This piece is meant to provide a short introduction into some of the privacy features on social networking websites that newcomers might be unaware of. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list. Please send any feedback to: MihlraL@mail.amc.edu.

You’ve likely heard about some of the more popular social networking websites:

• Facebook (http://www.facebook.com)
• Flickr (http://www.flickr.com)
• FriendFeed (http://friendfeed.com)
• MySpace (http://www.myspace.com)
• Plurk (http://www.plurk.com)
• Twitter (http://www.twitter.com)

Perhaps you are curious to see what they are all about and experiment with the sites, but are uncomfortable with the idea of strangers seeing your personal business.

Though not universal knowledge, all of these sites have privacy settings that let users restrict the visibility of their postings. Most don’t require you to use your full name; many let you use any name (or non-name) that you want. The bigger social networking sites typically let users specify which segments of their profile (such as research interests) they want the public to see, while setting others (such as photos or videos) to private.

Many also let you set privacy settings at a very granular level. For example, each photo uploaded to Flickr, a photo and video-sharing website, can be set to be viewed by only you, your friends/family (as defined by you), or anyone. So if a librarian wants to post photos of their library’s recent renovation to their web site to show the world, but keep personal photos private, they can (see image below):

Facebook’s privacy settings are a bit more complicated than Flickr’s, mostly because the site contains more types of information than Flickr. Each profile contains certain default segments, such as contact information, personal information, status update, etc. Users can also add external applications to their Facebook page, such as games or quizzes. Both Facebook-created and external applications’ privacy settings can be set via Facebook.

The first step is setting a blanket privacy setting for an entire profile. Typical settings (as permitted by Facebook) include making your entire profile visible to everyone, only those in your network (a city or college affiliation selected by a user), or just friends. Beyond that, each profile segment’s privacy setting can be customized (see image below). Facebook also permits users to set up groups. One use for this might be to set up two separate groups, friends and colleagues. If someone wants to prevent colleagues from seeing their photos or status updates, for example, they can do that by typing the group’s name by the appropriate privacy setting.

Settings as viewed in Facebook under Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Profile:

Twitter, a micro-blogging web site, works a little differently. The user can either make their updates (“tweets”) public or private. If the tweets are set to private, the person must individually approve each user (“follower” in Twitter) who wants to view their page. Otherwise, this is what the person sees:

From a beginner’s perspective, this allows them to experiment and use Twitter without worrying about anyone seeing what they write. They can “follow” as many other users as they’d like without worrying about their posts being seen. However, one cannot comment on another user’s postings, and vice versa, if they are not mutually following each other on Twitter. This could limit social interactions on the site. Unlike some of the other social networking sites, Twitter’s restrictions are all or nothing – either someone can freely follow you, or they cannot without approval.

Another privacy issue related to social networking sites is that the contents of many of these sites are now picked up by search engines. If anything is posted in your real name, this could be picked up by a search engine and publicly available on the Web.  For example, Twitter tells its users that its pages rank high in Google searches.

However, by utilizing common sense and some of the privacy features listed here, individuals can experiment with social networking websites and interact with friends and colleagues, while still keeping private information private.

Leigh Mihlrad
Systems & Technology Librarian
Albany Medical College
Albany, NY

HHS” Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is seeking comments on the preliminary definition of “Meaningful Use” of electronic health records as presented to the HIT Policy Committee on June 16. Comments on the draft description of “Meaningful Use” are due by Friday, June 26, 5 p.m., EDT, and should be no more than 2,000 words in length. Select to access instructions for submitting comments.

On May 27, 2009, the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce (“Partners”) released a description of a Funding Opportunity in FY 2009 to promote quality improvement in public health. Since the release of this notice, we have received many requests for information and clarification. These questions have underscored the need for formal clarification of the solicitation and the related application process. In order to be consistent in our responses and fair to all potential applicants, we have decided to retract the current notice and to formally reissue it as soon as possible as a formal solicitation in www.FedBizOpps.gov.

As a consequence of our decision, the due date for proposals in response to this solicitation has been postponed and is NOT Friday, June 19.

In early July, the National Library of Medicine, on behalf of the Partners, expects to post a Statement of Work and a Request for Proposals on www.FedBizOpps.gov that will specifically describe the submission instructions and criteria for selection. The new due date for submission of proposals will be no earlier than mid-July.

