The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announced today the completion of the first phase of an online finding aid/scanning project to provide information about and access to NLM’s 2,000+ linear foot archival collection of the FDA Notice of Judgment files.  This project provides for managing scans of and extracting metadata from some 70,000 Notices of Judgments in court cases about violations of the Pure Food and Drug acts; this release provides access to some 6,800 scanned notices related to drugs and devices, with the balance to follow.  In addition to providing information about the cases, the database serves as a locator for the archival materials upon which the cases were made, which provide extensive information about the commerce of health care in the first half of the twentieth century. The project may be found at http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/fdanj. [da]

Pew published a report on U.S. use of mobile devices, available at:  http://tinyurl.com/cm6s99.  Interesting quotes from the report summary:

“Some 39% of Americans have positive and improving attitudes about their mobile communication devices, which in turn draws them further into engagement with digital resources - on both wireless and wireline platforms.”

“Mobile connectivity is now a powerful differentiator among technology users. Those who plug into the information and communications world while on-the-go are notably more active in many facets of digital life than those who use wires to jack into the internet and the 14% of Americans who are off the grid entirely.”

Worth a look! [SD]

The United States Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a new site today dedicated to healthcare reform. www.healthreform.gov provides a platform to share documents, thoughts and ideas. [da]

From Fox Business News: A.D.A.M., Inc. (Nasdaq: ADAM) today announced it has extended its relationship with the National Library of Medicine. As part of the agreement, NLM will use A.D.A.M.’s Multimedia Encyclopedia to enhance the health content on its MedlinePlus web site, an award-winning, free resource that brings together authoritative health information from the NLM, the National Institutes of Health, and other public agencies, and respected private health-related organizations. http://tinyurl.com/cogy36 Copyright Business Wire 2009 [scb]

You might be interested in the upcoming College of DuPage offering, April 16 - Soaring to Excellence: an Ounce of Prevention:Health Reference Basics. It will be held on Apr. 16, from 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. MT, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CT. See: http://www.dupagepress.com/library-learning-network/soaring-to-excellence-2009/ounce-of-prevention/

Free in Colorado through the Biographical Center for Research: http://www.bcr.org/training/partners/teleconferences/index.html

Free in Missouri, from Missouri State Government at: http://www.sos.mo.gov/library/development/workshop/nolimitslearning/default.asp

Free in Nebraska, see Nebraska Library Commission at: http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/ and search on the Training Calendar by using DuPage.

Free in Utah, see University of Utah, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library: http://library.med.utah.edu/

Managing Emergency Preparedness: Academic Health Centers Organize and Innovate provides academic health center leaders and policymakers at the local, state, and national levels with a short-hand guide on managing emergency response activities within academic health centers. Academic health centers are leaders in emergency preparedness and disaster response from vigilance in internal security to protection of the research enterprise to collaboration with the surrounding community. This brief guide by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) highlights ways in which academic health centers are developing and managing operations and systems to help ensure that institutions and communities can respond to an array of emergencies and natural disasters. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reports/AAHC_Emergency_Prep_08.pdf [posted on DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB] scb

A new study detailing the use of electronic health records was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 25. The study showed a very low level of adoption of EHR’s in U.S. hospitals. You can read the paper here, and listen to an NPR interview with the paper’s author here. [SD]

Looking for inspiration in marketing your library? The National Medical Librarians Month Creative Promotions Award winners were announced in the March, 2009 issue of MLA News. Read about the “Come Borrow Our Power Tools” campaign, two “Dig Deep” promotions and view the video “The Counter-Entropy Squad” on YouTube.

Or, if you want to see what’s happening in Wyoming, go to http://www.4029tv.com/automotive/18991889/detail.html to see what the Wyoming librarians are doing.

Use these and any other ideas you find to design the marketing and promotion materials for your library. Then prepare to enter them in the MCMLA Library Marketing and Promotion Contest! (bbj)

http://www.healthfinder.gov/tutorial/default.asp#librarian
Librarians looking for a credible and easy-to-use health promotion and wellness online resource for their customers should visit Healthfinder.gov. This is a National Health Information Center website full of personalized health information and tools presented in an easy-to-read format with simple navigation. The site has been recognized as a key consumer resource for finding the best government and nonprofit health information on the internet. NHIC has created a tutorial specifically for librarians [American Libraries Direct 3/25/2009] scb

The National Library of Medicine and MedlinePlus have partnered with DSHI Systems to bring FreeMD (www.freemd.com), a symptom checker, to health consumers. A virtual doctor conducts and interview, evaluates symptoms and offers expert advice from the convenience of your computer. The site can analyze over 3,000 symptoms and injuries, providing information on possible symptom causes and determining when and where to seek care. DSHI is a physician-led medical technology company, and the evidence-based content on FreeMD.com is written and maintained by physicians. It is independently funded by virtual and real life emergency room physician, Dr. Stephen Schueler, and is advertising-free.

MedlinePlus links to 150 FreeMD entries, and/or you can link directly to the FreeMD site. [da]