The National Library of Medicine (NLM) wishes to announce that it will cease providing cutter numbers in LocatorPlus for most of the classification numbers assigned to print monographs that the Library catalogs.  Cutter assignment will cease on June 21, 2010, with the exception of material being shelved in the NLM Reference collection or titles cataloged for the NLM History of Medicine Division.

As the library looks to increase efficiencies in its cataloging practices, the time spent cuttering stood out as an inefficient activity. For the past 15 years, NLM has been shelving print monographs by accession number, rather than by call numbers, but has continued to provide fully shelflisted call numbers for the convenience of other libraries using NLM records.  NLM is still committed to providing a classification number that reflects the subject of a book, in recognition that this information can be used widely by others. Cutter numbers, on the other hand, are unique to a particular collection. Libraries that use cutters to arrange their material on the shelf will not have identical collections to NLM, so cutters provided by NLM often need adjustments to arrange material properly on any particular library’s shelves.

Because NLM recognizes this may have an impact on the workflow in some libraries, we hope that the six month notice of this change will provide ample time for these libraries to make needed adjustments.

Diane Boehr

Head of Cataloging

National Library of Medicine

8600 Rockville Pike, Room 1N11

Bethesda, MD 20894

boehrd(at)mail.nlm.nih.gov

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region is happy to announce the recipients of our latest Technology Improvement Awards!  MAR was fortunate to be able to fund 11 of the applicants this round which is more than we have ever funded before.  There were many great applications and the selection process was very competitive.  Congratulations to all the recipients!

The recipients are:

Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY)
Nancy Glassman
Electronic Document Delivery

Crouse Hospital (NY)
Kristine Delaney
Library training center smartboard upgrade

Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center (NY)
Inna Lipnitskaya
Educational computer lab at the health sciences library

Lutheran Medical Center (NY)
Irina Meyman
Say Hello to Kindle

New York Academy of Medicine (NY)
Yixiong Xu
Remote Access to support library resources

Penn State Hershey, George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library (PA)
Cynthia Robinson
Improved access to digital library resources via an increased number of public access computers

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (NY)
Svetlana Oziransky
Technology upgrade for the advancement of integrative medicine

Richmond University Medical Center (NY)
Mary Hicks
Library Technology Upgrade

St. Barnabas Medical Center Health Sciences Library (NJ)
Patricia Reusing
Improved Access to Library Resources: upgraded library technology

St. Francis Hospital  (DE)
Rosemary Figorito
Project Just One Click

Upstate University Health System, Health Sciences Library (NY)
Cristina Pope
Enhance resource fulfillment to hospital libraries and public health organizations through partnership with the IDS project

MAR Technology Improvement Awards provide up to $7500 each for the purchase, installation, and/or upgrading of information technologies that enhance access to health information.

Columbia University’s Health Sciences Library (HSL) was awarded a $1,000 NN/LM MAR Small Projects Award to subsidize the purchase of 250 customized USB flash drives intended to promote library resources and services.  In Fall 2009, 1 GB USB flash drives were distributed to 199 (of 233) incoming medical and dental students in the class of 2013 (College of Physicians and Surgeons and College of Dental Medicine). These students were attending a librarian-led “Accessing the Medical Literature” workshop, part of their “Molecular Mechanisms and Disease” course during which various NCBI resources were discussed.

The flash drives were branded with logos of HSL and NLM’s PubMed and loaded with ten library handout PDFs and three NLM brochure PDFs, along with web browser shortcuts to the library’s homepage and to the online survey. Handouts included on these drives replaced paper copies of brochures that would otherwise be distributed during orientation events.

A short (5 questions) online survey was developed to evaluate the usefulness of the library materials included and to gather information about student use of USB drives. Of the 55 students (28%) who responded to the survey, 56% viewed one or more of the library materials included on the drive, while 87% said they were either very likely or somewhat likely to use this device to transport resources downloaded via the library.

Further analysis of the survey data (which we hope to share at MLA 2010) will provide useful information about: the optimal number of files to include next time, how to best organize/present these files to improve the odds of their being viewed, the preferred USB size, etc. This project gave us the opportunity to connect with students in a way we had not done before and to consider how this new crop of students use/view the information the library produces.

