About fifty children of Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine employees visited the SIU School of Medicine Medical Library on Take Your Child to Work day, Friday, July 17, 2009. The Medical Library was one of the stops during a day of activities throughout the School.

ToxMystery and Understanding Medical Words, two National Library of Medicine tutorials, were introduced to several groups in our computer training room and public computer area. ToxMystery lets you find hazards around your home (http://toxmystery.nlm.nih.gov), and through MedlinePlus, a consumer health information site, the tutorial Understanding Medical Words teaches the meaning of medical words by interacting with patients and doctors (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/medicalwords/). The children earned certificates of participation and were given ToxMystery activity books which included the web addresses of the sites.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released the results from a survey this week on the way people are seeking out health information.  Before the advent of podcasts, widespread use of the Internet, the public used traditional means to locate health information.  Visits to the doctor, phone calls to health professionals or trusted friends were the norm.  While these methods are still being used today, the landscape has been altered quite a bit and people have many more options.  What do we do with the information we find online? Do we take that information to our health professionals to augment the discussion? Do we simply trust what we find online and become “armchair physicians?”  The survey results refer to the more technologically integrated health seekers as ‘e-patients.’

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Anna Ercoli Schnitzer
InfoPoint Librarian
Health Sciences Libraries
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

On Friday, May 15, 2009, several librarians from the University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries took part in the first employee health fair organized by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA). Bus drivers, bus mechanics, office workers, and their family members were encouraged to attend this event for health assessment and disease prevention: blood sticks for cholesterol and glucose readings, an ultraviolet screening for melanoma, prostate specific antigen (PSA) analysis, and other types of health testing.

Vendors included the local Visiting Nurses Association, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and similar organizations. In addition, free back massages were offered by a local firm; Whole Foods Markets gave out coupons and freebies; and a running shoe store exhibited its wares. There was also the possibility of winning a windshield screen, t-shirt, or water bottle by spinning a wheel of chance, as well as a $100 gift certificate—all as inducements to take part in the health fair. Healthy snacks were available: veggies, fruit cups, yogurt, and turkey franks.

In the midst of all this activity, throughout the day, the librarians had their own table from which they were offering reliable health information through distributing flyers (and pens) about MedlinePlus.  It was a well planned and well organized event that elicited good feelings that time and, potentially, good health results in the future.

No doubt many medical librarians throughout the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) are dreaming of beaches and beautiful sunsets thanks to this year’s Medical Library Association (MLA) conference being held in Hawaii (May 15-20, 2009). Others may be dreaming of the recently announced funding opportunities in the GMR (http://nnlm.gov/gmr/funding/). Some may be dreaming of both.

If you are in the “both” category, perhaps you missed a great MLA News article from March 2009 entitled Seeking Grant Funding for Consumer Health Projects. Although the GMR does not fund grants per se (our subcontracts and awards work on a cost-reimbursement basis), the information in the article available online to MLA members after signing in to the MLA News website has some great pointers that are useful to anyone looking to secure funding for a great consumer health or other project. (more…)

The creators of the Second Life, Linden Lab announced their 1st Linden Prize winners last week (http://lindenlab.com/lindenprize). Among the two winners was “Virtual Ability Island”; the virtual island that was created as a part of the Alliance Virtual Library. This is a group of virtual islands use by people with chronic health and disabilities.

The Alliance Library System (ALS) in Illinois, a member of the GMR, worked with the Virtual Ability Organization to plan and build this award winning orientation center. Virtual Ability Island was partially funded by the NN/LM consumer health subcontract - “Share the Health”. The ALS will have the distinction of being the first NN/LM supported project that has received this prestigious virtual award. ALS and Virtual Ability continue to partner on health information services in Second Life.

Prestigious Linden Prize was given to two winners chosen out of 230 applications and 10 finalists. The winners were awarded $10,000 each. Here is the announcement from the Linden Lab: https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2009/04/30/the-linden-prize-goes-to-studio-wikitecture-and-virtual-ability

Please contact Lori Bell (lbell927@gmail.com), if you would like to know more about this award winning virtual island or the partnership! Congratulations!!

Christopher Childs
Education & Outreach Librarian
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
University of Iowa

New Influenza A (H1N1) also known as the Swine Flu Resource Guide Available from the Hardin Library

A new resource guide containing information on Influenza A (H1N1) has been created and is available from the Hardin Library.  All of the information contained in this guide is free and available to the public.  The guide includes: national & international resources, maps, blogs, an RSS and Twitter feed, Iowa resources, articles, and consumer health resources available in English, Spanish and multiple Languages.

The URL for this guide is http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/content.php?hs=a&pid=43862 Please feel free to link this guide to your institution’s website.

The National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide links to resources about the 2009 Swine Flu outbreak. The National Library of Medicine Division of Specialized Information Services has released an Enviro-Health Links page on Swine Flu. This page contains links to resources about the flu outbreak, including transmission, prevention, treatment, and the genetic makeup of the influenza virus. MedlinePlus released a new health topic page on Swine Flu: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/swineflu.html. The page is also provided in Spanish: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/swineflu.html.

MedlinePlus - Multiple Languages provides information in Arabic to Vietnamese on the MedlinePlus: Flu - Multiple Languages site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/languages/flu.html. Related Multiple Language links from MedlinePlus include the Germs and Hygiene resources: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/germsandhygiene.html translated in ASL (American Sign Language), Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

The World Health Organization site: http://www.who.int/ provides information in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and English.

An easy way to post updated information is to use the widget seen below:

Clicking on Get widget now! will bring you to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Image and Icon Library and the code for this installing the widget on your web page.

Additional resources are included on PandemicFlu.gov providing one-stop access to U.S. Government swine, avian and pandemic flu information.

Anna Ercoli Schnitzer
InfoPoint Librarian
Health Sciences Libraries
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

The University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries’ outreach program promoted MedlinePlus in a multitude of venues this year.  In some cases, there were repeat performances-at the U of M’s Dental School’s Give Kids a Smile (U of M Health Science Libraries Cooperate with Give Kids a Smile) and at the Asian-American Health Fair (Asian American Outreach at U of M) for example.  Other situations were first-time events, like the Ann Arbor Art Fair (After the Ann Arbor Art Fair) and the Ann Arbor Bookfest. And at some times, we found ourselves in a very special place with very special people, as in the instance of our appearance at the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled (Going Beyond: A Workshop for the Blind and Physically Disabled) or the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.  We also mixed and mingled with a nice cross-section of the public when presenting reliable online health information at the Ann Arbor District Library. Occasionally during our outreach events, we ran into people who remembered us from previous encounters and even seemed rather pleased to meet us again. (more…)

Last week, Go Local North Dakota reported utilizing the Featured Site option on the North Dakota Go Local homepage. For those of you in Minnesota, the Featured Site on My Health  Minnesota→Go Local links to flood Information as well. Take a look at the useful and interesting information on both the North Dakota and Minnesota Go Local sites.

For all you Web 2.0 participants, of particular interest is the the social network site created by The Forum, the newspaper for the Fargo-Moorhead area:  http://flood.inforum.com/. To access MedlinePlus Go Local, see http://medlineplus.gov and follow the link to Go Local.

Have you done a search on YouTube lately? I recently did a search for the word “aneurysm” on the site and the image below shows my search results.

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