Samaritan Medical Center Circuit Librarian Betsy Meldrim shows Lewis County General Hospital Staff Development Director Kathy Millard how to find nursing articles in PubMed using the new notebook computer and wireless Internet router provided by a technology award from the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

Michael K. Chartrand - Hunter-Rice Health Sciences Library, Watertown, NY

In October 2007, NYHQ Health Education Library applied for a NNLM Middle Atlantic Region Microaward Grant. The proposal postulated that distribution of preprinted computer mouse pads with the Health Education Library Intranet address and other pertinent information about the Library, such as library hours and phone numbers, combined with a presentation about library resources, would increase awareness of library resources and help our patrons feel more welcome to visit the library for help digitally, in person, or by phone.

The NNLM Middle Atlantic Region awarded us a grant of $500 and the mouse pads were ordered. The mouse pads were distributed over the course of several months at many meetings and presentations. Each presentation was reinforced with distribution of the mouse pads. These presentations were made to administration, on the floors, to nursing education, at off-site ambulatory clinics, the E.R., and to the Voluntary Attending Staff and our residents.

The mouse pads were enthusiastically received. In particular, where placed on the medical and surgical floors computers, nurses and residents became immediately more inclined to call the Library with questions, and we have noticed the increase in volume both in calls and visits from nurses and Attendings. We consulted the I.S. department where we learned that there was an increase in the number of hits to the Library intranet page. TheNYHQ Health Education Library is grateful to the NNLM Middle Atlantic Region for their support.

Julia Stuart- New York Hospital Queens, Flushing, NY

The 18th Annual Health and Fitness Fair, sponsored by NYS Senator Jim Alesi, again drew over 3,000 attendees from the greater Rochester metropolitan area.  One hundred and sixty-two exhibitors participated in the largest health fair of its kind in the area.

During the time period set aside for professional interchange, about a half dozen professional health care providers stopped by the booth to get more information.  These included nurse educators, physical therapists and chiropractors.  Many members of the public, who were unaware that accurate and reliable health information could be found on the Internet, were surprised that there was no charge for this service.

We were very pleased with the interest that the booth generated and became even more aware of the need for outreach activities to inform the public of the services that we and NLM offer.

Carole Joyce- Rochester Regional Library Council- Fairport, NY

Join your colleagues on November 20, 2007 as NN/LM MAR hosts Medical Library Association’s fall webcast, “Scholarly Publishing and Open Access: Straight Talk.” More information about the webcast is available here: http://mlanet.org/education/distance_ed/scholarlypub/index.html

Take advantage of this national continuing education event. Share ideas with your colleagues about current topics, learn techniques from MLA member experts, and earn MLA CE contact hours.

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Time: 2:00 pm-4:00 pm plus optional post-webcast discussion, facilitated by Mark E. Funk, AHIP, Samuel J. Wood Library, Weill Cornell Medical College, and MLA President

Location: New York University Medical Center, New York, NY

RSVP to rml@library.med.nyu.edu. You will be sent a confirmation e-mail with directions to the site by Friday, November 16. There is no charge for NN/LM members.

The RML has also purchased a DVD for loan after the webcast.

We look forward to having you join us!

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region (NN/LM MAR) is pleased to announce the awarding of MicroAwards to the following network members:

Susan Jeffery, Albright Memorial Library-Scranton Public Library, Scranton, PA for her project, Presentation of MedlinePlus poster at the Pennsylvania Library Association in State College, PA October 15 & 16, 2007.

Loida Garcia-Febo, Queens Library, Queens, NY for her project, Community Health Fairs (promotional materials of pens and magnets) throughout Queens, NY during 2007.

The MicroAwards are small (micro) awards of up to $500 awarded to network members to enhance their services and provide seed money for ongoing or one-time projects through the purchase of displays, brochures, presentations, materials, refreshments, equipment, supplies, or presentation of small programs.

MicroAwards are currently available and will be awarded until funds are depleted. MicroAward applications are reviewed in-house by RML staff, with notification of award given 10 days from receipt of a complete application. Apply online at: http://nnlm.gov/mar/funding/microawards.html Questions? Call or email Arpita Bose at 1.800.338.7657 or bose@library.med.nyu.edu

The conference entitled, “Health Literacy: Tools for Improving Health Communications” was held on May 30, 2007.  The conference was co-sponsored by the New York Medical College (NYMC) Health Sciences Library (HSL) and School of Public Health (SPH) along with the Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association (NorMet).  It was jointly funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and the New York State Department of Health.  The conference goal was to provide health professionals and hospital staff with an educational opportunity to develop awareness of health literacy issues and improve communication skills with individuals throughout the Hudson Valley Region of New York.  In fact, the revelant issues and communication skills needed are basic to all health professionals.  NN/LM network members, regional health professionals, and individuals from community agencies were encouraged to attend.  The expectation was that the conference would serve as a platform from which to develop a regional coalition and be able to draw upon the community building skills already in place among the participants: it did.  One outcome was the creation of a health literacy tool kit, which was soon followed by a virtual version.  The conference page web now includes the scope and agenda for the conference as well as the tool kit, with new links added as needed http://library.nymc.edu/PHInformatics/hltoolkit.cfm.  When the so-called “dancing nurses” video shown by one of the speakers was requested more than 14 times, the link was immediately added to the site: http://www.ahrq.gov/QuestionsAreTheAnswer//.

