The U.S. Fire Administration, in partnership with the DHS Office of Health Affairs and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, announces the availability of a new online educational program for physician medical directors of local fire departments and agencies involved in emergency medical services (EMS) response.  This web-based program for current and prospective EMS medical directors provides information in a conveniently accessible format to support key roles in the provision of EMS to communities.

Press Release:  http://www.usfa.fema.gov/media/press/2012releases/080212.shtm

Website:  http://www.iafc.org/emsMedicalDirectors

Monday, September 3 is Labor Day.  This federal holiday recognizes the contributions of America’s 155 million workers.

Visit USA.gov‘s Labor Day page to learn about the history of the holiday, find job information, and get recreational resources to help you celebrate the unofficial end of summer.

Happy Labor Day!

New Genetics Education Resource:  http://geneed.nlm.nih.gov

The National Library of Medicine is pleased to announce the release of a new educational resource, GeneEd.  Developed in collaboration with the National Human Genome Institute (NHGRI), teachers and experts in genetics and genetic counseling, GeneEd is a safe and useful resource for students and teachers in grades 9 – 12 to learn genetics.  GeneEd allows students and teachers to explore topics such as Cell Biology, DNA, Genes, Chromosomes, Heredity/Inheritance Patterns, Epigenetics/Inheritance and the Environment, Genetic Conditions, Evolution, Biostatistics, Biotechnology, DNA Forensics, and Top Issues in Genetics.

Teachers can use the site to introduce topics, supplement existing materials, and provide as a reliable source to students conducting research. The site links to categories such as research articles, animation, games, videos, interactive tutorials, and labs and experiments.  3D images, illustrations and text from NHRGI help to enrich the user experience by providing vivid imagery to reinforce genetic concepts.  Text varies from easy-to-read to advanced reading levels, which makes this a versatile tool both in and out of the classroom.  Specialty pages including Teacher Resources and Labs and Experiments highlight those tools that teachers may find particularly helpful.  Other specialty pages such as Careers in Genetics and Highlights allow students to see what is new and noteworthy in the field of Genetics along with links to different careers related to the science of Genetics.

To stay up to date with all NLM’s K-12 resources subscribe to the K12NLMRESOURCES listserv, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

In June NLM began a pilot project to reduce stack retrieval hours in NLM’s Main Reading Room.   At that time we changed our retrieval schedule from an all-day service to a split schedule offering two periods of retrieval:

• 10:00 am to 12:30 pm (last retrieval requests accepted at noon) and;
• 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm (last retrieval requests accepted at 4:00 pm)

We also reduced the staffing at the Circulation Desk in the middle of the day.  Our pilot ran on Mondays and Fridays throughout the summer months.  Staff held regular informal discussions with Reading Room patrons to ensure that the changes had minimal negative effect on them.  Opening and closing hours, access to online resources, photocopy, printing and registration assistance and Reference Desk hours – all remained unchanged.  These changes only effect the Main Reading Room, not NLM’s History of Medicine Reading Room.

I’m pleased to report that our new schedule had not had an adverse impact on patrons and it has allowed our staff to balance reduced demand for stack retrieval with staffing levels.  Effective September 4, 2012, we will permanently extend the new schedule to all weekdays.

A summary of the changes is found at:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/bookretrieval.html.  This information is also linked from our visitors’ pages and from our OPAC, LocatorPlus:  http://www.locatorplus.gov.  Please keep these changes in mind when you refer any of your patrons to NLM.  We enthusiastically welcome their visit – and we want to ensure their time here is productive.

Deirdre Clarkin

Head, Collection Access Section

National Library of Medicine

8600 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, MD  20894

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are partnering to increase the awareness and access to sex and gender differences research resources available from NIH and their 27 Institutes and Centers through the Women’s Health Resources Portal (http://whr.nlm.nih.gov) through a funding opportunity.

