MCMLA Library Advocacy Task Force is sponsoring a contest for “High Altitudes and New Attitudes on Library Marketing and Promotion!”

Here is your chance to show off your marketing project or promotional activities that you have used to improve or expand services in your library or for your users. MCR members are encouraged to submit materials to Marketing and Promotion Categories: you may enter one or both categories.

Prizes for the best entry scoring above 80 points will be awarded. Entries will be evaluated on Design, Presentation and Evaluation Criteria. Categories for entry are Hospital Libraries, Academic Libraries and Other Libraries. Entries should be submitted to Barb Jones (jonesbarb@health.missouri.edu) by September 1, 2009. Judges for the contest will be members of the MCMLA Library Advocacy Task Force. All entries are encouraged to display their projects and promotional materials at the Marketing Booth at MCMLA. The winners will be announced at MCMLA 2009 in Breckenridge, Colorado. (bbj)

Join us for our next Breezing with the RML on Wednesday, June 17th at 10 am MT/11 am CT. Follow this URL to join the meeting: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr All you’ll need is your Internet connection and your phone. Sign as a guest with your first and last names. This month’s topics are:

The Alphabet Soup of STDs: Facts and Resources on HIV/AIDS and STDs
Siobhan Champ-Blackwell, Community Outreach Liaison, will cover some basic facts on HIV/AIDs and STDs in the United States and will explore NLM and other online resources to provide the librarian a toolbox to use when discussing these intimate and private topics.

The Value of Health Science Libraries in the MCR
Libraries have been submitting their value calculations using the Retail Value Calculator (http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/calculator.html). Betsy Kelly, Assessment & Evaluation Liaison, will share the results of data collected from libraries across the country. Join the discussion about your library’s value and how you are using this knowledge in your own institution.

A number of months ago, the NN/LM, MidContinental Region began a social bookmarking project. The goal of the project is to tag resources deemed relevant and useful to our Network members, and make them available to anyone who visits the MCR web site or subscribes to updates via RSS. The project currently relies on a five-member working group to choose resources. We have approximately 45 resources tagged.

We have placed the tag cloud in two different places on the MCR website. Please follow one the these links to view the cloud:

http://nnlm.gov/mcr/technology/ or http://nnlm.gov/mcr/services/

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Follow this URL for up-to-date information from the Centers for Disease Control about the recent outbreak of Swine Flu. http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

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Did you miss the April 15, 2009 Breezing Along with the RML session? It is now available online at: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p84926249/

April’s presentations focused on technology for libraries and librarians.

Sharon Dennis, Technology Coordinator, gave a presentation entitled “Surprised by Twitter: Using Twitter for Information Discovery.” She gave a brief introduction to Twitter, talked about Twitter as a means for libraries and librarians to share information with patrons and colleagues, and then discussed how Twitter can be used to find information through a series of new Twitter search tools. The search tools can be used without signing up for Twitter itself. She provided examples of how Twitter helped her with a recent project.

Rebecca Brown, Kansas and Technology Liaison, presented Screencasting: the what, why and how. Several freely available tools were discussed as well.

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Join us for our next Breezing with the RML on Wednesday, April 15th at 10 am MT/11 am CT. Follow this URL to join the meeting: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr

This month’s presentations will focus on technology for libraries and librarians.

Sharon Dennis, Technology Coordinator, will give a presentation entitled “Surprised by Twitter: Using Twitter for Information Discovery.” She’ll give a brief introduction to Twitter, talk about Twitter as a means for libraries and librarians to share information with patrons and colleagues, and then discuss how Twitter can be used to find information through a series of new Twitter search tools. The search tools can be used without signing up for Twitter itself. She’ll give examples of how Twitter helped her with a recent project.

Rebecca Brown, Kansas and Technology Liaison, presents Screencasting: the what, why and how. Several freely available tools will be discussed as well.

See you there.

This month’s Breezing Along with the RML includes almost the whole RML staff reprising the presentation we did for the NN/LM Site Visit Team. It was a good exercise for us to review what we’ve been doing through the first half of our five year contract—we think you’ll find it revealing too. You can give us your opinion on what we’ve accomplished and how to address the challenges we’ve identified. Join us on Wednesday Feb 18 at 10am MT, 11am CT at https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcrupdate. All you’ll need is your Internet connect and your phone. Sign as a guest with your first and last names. /ch

In September 2006, the Medical Library Association (MLA) was awarded a two-year contract by the National Library of Medicine to study aspects of health information literacy in hospital libraries. The Health Information Literacy Curriculum was developed as part of this Health Information Literacy Research Project. It includes a Powerpoint slide show (20-40 minute version and 40-50 minute version), a detailed script, notes for presenters, background reading, and tips for librarians - which are direct quotes from the pilot site librarians that tested the curriculum and reflect lessons learned.

Please send any feedback about the curriculum to Jean Pugh Shipman, Co-Principal Investigator for the project, at Jean.Shipman@utah.edu.[da]

Deadline: No later than Feb. 1, 2009.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region (NN/LM MCR) is accepting proposals for the Continuity of Health Information Award. The purpose is to fund innovative projects in three areas:

• Advocacy
• Health Information Literacy
• Emergency Preparedness

This solicitation asks Network members to choose one focus area and develop a project that will be funded up to $15,000. Full and affiliate members (with the exception of Resource Libraries) are eligible to apply. Further information is at at: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/funding. Proposals not funded may be resubmitted in subsequent years. Project awards to be announced Mar. 1, 2009 with project completion by Nov. 1, 2010.
If you have questions, or require assistance call 1-800-338-7657 or contact these liaisons who have details:
Marty Magee
Barb Jones
Siobhan Champ Blackwell
John Bramble
Jim Honour
Dana Abbey

Contact Information: http://nnlm/gov/mcr/about/staff.html. jh