• Up and Coming Plans for Year 2
• NN/LM MCR 2012-2013 OBJECTIVES
• Wyoming Symposium for Health Information Professionals
• Whooo Says…
• Libraries in Medical Education
• What Happens When a Pen-and-Paper Person Goes to North America’s Largest Technology Conference for Librarians
• Health Information Literacy Happenings…in Missouri

Doesn’t $1.3 million sound like a lot of money to spend? I used to think so, but since budgeting for the NN/LM MidContinental Region, I’ve been amazed at how quickly it goes. In addition to funding the Resource Libraries in each state to provide you with a coordinator as your go-to person and leadership for regional projects, what else are you getting for this money?

National Initiatives

Four national initiatives are in the planning stages for the NN/LM. Over the next 4 years, the Regional Medical Library programs will be focusing on outreach to community colleges and K-12. The RMLs will work together to support the adoption of MedlinePlus Connect into electronic medical records and promote the use of ClinicalTrials.gov. Updates will be published as plans for these initiatives are finalized. Read more »

As part of the MidContinental Region’s contract negotiation with the National Library of Medicine, we develop a list of objectives for the year. We want you to know what to expect from us too! The following is a list of our intended objectives for 2012-2013. The objectives encompass services to our Network members as well as our outreach services. These objectives are also on our web site at: ow.ly/c4uWe Read more »

The University of Wyoming Libraries will be hosting the 8^th Wyoming Symposium for Health Information Professionals:

High Altitude – Big Attitude Librarianship

in Laramie, August 15-17, 2012

The conference is for those who’d like to spend some time in the scenic Rocky Mountains, networking with colleagues, making new friends, and learning about resources.  They’ll also be discussing important issues affecting the finding of, access to and delivery of health/biomedical information.

Past conferences have attracted health sciences, public, and academic librarians, along with health professionals and representatives of community-based organizations. This year’s conference will include presentations by Coordinators from the MidContinental and Pacific Northwest Regions on resources, and opportunities to join in self-directed discussions on topics that interest the group. Read more »

Dear Whooo,

I read your column in the January 2012 issue of Plains to Peaks Post, which referred to revenue growth for nonprofit hospitals. I’m confused. I’ve always thought that a nonprofit organization is one that works for the good of the community or user group. I thought that nonprofits did not need to worry about earning money or revenue in the same way that a for-profit organization does. Can you explain this to me?

Thanks,

Fiscally Flummoxed Read more »

View from the grounds of Asilomar State Beach and Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA
Photo by Lisa Traditi

Using the generous funding from the NN/LM MCR, I attended the 2012 WGEA and its sibling groups – all subsets of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), held at the stunning Asilomar State Beach and Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. (http://www.visitasilomar.com/) Each regional AAMC GEA has its own Libraries in Medical Education (LiME) group. The WGEA LiME group started up in 2008 and meets each year at the beginning of the annual WGEA meeting.  One of four regions, the Western Region encompasses Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska – see this pdf map for all 4 regions. (https://www.aamc.org/download/65692/data/regional.pdf.pdf) Read more »

Goes to North America’s Largest Technology Conference for Librarians

I have always wanted to attend the Computers in Libraries conference in the hopes of finally getting up to speed with current technologies, and in March – thanks to the RML – I did. Information Today Inc’s 27^th annual conference definitely lived up to its claim – it WAS big. But what most impressed me was that it successfully managed to offer relevant information for academic, public, and special librarians, as well as programming for both technophiles and neophytes. That’s a lot of hats to wear, but they wore them well.

This year’s theme was Creating Innovative Libraries, with speakers kicking off each day, followed by “track” programming. Attendees could stick with one track all day, or pick and choose among themes like Mobile Trends and Practices, Navigating Information Overload, eBook Revolution and Evolution, and Recreating Services. Read more »

There’s been a lot happening to increase health information literacy in the MidContinential Region, so I checked in with three librarians in Missouri to ask about their work and see what projects have been keeping them busy.

Will Olmstadt, Public Health Librarian at Becker Medical Library – Washington University –St. Louis, was recently at the Creve Coeur Government Center to present a class to the St. Louis Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) on NIHSenior Health. NORC is a community program that supports health aging of seniors by providing community involvement, support services, health & wellness and educational programming. Read more »