the museum’s archives staff provided graphics and content for two new books featuring the history of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center Centennial: A Pictorial History – “A profusely illustrated history covering the full range of WRAMC’s activities in service to the Army and the Nation.” Hardbound. About 2/3 of the photographs are from the Museum’s collections.

• ISBN: 008-000-01020-0, Price: 35.00
• http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GetPublication.do?stocknumber=008-000-01020-0

Borden’s Dream – “An engaging history-memoir covering WRAMC’s early history, filled with stories about the people and events that shaped its evolution as an institution.” Hardbound. This is the first publication of a 50-year old manuscript from WRAMC’s library.

• ISBN: 008-023-00135-9, Price: 55.00
• http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GetPublication.do?stocknumber=008-023-00135-9

By using social media tools, FEMA is able to capture and share the various H1N1 preparedness and recovery efforts and discussions across the country, making them readily available to the public. Online FEMA multimedia and social media resources include:

• www.twitter.com/femainfocus: Get the latest FEMA information and participate in forums addressing issues.
• www.youtube.com/fema: Vignettes about FEMA programs.
• www.fema.gov/media/multimedia/: View FEMA video shorts on preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.
• www.fema.gov/radio/index.jsp: FEMA MP3 files of recent radio news and Public Service Announcements.
• www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/programs/gc_1220128923561.shtm: FEMA’s Federal Hurricane Response Widget.
• www.ready.gov/vblog: Ready Campaign’s video blog featuring public-created preparedness videos.

The NN/LM SE/A is pleased to announce the availability of funding for contract year 04. SE/A members may apply for funding to conduct outreach, technology improvement, training, exhibiting, planning or assessment, hospital library promotion, and digitization projects. See http://nnlm.gov/sea/funding for more information. Additional funding opportunities may be announced later this year. Stay tuned to SEA Currents.

If you have any questions during the application process, please contact the NN/LM SE/A Office at 800-338-7657 or email me jkelly@hshsl.umaryland.edu or one of the SE/A outreach coordinators.

http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/emresponse.pdf

To help mitigate the impact of disasters on libraries providing support to healthcare providers and their patients, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) has developed and sustains the emergency response plan to help Network members maintain their information services in the event of a disaster.

The effectiveness of the plan depends on collaboration from a broad range of participants including individual Network members, eight Regional Medical Library (RML) offices and the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The plan’s structure is designed to provide a framework that begins with preparedness and continues through emergency response and recovery.

The emergency response plan supports a communication strategy for participating members and the RML offices that may be utilized prior to and during an emergency. The plan provides a strategy to support essential services for Network members based on a preparedness plan and assigns responsibility for follow-up and reporting after each incident or emergency event.

Roles/Definitions

Network Members: Maintain an up-to-date Emergency Preparedness Plan to include essential services and resources, strategies for continuity of service, and critical contacts. Use What if Disaster Strikes: Planning and Preparation, http://nnlm.gov/training/ resources/emplanning.pdf. During a disaster, the Network member implements their Emergency Preparedness Plan, contacts back-up library, their state coordinator and the RML Office. (1-800-DEV-ROKS)

Back-up Libraries: Are our first responders to an affected library for communication and service continuity. They maintain a current list of contacts and should proactively work out the level of support (preferably through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), or a Mutual Aid Agreement (MAA) see http://nnlm.gov/ep/mou-showcase/ ) to be implemented with Network Members in the event of a disaster.

Regional Coordinators: Are appointed by the regional RML Office and are a part of the team that helps ensure continuity of service to the affected Network member. They follow-up with and after-incident report to the NN/LM office.

Publishers and Vendors: May work together to temporarily provide resources in disaster-stricken areas through the Emergency Access Initiative (EAI) Collaborative that is still under discussion and testing.

National Library of Medicine (NLM): Maintains the NN/LM National
Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan and functions as a back-up resource when local and regional resources have been exhausted.

Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC): DIMRC is tasked with the collection, organization and dissemination of health information resources and informatics research related to disasters of natural, accidental, or deliberate origin. This Center helps with national emergency preparedness and response efforts. http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc.html

RML Offices: Are responsible for coordinating a response when requested by a Network member, re-routing DOCLINE, notifying the Regional Coordinator of the incident after being contacted by a Network member, and providing needed recovery resources as feasible. They are also responsible for promoting the plan, providing training on continuity of service planning, facilitating back-up library relationships, and assisting with MOU development.

Library Networks/Consortia: The RML will work with regional library networks and consortia to provide preparedness, planning and continuity of service disaster training.

Apply to join the management team at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in Bethesda, Maryland. We’re part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and located just outside Washington, D.C.

We are looking for an experienced library manager with knowledge of interlibrary loan to serve as the Head of the Collection Access Section. The section manages the DOCLINE interlibrary loan system which serves over 3,000 libraries and 2 million loans each year. Section staff annually process and deliver over 200,000 interlibrary loans from NLM’s collection. They provide over 80,000 items to customers in our public reading room and respond to customer inquiries for all of these services. The Section accomplishes this work with over 20 government staff, a handful of contracts and a dozen part time students.

Join the federal government and receive great benefits while contributing to an important part of NLM’s mission, to provide biomedical information to users through medical and research libraries throughout the United States and the world.

If you have never worked for the U.S. government, follow the instructions and use USAJobs to apply to announcement number HHS/NIH-2009-2361. Or if you currently or have previously worked for the government, you can apply to announcement number HHS/NIH-2009-2363. The salary range is $102,721-$133,543 USD per year and you must be a US citizen to apply. Posting closes at midnight, Eastern Daylight Time, May 15, 2009.

Questions? Contact Susan Burns at burnss@mail.nih.gov or 301-496-3661.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ¬ April 2009
For more information, please contact
Lisa C. Fried at 312.419.9094 x28; mlapd2@mlahq.org

MLA to Induct MLA Past President M.J. Tooey, AHIP, as Fellow of the Association

The Medical Library Association (MLA) chooses its Fellows based on their commitment to furthering the association’s goals and for their contributions to the health sciences information profession. MLA is proud to honor one of its most dedicated and accomplished members, MLA Past President Mary Joan (M. J.) Tooey, AHIP, with MLA Fellow status. She will officially become an MLA Fellow at the MLA ‘09 Awards Ceremony and Luncheon in May in Honolulu, HI.

About Tooey, MLA member Sheldon Kotzin, FMLA, stated, ” I have known and respected M.J. for nearly twenty years. During that time, I have seen her excel at every challenge that she has chosen to pursue. Ever approachable, it appears that she has never declined an opportunity to get involved, take a leadership role, and make a difference.”

Many have benefited from Tooey’s accomplishments and commitment to the health sciences information profession. Director, Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland-Baltimore, Tooey served as MLA president in 2005-2006 and on the MLA Board of Directors from 1998-2001 during which time she served as Chapter Council chair. During her presidency, Tooey established and chaired the Task Force on Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians, which focused on the current state, future roles, and challenges of hospital libraries and librarians.

A proven leader in the association and profession, Tooey also chaired the 2007 MLA Nominating Committee, the MLA/Pew Credible Information Task Force, which resulted in the highly-referenced MLA’s User’s Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web, and the MLA 2004 National Program Committee, as well as MLA’s Public Services Section and Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC). She also lent her talent and expertise to MLA’s Scholarly Publishing Task Force and the Librarians Without Borders® Task Force. In addition, Tooey serves on the editorial board of Medical Reference Services Quarterly.

Because of her many contributions as a health sciences librarianship professional, Tooey has earned numerous honors throughout her career including Distinguished-level membership in the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP), the 1997 MLA Estelle Brodman Award for the Academic Medical Librarian of the Year and the Mid-AtlanticChapter/MLA 1996 Librarian of the Year Awards.

She is known as a mentor and advocate for many health information science librarians and students, as well as many allied health professionals. Tooey helped to develop two popular MLA continuing education courses, “The Past and Future of the Medical Librarian” and “So, You Want to be a Library Director”. She has also built a strong scholarly record and has presented several posters and presentations at local and international meetings.