Attendees rated the conference overall close to excellent by all measures by the end of the day, and post-conference survey evaluations completed July 16, 2007 also generated extremely positive results.  Although plans initially estimated 100 likely attendees, the final total was 194 individuals.

Diana J. Cunningham, MLS,MPH- New York Medical College- Health Sciences Library- Valhalla, NY

The National Library of Medicine has released a new resource focused on dietary supplements. The Dietary Supplements Labels Database http://dietarysupplements.nlm.nih.gov includes information from the labels of over 2,000 brands of dietary supplements in the marketplace, including vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, and other specialty supplements.

The database is designed to help both the general public and health care providers find information about ingredients in brand-name products, including name, form, active and inactive ingredients, amount of active ingredient/unit, manufacturer/distributor information, suggested dose, label claims, warnings, percentage of daily value, and further label information.

Links to other NLM resources, such as MedlinePlus and PubMed, are provided for additional health information. In addition, links to related Fact Sheets from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA), Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM ), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are also available.

On Wednesday, October 24th, the Middle Atlantic Region sent over 340 hospital librarians an e-mail message encouraging them to talk with their hospital administrators about MLA’s Health Information Literacy Survey for Hospital Administrators and Health Care.

The Medical Library Association (MLA) in cooperation with the American Hospital Association (AHA) Society for Health Care Advocacy (SHCA) has distributed a Web-based Health Information Literacy Survey to hospital administrators and health care providers throughout the country. The survey will help ascertain administrators’ and health care providers’ awareness and understanding of health information literacy, its value in support of patient care, and the role that librarians and libraries can play in promoting health information literacy. The survey was developed in collaboration with the National Library of Medicine, TAP Consulting, an outside research firm, and MLA’s Health Information Literacy Project Coordinator, Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi.

A non-active copy of the survey is available for review at <http://www.zhost.com/mla/adminLong1.html>

The overall goal of the MLA research project is to increase awareness of health care providers’ knowledge of health information literacy issues as well as the NLM tools and resources for increasing health literacy levels that are available to them and their patients. For an overview of the full project, visit <http://www.mlanet.org/resources/healthlit/hil_project_overview.html>.

If you have questions or need further information, please contact project coordinator Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi, sabrina_kurtz-rossi@comcast.net.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine Middle Atlantic Region exhibited at this year’s Fall New York City School Library Conference at Queens College in New York City. The two-day conference, attended by over 500 school librarians, was an excellent opportunity to show several of NLM’s youth-oriented interactive tutorials, including ToxMystery and ToxTown. Also demonstrated were MedlinePlus for use with parents and caretakers and NLM’s online exhibits for use in the library or classroom.

Miguel Figueroa, Network Services coordinator for the MAR, presented a one-hour program on Friday titled “Prescription for Success:  School Librarians and Online Health Information.”  Many of the attendees expressed great interest or familiarity with NLM’s products, a reminder that children and schools may be excellent avenues towards improving the health of our communities.

There are still a few spots left in both workshops. Register for either or both workshops by sending an email to rml@library.med.nyu.edu by October 30, 2007.

Outreach Evaluation Workshop Series

The goal of the Outreach Evaluation Workshop Series is to develop the ability of those who conduct health information outreach projects to gather and use evaluation data for program improvement and decision-making. These first two workshops, in a series of four, are being hosted by NN/LM MAR and taught by Susan Barnes and Cindy Olney of the Outreach Evaluation Resource Center, NN/LM Pacific Northwest , University of Washington.

Community Assessment (3 MLA CE credits), 9:00-12:00, November 14, 2007

This workshop will help librarians and others involved in health information outreach to design quality programs and garner support for those programs by taking the right first step: collecting community and needs assessment information about the groups of people who will be involved.

Planning Outcomes-Based Outreach Programs (3 MLA CE credits),
1:00-4:00, November 14, 2007

This workshop will help librarians and anyone interested in health information outreach to focus on what they want to accomplish by designing outreach programs around intended results. Participants will learn to construct logic models to plan health information outreach projects, with project outcomes as the pivotal part of the plan.

Class date: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Class times: Community Assessment: 9:00-12:00; Planning Outcomes-Based Outreach Programs: 1:00-4:00
Location: New York University, Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library, 550 First Ave., New York
Registration is free. Class break refreshments and lunch are included for attendees.