As soon as the solicitation becomes available, it will be posted via the NN/LM Regional listservs and announced on the Partners website (www.PHPartners.org).

We regret any inconvenience this delay might have caused you or your organizations.

Questions may be emailed to Lisa Lang, at nichsr@nlm.nih.gov.

Queens Library (NY) has been named 2009 Library of the Year by Library Journal and Gale. The cover story of LJ“s June 15 issue, headlined “The Politics of Excellence,” announces this award.

Read the full press release and the LJ cover story here:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6665057.html?rssid=191

We congratulate MAR Resource Library member Queens Library!

A hot fun day was had by all at the Healthy Kids Day at the State Fair on July 22^nd in Delaware. The Delaware Academy of Medicine”s Consumer Health Services exhibit table was well placed at the front of the kid”s tent and was visited by more than 1000 kids and adults. The kids attended from all over Delaware with Day Camps, Head Start programs and families. We provided pencil cases, pencils, bookmarks and magnets with our new logo, as well as toothbrushes to all who visited the table. There were activities for the kids, including exercises led by Miss Delaware 2007, demonstrations of the Delaware Champion Cup Stackers and visits by the Titans. We even had a visit by Grover! Thanks for all your support in making this a successful event.

Linda Leonard- Delaware Academy of Medicine.  Newark, De.

The Lankenau Hospital Medical Library”s mission is to support the clinical research and educational requirements of the Lankenau Hospital medical staff, nursing, ancillary staff, and other personnel through the maintenance of a comprehensive and current  collection of educational materials.  The primary objective is to teach medical staff and hospital personnel to access medical and health information so that they are better able to perform their duties and responsibilities.  The presentation primarily introduces and demonstrates how to research information on the library”s web site.  We increase awareness and focus on the resource sites available on NLM/PubMed, such as, LinkOut, MedLine Plus (Consumer Health), Clinical Trials and other PubMed Services.

The presentation is given by the Lankenau Hospital Medical Library Director, Mazen Hassan, M.D., as well as Library Staff, Kary Heller, BA, MLS and Maria Panoc, MT, MBA.  At the presentation, the participants are shown how to access the system intranet and log onto the Medical Library Web Site. The audience is introduced to all the respective services available to our patrons.  The emphasis is on performing a literature search utilizing NLM/PubMed and LinkOut.  The presenters are quite interactive with the audience and it is a dynamic exchange of questions and answers.

At the end of the presentation, each participant receives an evaluation form.  They evaluate both the presentation and presenters on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) on whether or not the objectives were achieved.  The presentations have been quite successful with most objectives having a score of 5.  The Library has experienced an increase in the utilization of our services by the nursing staff.  The audience realized the breath and depth of information on our site and, in turn, the library web site has been linked to the nursing home web page.

Maria Panoc- The Lankenau Hosptial Medical Library.  Wynnewood, PA

Posted on behalf of National Training Center and Clearinghouse:

National Library of Medicine”s Training for You Locally!

PubMed® Training in Princeton, NJ!

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 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is offering two FREE hands-on PubMed classes at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, NJ!

The following two classes will be taught by the staff of the NTCC:

PubMed® (7.5 MLA CE Hours)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

8:30am to 5:00pm

PubMed® (7.5 MLA CE Hours)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

8:30am to 5:00pm

Anyone who has used PubMed regularly has noticed some of the many 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.

All the training sessions are 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 any or all of these classes, 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.

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

For further information about the site location, please contact:

MaryBeth Kren

mkren(at)rwjf.org

(609) 627-5895

The National Library of Medicine has forwarded us information about a funding opportunity being offered by the National Information Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Technology (NICHSR), which wants to identify and pursue collaborations that advance the mission of Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce (http://phpartners.org/).  A factsheet about Partners can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nno/partners.html

Information about this opportunity is below.  If you are interested, please submit a brief project proposal (approximately 2 -3 pages) to NLM by JUNE 19, 2009.  Questions may be directed to nichsr@nlm.nih.gov.

*Project ideas are to be emailed to Lisa Lang at langl@nlm.nih.gov *

Additional contact information:

Lisa A. Lang, MPP

Assistant Director for Health Services Research Information
Head, National Information Center on Health Services Research & Health Care Technology (NICHSR)
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Mail Stop Code 3833
Bethesda, MD 20894
Phone: 301/435-2242
Fax: 301/402-3193
Email: langl@nlm.nih.gov
Web site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/

Posters from the poster sessions at the Medical Library Association conference held in Hawaii are available for viewing online!

