Outreach Services

printer-friendlye-mail this page

Since 1980, the Lewis Library has provided outreach to health professionals, hospitals, clinics, community-based organizations, independent medical facilities, medical researchers, and legal consultants in the medical and health fields. The Library also offers services to a host of other businesses, organizations, and individuals, primarily in the Fort Worth area. As a Resource Library of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, we function as the Medical and Health Resource Library for twenty-four counties west of Fort Worth. We also have state-wide responsibility to serve as the primary information resource for all of the Doctors of Osteopathy and osteopathic facilities in Texas.

Examples of outreach programs that have been offered in the past include:

• health literacy programming targeting lower income communities in Fort Worth;
• instructing Public Health practitioners in the use of mobile technologies and information resources;
• health literacy programming instructing Seniors in Tarrant County in communicating effectively with physicians;
• and much more.
   

Outreach Service Offerings:

Instruction

Classes are offered for health professionals, public health practitioners, community-based organizations, professional associations, librarians, and any other entity desiring to learn more about health information resources.  These classes are provided as a free outreach service and are sponsored by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine South Central Region.

For healthcare professionals, we offer classes on the effective use of clinical literature and suggested resources. Additionally, we offer classes describing information resources for the layperson, health educators, and students. Classes on these topics are always available for presentation: 

• Searching for medical resources on the Internet;
• Services available from Lewis Library;
• National Library of Medicine database searching (including the PubMed interface to MEDLINE and health resources from MedlinePlus).

Other classes can be developed to target specific topics and resources; they may be offered at your facility or at the Lewis Library on the UNTHSC campus. 

Medical/Clinical Literature Research Instruction

Individualized training courses on any desired topic can be developed and presented for local hospitals and organizations.

CNE Courses

Continuing Nursing Education credit is available from the National Library of Medicine for attending a one-hour training session describing the resources of the National Library of Medicine. Two classes are presently offered for CNE credit:

• The PubMed Basics class describes the techniques for effectively searching the PubMed database.
• Patient Education Resources from the National Library of Medicine describes the consumer health tools available via the NLM.

These classes can be presented at area hospitals and other training facilities.

Consumer Health Information Classes

Classes can be targeted to your specific audience, describing the consumer health and patient education resources from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

Other Services offered by the Library:

Reference

Among the services offered are literature searching instruction, location of factual information, citation verification assistance, library tours and orientation programs, and online computer searching of medical, nursing, and more than 200 other online databases. For more information, call 817-735-2070.

Document Delivery

Lewis Library provides a Document Delivery service by preparing print or electronic copies from its collections and delivering them to patrons throughout the area. As needed, we can also request copies and borrow books and media from other libraries. This is a fee-based service. For more information, see the Document Delivery page or the Fees for Services page.

Loansome Doc

Those who prefer to do their own searching in PubMed can order copies of articles from Lewis Library using PubMed's ordering system, Loansome Doc.  Before sending an order, accounts must be created; see the Loansome Doc FAQ page for instructions.  For assistance, contact the Document Delivery office at docdelivery@unthsc.edu or 817-735-2491.

Special Services for TOMA Members

Texas Osteopathic Medical Association members receive services for a reduced fee. Please see the Services & Resources for TOMA Members page for more information.

Outreach Program Contact

Andi Spencer, MLS
Phone: 817-735-2469
E-mail: Andrea.Spencer@unthsc.edu