Posted on behalf of Joey Nicholson, Database Trainer, National Training Center and Clearinghouse (NTCC). If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail Joey Nicholson at jnicholson(at)nyam.org.

PubMed® Training in Pittsburgh!

National Library of Medicine’s Training for You Locally!

The National Training Center and Clearinghouse (NTCC), in conjunction with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Middle Atlantic Region (NN/LM MAR) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, is offering one FREE hands-on class at the SIS Building in Pittsburgh, PA!

The following class will be taught by the staff of the NTCC:

PubMed® (7.5 MLA CE Hours)

Friday, February 5, 2010

8:30am to 5:00pm

Anyone who has used PubMed regularly has noticed some of the many recent changes and more extensive changes. This PubMed® class is of particular interest to those who want a review of recent changes to the system, including medical librarians, researchers, medical editors, and anyone who searches for biomedical journal article citations.

This full-day class is designed to teach students how to use PubMed® which includes MEDLINE citations. The class also includes an overview of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) and its importance as a tool to both searchers and indexers.

The training session is FREE and intended for health sciences library staff, public librarians, health professionals, and anyone interested in using these free National Library of Medicine (NLM) databases.

To REGISTER for this class, or to look for other class locations, simply click on this registration form link (http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/register.html).

We hope to see you there.

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For further information about our classes, please go to: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/

For further information about this site location, please contact:

Ellen Detlefsen

Ellen(at)sis.pitt.edu

(412) 624-9444

The deadline is approaching for MAR’s Outreach Evaluation Conference Award. Please see the following posting for details on this funding opportunity.

Deadline for submission is December 11, 2009

Outreach Evaluation Conference Award – Currently Available
The purpose of the Outreach and Evaluation Conference Award is to allow full and affiliate members to host a conference to highlight outreach projects and programs conducted in the Middle Atlantic Region (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) and the results of these outreach activities. Deadline for applications is December 11, 2009.

The training in the use of the Medications List software proved to enhance the library’s health literacy programming.  The trainings, which took place at the library’s Central/headquarters, five adult learning centers (Astoria, Central, Peninsula, Rochdale, Long Island City) and the Queens Village Community Library (which has a large Senior Citizen population and where the Community Library Manager coordinates outreach to senior citizen centers throughout Queens), was held during the month’s of September 2008 through February 2009.

Queens Borough Public Library’s Adult Learning Staff (teachers) and Branch Managers that have a large senior citizen population have incorporated  the project “My Medication List” into their workshops on health literacy.  Ensuring that individuals understand the importance of listing the medications prescribed to them and their family members.  Software that makes it easy to access a database of information, and a combined workshop that includes a medical librarian is of immeasurable value to a community.

As the debate over healthcare reform continues to take place, individuals need to have credible information to make informed decisions when speaking with medical professionals.  It is not always easy and can be intimidating for immigrants/non-English Speakers and senior citizens.  There are language barriers, time constraints (especially when the doctor is the local health clinic or hospital emergency room).  The ability to provide comprehensive information and have a detailed discussion can be one of the keys to reducing health costs.  When understanding why a medication is given for a particular illness and what other medications may contraindicate another, can cut down on the costs to a hospital and empowers individuals to take greater control over their own health and ensure the health of their family members.

Queens Library- Jamaica, NY

The Library of the Health Sciences at Princeton HealthCare System received a Small Project Award from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region in October 2008 for the purpose of purchasing “Health Information for Patients and Families” posters and placing them in strategic areas of our service area.

Our Library Committee felt that the library had much to offer and that we should reach out more to the community, the patients and their families and make them more aware of our services.  We decided that we would hang the posters in both English and Spanish in strategic areas of all our hospital units, our outpatient clinics and patient/family waiting rooms.  We hoped that we would give out patients and their families the assistance they might need in finding relevant information either through library resources or by sending them to MEDLINE Plus as well as other legitimate health sources.  The librarian would be available for mediated searches and document delivery and library resources would be at their disposal.  The signs also direct people to our library website where we have links to MEDLINE Plus as well as other patient education sites.  We also have a MEDLINE Plus slide presentation on the library resources page as well as a tutorial from NLM on evaluating health information sites.

We produced the posters with the help of our outside printer and had the posters translated into Spanish since most of our clinic attendees are Spanish speaking and in keeping with all other posted signs in our institution,  we had them framed.