The purpose of the Women’s Health Resources Dissemination Project is to design programs for creating and improving access to and use of sex and gender differences information for university and college students, faculty, librarians and health professionals.  Emphasis is on providing information or access to health and medical information that is relevant and usable by the intended audience, and increasing the awareness and utilization of high-quality, professional-level online medical and public health information resource on sex and gender difference basic science, sex-specific studies, disparities, and inclusion research, including the NLM Women’s Health Resources Portal (http://whr.nlm.nih.gov) that serves as an access point to all NIH sex and gender differences resources.

The purpose is also to promote new and creative collaborations between university/college and their library, specifically medical and Health libraries, to students and faculty to increase the knowledge and awareness of sex and gender differences in research design and reporting.  University and colleges libraries may also increase information access to existing partnerships with outside organizations that are primarily focused on health and medical research.

All proposals must be received by September 10, 2012 at 12:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time).  To find more information about this funding opportunity, see:

1)       NIHLM2012431A-Partial Small Business Set-Aside
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=4847d32387bcf31626b106b23617b6e8&tab=core&_cview=0
2)       NIHLM2012431B-Full and Open
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=ade51c642d5d33f4ec18202f248a9f23&tab=core&_cview=0

Janice E. Kelly
Chief, Outreach and Special Populations Branch
National Library of Medicine
Specialized Information Services
6707 Democracy Blvd
Two Democracy Plaza, Suite 510
Bethesda, MD 20892-5467
Phone: 301-443-5886
http://www.nlm.nih.gov

The National Library of Medicine Specialized Information Services is interested to know if your library has worked with organizations (schools of public health, state or local government, CBOs, etc.) that conduct outreach, education or training to people over 50 who are HIV positive or do HIV prevention for those over 50?  The organizations can work directly with the over 50 groups or provide training to those who serve this group.  We are looking to contact these groups and solicit any materials that they have created as well as querying them on what resources they would need.  If you know of such groups can you pleased provide their contact information to:

Andrew Plumer

Outreach Librarian

Specialized Information Services

National Library of Medicine

Email: plumera@mail.nih.gov

Phone: 301-451-4451

This week MAR announced the inaugural issue of our quarterly newsletter–The MAReport.

Our goal is…

• to spotlight various aspects of our services and NLM resources
• to highlight a Network member
• to announce classes and training for the next quarter, and
• to touch on any number of possible topics in future issues

Make sure to sign-up to receive future issues using the Subscribe feature. Also, please share the newsletter with colleagues and friends:  http://nnlm.gov/mar/newsletter/.

I Love My Librarian Award
http://atyourlibrary.org/ilovemylibrarian

Nominations for the 2012 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times “I Love My Librarian Awards” are open through September 12.  Ten librarians each will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York.  In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library.

Recognize the accomplishments of your exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarian.

• Nominate your college, community college or university librarian: http://atyourlibrary.org/ilovemylibrarian/nominate-your-college-community-college-or-university-librarian
• Nominate your public librarian: http://atyourlibrary.org/ilovemylibrarian/nominate-your-public-librarian
• Nominate your school librarian: http://atyourlibrary.org/ilovemylibrarian/nominate-your-school-librarian

Please note:  You’ll need to submit the entire application in one session.  To make the process easier, we’ve provided a list of the questions so you can prepare your answers in advance.

• Questions for College/Community College/University Librarian: http://atyourlibrary.org/sites/default/files/lovemylibrarian/ILML-questionsfor-college-community-college-university-librarian.doc.
• Questions for Public Librarian: http://atyourlibrary.org/sites/default/files/lovemylibrarian/ILML-questionsfor-public-librarian.doc
• Questions for School Librarian: http://atyourlibrary.org/sites/default/files/lovemylibrarian/ILML-questionsfor-school-librarian.doc

What a birthday!  Check out this podcast.

MLA eLearning:  Free Web-based Disaster Information Course

Register now for the 2-day web-based disaster information course, “Health and Disasters: Understanding the International Context.”  The course is scheduled for September 6 – 7, 2012, 2 – 3:30 pm (ET), each day.  Participants must log in each day and complete the assigned homework.  Participants can earn 4 MLA CE contact hours that can be applied to the Advanced Level of the MLA Disaster Information Specialization.

http://www.mlanet.org/education/dis/international_course.html