The MLA Board of Directors has approved the joint MLA/AAHSL statement, Health Sciences Librarians and Health Care Reform, which highlights the role of information and information services provided by health sciences librarians to support informed decision making to lower costs and reduce waste, improve health care quality and reduce medical errors, and enhance consumer choice. The statement will be distributed to congressional committees with jurisdiction for health care reform legislation. Watch for future announcements about grassroots advocacy initiatives as Congress moves forward with legislation. (bbj)

The Technology Liaisons presented at this July’s Breezing Along with the RML. Rebecca Brown, MCR’s Kansas and Technology Liaison, demonstrated several tips to make working with Word and PowerPoint 2007, plus Gmail more efficient (and exciting). Sharon Dennis, MCR’s Technology Coordinator, discussed three new search engines: Wolfram/Alpha, Bing, and Google Squared. She also gave a heads-up about a new Google tool coming out later this year, Google Wave. You can view the archived recording of this session at: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p33896738/

Click here for the step-by-step instructions for Rebecca’s presentation (Word document will open).

Click here to view Rebecca’s PowerPoint presentation. (PowerPoint will open)

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The American Library Association’s (ALA) Public Information Office (PIO) has developed tools to help librarians publicize the surge in visits in their communities. This toolkit contains information that can be used or adapted by all types of libraries including hospital, academic, special or public libraries. You too can build positive public perception and support using the information provided regarding press releases, talking points. A FAQ sheet is also available at ALA PIO’s “Advocating in a Tough Economy Toolkit” site (http://http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/advocacyuniversity/toolkit/index.cfm). (bbj)

New selections and a new brochure are now available on our NetLibrary collection of e-books focused on library administration and technical topics. The collection is available at: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/education/netlibrary.html. Click on “access NetLibrary directly,” or download the list of more than 90 books by clicking on “view a list of books available for download” or print out the latest trifold brochure highlighting our new selections by clicking on “NetLibrary brochure.” You’re sure to find something relevant to your job today!

Posted on behalf of Rebecca Raszewski, MS; Assistant Information Services Librarian. Rebecca’s contact information is below.
*****
I would like to invite all librarians who have a health sciences degree to participate in a survey. The degrees include the following fields:

* Allied Health
* Behavioral Sciences
* Dentistry
* Life Sciences
* Medicine
* Nursing
* Occupational & Physical Therapy
* Pharmacy
* Public Health
* Veterinary Medicine

I am interested in learning about the following things:

* health sciences professionals’ former career
* how they feel about working as a librarian
* if they feel their health sciences background is advantageous in their current position.

Please go to the website below to take part in the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4VQy38sHiOyVSRd6mwyd1g_3d_3d

The survey will take about fifteen minutes of your time. No personal information will be collected, nor will any institution be identified in the results. I plan to share the results through publication and/or presentation. Your participation in the survey provides implied consent.

The project has been approved by University of Illinois at Chicago. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the survey.

Rebecca Raszewski, MS
Assistant Information Services Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago
Library of the Health Sciences (MC 763)
1750 West Polk Street
Chicago, IL 60612-7223
Email: raszewr1@uic.edu
Phone: 312-996-2759

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Worried about the air around you? Or the location of hazardous waste? Check out this Spotlight! session: Wednesday, June 24, at 1:00MT, 2:00CT - TOXLINE, TOXMAP, Toxics Release Inventory, Tox Town - presented by Dana Abbey

The National Library of Medicine’s Environmental Health and Toxicology Portal provides access to numerous databases that can help you explore environmental chemicals and risks. This is the second of three classes the NN/LM MCR is hosting to review the databases in NLM’s TOXNET portal. Tune in on Wednesday, June 24th at 1:00MT, 2:00CT for the MLA CE class on TOXLINE, TOXMAP, Toxics Release Inventory, and Tox Town.

This online training is FREE, and requires no registration. All you need is a computer with Internet access and a phone. You’ll sign in as a guest, enter your phone number when prompted and the system will call you! Access it by going to: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr. To receive Medical Library Association Continuing Education credit, you will need to attend the class, participate in the exercises and e-mail Marty Magee: mmagee@unmc.edu. An evaluation form will be sent to you to complete before the MLA CE certificate will be sent to you.

The Spotlight! on National Library of Medicine Resources, targeted for the fourth Wednesday each month will continue on July 22, when John Bramble does the “Capstone” of the Environnmental Health and Toxicology websites. (mm)

The Medical Library Association is busy working for health science librarians by advocating for healthcare reform legislation. MLA is currently working on a policy statement which should be released in approximately one month. Watch for publication in the next MLA Focus, which will also include suggestions of actions librarians can take. MLA’s “Three Principles for Meaningful Healthcare Reform” can be found at http://www.mlanet.org/government/gov_pdf/2009-jan_hlth%20rfrm%20princ.pdf (bbj)

Presentations from the CHLA/ABSC 2009 Conference “The Sky’s the Limit” are now available at http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wikis/chla2009/index.php/Presentations. Presenters at the meeting include David Rothman, Betsy Kelly and Barb Jones. It was a great meeting, and shows again that our Canadian neighbors are doing great work. (bbj)

The archived recording of the June 17th Breezing with the RML session is now available at: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/p45201738/

This month’s topics were:

The Alphabet Soup of STDs: Facts and Resources on HIV/AIDS and STDs
Siobhan Champ-Blackwell, Community Outreach Liaison, covered some basic facts on HIV/AIDs and STDs in the United States and explored 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, shared the results of data collected from libraries across the country.

Worried about the air around you? Or the location of hazardous waste? Check out this Spotlight! session:
Wednesday, June 24, at 1:00MT, 2:00CT - TOXLINE, TOXMAP, Toxics Release Inventory, Tox Town - presented by Dana Abbey

The National Library of Medicine’s Environmental Health and Toxicology Portal provides access to numerous databases that can help you explore environmental chemicals and risks. This is the second of three classes the NN/LM MCR is hosting to review the databases in NLM’s TOXNET portal. Tune in on Wednesday, June 24th at 1:00MT, 2:00CT for the MLA CE class on TOXLINE, TOXMAP, Toxics Release Inventory, and Tox Town.

This online training is FREE, and requires no registration. All you need is a computer with Internet access and a phone. You’ll sign in as a guest, enter your phone number when prompted and the system will call you! Access it by going to: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/mcr. To receive the MLA CE credit, you will need to attend the class, participate in the exercises and e-mail Marty Magee: mmagee@unmc.edu. An evaluation form will be sent to you to complete before the MLA CE certificate will be sent to you.

The Spotlight! on National Library of Medicine Resources, targeted for the fourth Wednesday each month will continue on July 22, when John Bramble does the “Capstone” of the Environnmental Health and Toxicology websites. (mm)