Trapeze Media Solutions has partnered with MLA to digitize the posters and put them online. The posters are even searchable!

If you’d like to see what posters librarians in our region have done, please take a look at the list below:

New Jersey

Informatics Infusion to Enhance Day-to-day Reference Work
Nancy Calabretta, Reference Librarian, Camden Campus Library, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Camden; Janette Pierce, Public Services Librarian, Health Sciences Library at Stratford, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Stratford; Marie K. Saimbert, Information and Education Librarian, George F. Smith Library, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Newark; Yingting Zhang, Information and Education Librarian, Robert Wood Johnson Library, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Brunswick

“COOL” Libraries Use of Web 2.0 Tools
Elaine G. Powers, Director, Library Services, VCOM Library, Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine-Blacksburg; Janice Skica, Campus Library Director; Janette Pierce, Cataloging Librarian; Library, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Stratford; Lisa Travis, Medical Librarian, Lon and Elizabeth Parr Reed Medical and Allied Health Library, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN

Market Your Medical Library to Support Information Systems/Project Lifecycles toward Improved Patient Safety

Janette Pierce, Public Services Librarian, Health Sciences Library at Stratford, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Stratford; Marie K. Saimbert, Information and Education Librarian, George F. Smith Library, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Newark; Yingting Zhang, Information and Education Librarian, Robert Wood Johnson Library, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Brunswick; Peter Cole, Library Director, Aquinas Medical Library, St. Michael’s Medical Center, Newark, NJ; Erica S. Moncrief, AHIP, Director, Library Services, Health Science Library, Capital Health System at Mercer, Trenton, NJ; Keydi Boss, AHIP, Medical Librarian, Medical Staff Library and School of Nursing Library, Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, NJ

New York

Creating a Network of Digital Displays
Michael J. Purcell, Web Librarian; Alena Ptak-Danchak, Web Librarian; Health Sciences Library, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY

Sharing for Distance Learning from the D. Samuel Gottesman Library
Nancy R. Glassman, AHIP, Systems Librarian; Racheline G. Habousha, Head, Public Access Services; Aurelia Minuti, Head, Reference and Educational Services; Rachel Schwartz, Reference Librarian; Karen Sorensen, Reference Librarian; D. Samuel Gottesman Library, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

iNeeds: A Needs and Assets Assessment of the Health Information Literacy of Master’s of Public Health Students
Joey Nicholson, Database Trainer/Online Analyst, National Training Center and Clearinghouse, New York Academy of Medicine-New York

SCISSORS: The Cutting Edge of Library Services
Diana Delgado, AHIP, Acting Associate Director, Public Services, and Head, Information Access Services; Judy C. Stribling, Special Assistant to the Library Director; Weill Cornell Medical Library, Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY

Disaster Information Specialist: An Emerging Subject Specialty for Informationists?
Cynthia B. Love, Technical Information Specialist, Disaster Information Management Research Center, Specialized Information Services Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD; Colleen Cuddy, AHIP, Deputy Director, Ehrman Medical Library, New York University School of Medicine-New York; Tahirih Fusscas, Reference Librarian, E. R. Stitt Library, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD; Alicia A. Livinski, Biomedical Librarian, NIH Library, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; Patricia Reynolds, Director, Bishopric Medical Library, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, FL; Brittany Rice, Director, Medical Library, Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, MD; Alison E. Rollins, Reference and Instructional Librarian; Linda M. Spitzer, Head, Reference and Interlibrary Loan; James A. Zimble Learning Resource Center, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

Comparison of Librarian and Advanced Practice Nurse Ratings of Depression Websites Using an Adapted Health Information Website Evaluation Tool
Konstantina Matsoukas, Head, Reference, and Education Coordinator, Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library; Sookyung Hyun, Associate Research Scientist; Myra P. Joyce, Programmer, School of Nursing; John T. Oliver, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library; Sapana R. Patel, Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons; Leanne M. Currie, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing; Columbia University, New York, NY

Disaster Preparedness Informationist: A Team Approach
Colleen Cuddy, AHIP, Deputy Director; Karen Brewer, AHIP, FMLA, Director; NYU Health Sciences Libraries; Miguel Figueroa, Network Services Coordinator, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region; Emily Molanphy, Web Services Librarian; Stuart Spore, Associate Director, Library Systems; Richard McGowan, Research Librarian; Carol Swain, Disaster Informationist Intern; NYU Health Sciences Libraries; New York University Langone Medical Center-New York