Gradually, we have seen an increase of requests from patients and their families and we have been able to assist them.  We can only measure direct requests or visits.  There is no way to note how many times the web site has been used for our resources because of the posters.  The project is ongoing and we feel that, with the funds from the grant, we have done a great service to our patients and their families by making sure they know where to come for the information they need.

Louise Yorke- Princeton HealthCare System- Princeton, NJ

The NLM Associate Fellowship Program includes an optional second year at a library or information center in an academic health sciences center, hospital, or other health-related organization. The additional year provides an opportunity to develop skills and gain experience in working with administrators, librarians, health professionals, system developers, and educators to design and implement information services that are integrated with clinical and/or educational programs and contribute directly to accomplishing the parent institution’s mission. NLM requests proposals for 2^nd year Associate Fellow host institutions.

NEW THIS YEAR: The RFP this year asks that potential host institutions focus their offer on 1-2 specific areas of expertise:

•       Clinical informatics

•       Outreach to underserved or previously unreached populations

•       Management and curation of e-only health sciences collections

•       Digitization

•       E-science

•       Specialized library experience (veterinary, public health, science, etc.)

New proposals are required for any potential second year host to conform with the areas of expertise and revised scoring format.

NLM invites proposals from potential host institutions for the 2nd year of the NLM Associate Fellowship program.  The NLM Associate Fellowship Program includes an optional 2nd year at a library or information center in an academic health sciences center, hospital, or other health-related organization.  The additional year provides an opportunity to develop skills and gain experience in working with teams that include administrators, librarians, health professionals, system developers, and educators.  The program year will run from Sept. 1, 2010-August 31, 2011.

The Request for Proposals (RFP) is posted on the Associate Fellowship Program web site (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/training/associate/2yrinfo.html). The web site includes a description of the program and a link to the Request for Proposals, which specifies the information to be included in the proposal and the evaluation criteria. The deadline for receipt of proposals is February 5, 2010.

Reminder:  Institutions currently hosting a 2nd year Fellow are not eligible to host a 2nd year Fellow in 2010-2011. A one-year waiting period between Fellows is now required.

Thank you for your continued support of the NLM Associate Fellowship Program.  Questions can be directed to Kathel Dunn, the Associate Program coordinator, at dunnk(at)mail.nih.gov or at 301-435-4083.

Head, Reference and Web Services Section, National Library of Medicine ($102,721-133,543)

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 a manager with experience managing library web and information services providing health information to a variety of clients to serve as the Head of the Reference and Web Services Section.

The Head of Reference and Web Services directs a staff of 20, as well as contract staff, responsible for 1) Managing and implementing improvements for MedlinePlus.gov, a national health information resource for the public, patients, families and professionals; 2) Providing centralized reference, customer service, and referrals for all of NLM’s products; 3) Supporting and improving NLM websites and related technologies; 4) Providing and managing electronic and print reading room collections; and 5) Carrying out these programs in coordination with other government agencies, national organizations, libraries, and international organizations.

Join the federal government and receive great benefits while contributing to NLM’s mission, to provide biomedical information to users 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-2010-0301.  If you currently or have previously worked for the government, you can apply to announcement number HHS/NIH-2010-0303.   Salary range is $102,721-$133,543 USD per year and you must be a US citizen to apply.  Posting closes at midnight, Eastern Standard Time, Wednesday, December 2, 2009.

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

Opportunity for public comment on draft Healthy People 2020 objectives

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services invites you to comment on the DRAFT set of objectives for Healthy People 2020. For three decades, Healthy People has provided a set of national 10-year health promotion and disease prevention objectives aimed at improving the health of all Americans.

Visit www.healthypeople.gov/hp2020 to

·        View proposed draft objectives for Healthy People 2020

·        Comment on the proposed objectives

·        Comment on the topic areas

·        Suggest additional objectives

·        Suggest topic areas you feel are missing from the draft set

Your comments will help ensure issues important to you are included in Healthy People. Establishing objectives and providing benchmarks to track progress motivates, guides, and focuses action.  Be part of the change. Comments will be accepted through December 31, 2009.

Visit www.healthypeople.gov/hp2020 today. Your feedback will help define the vision and strategy for building a healthier Nation.