MLA Past President Jean P. Shipman, AHIP, to Become MLA Fellow

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce that MLA Past President Jean Pugh Shipman, AHIP, director, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah-Salt Lake City, will be inducted as an MLA Fellow at the MLA ‘09 Awards Ceremony and Luncheon in Honolulu, HI, in May. A Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP), Shipman has long served the association as one of its most revered and valued leaders and has had an impact on many key MLA initiatives, including health information literacy. She has made major contributions in this area, most recently as coprincipal investigator for the MLA Health Information Literacy Research Project, under a contract with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The project researched hospital-based administrators’ and health care providers’ awareness and understanding of health literacy and its value in support of patient care. The project’s research resulted in the development of a health information literacy curriculum that will not only increase health care providers’ knowledge of health literacy issues, but also to increase patient and provider use of NLM resources and tools.

Prior to serving as MLA president (2006/07), Shipman was elected to the 1999-2002 Board of Directors, during which time she served as board secretary. She has also served as chair of numerous MLA committees and task forces, including MLA’s Informationist Conference Task Force, MLA’s 2001 National Program Committee, MLA’s Ida and George Eliot Prize Jury (1992/93) and most recently, the 2007/08 MLA Nominating Committee. She has also been an active member of MLA’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter having served as 1993 chair-elect and in 1991/92 as secretary.

A sought-after presenter, Shipman has taught many continuing education courses and has given more than fifty presentations locally as well as internationally, covering topics such as consumer health and the informationist role in document delivery. She has also authored fifteen peer-reviewed publications and over thirty refereed scientific posters.

About Shipman’s contributions to the profession, MLA member, Sherrilynne Fuller, FMLA, co-director, Center for Public Health Information, University of Washington-Seattle, stated, “As a member of the MLA Board of Directors and as president, Jean brought new life to the image of medical librarians and enhanced the visibility of the profession. She is a tireless advocate for the importance of health sciences librarians to improving the health of the public and has served as an enthusiastic mentor, role model, and advisor throughout her career.”

MLA, a nonprofit, educational organization, comprises health sciences information professionals with more than 4,000 members worldwide. Through its programs and services, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

The deadline for submission of the pre-proposal is Monday, June 15, 2009, 11:59 pm Eastern time.

• Pre-proposals must be submitted by email to hiddencollectionssubmission@clir.org.
• In the subject line of the email, please include the name of the applicant institution and the words “Hidden Collections Pre-Proposal.”

Pre-proposals will be returned to applicants with comments by Tuesday, August 4, 2009. These will be sent by e-mail to the Principal Investigator listed in the pre-proposal form.

The online application system for final proposals will be opened to applicants who have submitted pre-proposals on July 1, 2009. Final proposals must be submitted via the program’s online application system by Friday, September 4, 2009, 11:59 pm Eastern time.

All applicants will be notified of their status by November 30, 2009.

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has opened the second application period for its Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant program. Information about the program, deadlines, and links to the online application and guidelines are available at http://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/index.html.

CLIR expects to award about $4 million in grants that range from $75,000 to $500,000. A review panel will evaluate proposals and select award recipients. Recipients will be notified in November 2009, and applicants may begin their projects at any time between December 1, 2009, and March 1, 2010.

The program will award funds to institutions holding collections of high scholarly value that are difficult or impossible to locate through finding aids. Award recipients will create descriptive information for their hidden collections that will be linked to and interoperable with all other projects funded by this grant, to form a federated environment that can be built upon over time. Funding for the program comes from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Questions about the program may be directed to Amy Lucko (alucko@clir.org).

Wednesday, June 3, 2009
12:00 Noon - 1:00 pm (EST)

Join us for presentations and question/answer sessions from Janice Kelly, Executive Director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Southeastern Atlantic Region and Hua-Chun Sim, MD, Program Officer, Division of Extramural Programs at NLM. Ms. Kelly and Dr. Sim will discuss funding opportunities available to Network members from both NN/LM and NLM.

For more information and how to connect, please see http://nnlm.gov/sea/services/webconf/index.html.