Symbolizing the Library’s Value: Designing a Logo for an Academic Medical Library
Emily Molanphy, Web Services Librarian; Colleen Cuddy, AHIP, Deputy Director; NYU Health Sciences Libraries, New York University-New York

What Is “Quality?”: A Systematic Review of Criteria from Existing Resource-evaluation Instruments
John T. Oliver, Reference and Instruction Librarian; Konstantina Matsoukas, Head, Reference, and Education Coordinator; Health Sciences Library; Sookyung Hyun, Associate Research Scientist; Myra P. Joyce, Database Manager, School of Nursing; Sapana R. Patel, Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry; Olivia Velez, Programmer/Analyst; Po-Yin Yen, Student; Leanne M. Currie, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY

Another On-ramp to the Digital Information Highway: Implementing WiFi in an Academic Medical Center Hospital Library
Kaura Gale, Medical Librarian, Seymour J. Phillips Health Sciences Library, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY

Pennsylvania

Future Impact: Conversion to a Near-total Electronic Library
Virginia A. Lingle, AHIP, Librarian, Collection Access and Development; Cynthia K. Robinson, AHIP, Director; Seamus Carmichael, Library Staff; Leona Charles, Library Staff; Sharon Daugherty, Library Staff; Elaine Julian, Library Staff; Patricia Kline, Library Staff; Robin Long,  Library Staff; Virginia Miller, Library Staff; Mae Risser, Library Staff; Harrell Library – H127,  Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA

Red, Yellow, Green: A Simple System for Collaborative Weeding of a Reference Collection
Theresa S. Arndt, Associate Director, Research and Instructional Services; Maureen O. Dermott, Assistant Director, Access Services; Amelia Brunskill, Liaison Librarian, Sciences; Waidner-Spahr Library, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

An Innovative Clinical Information Portal
Barbara A. Epstein, AHIP, Director; Nancy H. Tannery, Associate Director, User Services; Charles B. Wessel, Head, Hospital Services; Frances Yarger, Assistant Director, Computer Services; John LaDue, Knowledge Integration Librarian; Health Sciences Library System, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Solo Librarian and Outreach to Hospital Staff Using Web 2.0 Technologies
Rebecca Landau, Librarian, Health Sciences Library, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA

To IRB or Not to IRB: Librarian Perceptions and the Realities of Involvement with Institutional Review Boards
Carlos I. Rodriguez, Medical School Liaison, Biomedical Library, University of Pennsylvania- Philadelphia

Outreach to an Undergraduate Health Studies Program
Theresa S. Arndt, Associate Director, Research and Instructional Services, Waidner-Spahr Library, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

The Validity and Utility of a Tool for Evaluating Web Pages Presenting Health Content
Elizabeth La Rue, AHIP, Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator, Nursing Informatics; Susan Sereika, Associate Professor; School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Do We Really Need an Electronic Resources Management System? Evaluating a Subscription Agent’s Resource Management Tool
C. Steven Douglas, Acquisitions Librarian, Collections Management; Robin Klein, Digital Resources Librarian, Collections Management; Health Sciences and Human Services Library, University of Maryland-Baltimore; Eric Rector, Head, Electronic Resources, Medical Library, Commonwealth Medical College, Scranton, PA

Primary Care Physicians’ Consumer Health Information-seeking Behaviors: A Model for Working with Elderly Depressed Patients and Their Caregivers
Mary Jo Dorsey, AHIP, Faculty Librarian, Health Sciences Library System; Ellen G. Detlefsen, Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Our Next Generation of Library Professionals: A Medical Library Internship Program for Library and Information Science Graduate Students
Robert T. Neumeyer, Coordinator, The Brady Library of the Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Mercy Health System, Pittsburgh, PA

Robert Mackes, AHIP, of the Delaware Academy of Medicine was awarded the “Thomson Reuters/Frank Bradway Rogers Information Advancement Award” this year at the Medical Library Association Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Rogers Award is presented annually in recognition of outstanding contributions for the application of technology to the delivery of health science information, to the science of information, or to the facilitation of the delivery of health science information.

Congratulations to Robb on a job well done!