Congratulations to Katherine “Katie” Prentice for being the recipient of the 2012 Emerging Leaders Award. The NN/LM SCR partnered with the South Central Academic Medical Libraries Consortium (SCAMeL) to offer this award in order to motivate and prepare a librarian for a position of leadership in an academic health sciences library. Modeled on the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Award, this project will pair Katie with her mentor, Debbie Sibley of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – New Orleans Library (LSU-NOLA). Katie will have the opportunity to develop her knowledge and skills in a variety of learning settings, including exposure to leadership in another environment.

As part of the award, Katie will travel to the LSU-NOLA library to meet with Debbie. She will also visit the NN/LM SCR office to learn how it interfaces with the Region as a whole.

The NN/LM SCR recently provided funding to two Universities who will develop pilot projects to identify and promote the roles of libraries in institutions that have received NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) with a focus on community engagement:

Institution: The TMC Library (Texas Medical Center Library), Houston TX
Description: The TMC Library will conduct two focus group sessions with each Community Advisory Board (CAB) to assess the level of knowledge of evidence-based principles, followed by conducting training for each CAB on searching evidence-based practice research databases. In addition, project staff will create a standardized curriculum for training in evidenced-based medicine. Each CAB will receive a two-hour training session using this curriculum.

Institution: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio TX
Description: The proposed project has two components: 1) to host two Asset-Based Community Development workshops in San Antonio and Harlingen, respectively, in order to support community engagement efforts in these areas and in the other CTSA funded areas within the NN/LM SCR region; and 2) to host a strategic planning session for CTSA librarians in the NN/LM SCR region.

The  Leadership Fellows Program, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), is currently accepting applications and nominations for the August 1, 2012, deadline for potential fellows for the 2012-2013 experience. The Leadership Fellows Program is focused on preparing emerging leaders for the position of library director in academic health sciences libraries. Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of learning settings, including exposure to leadership in another environment. They will be paired with mentors who are academic health sciences library directors. In addition to the individual relationship with their mentors, fellows benefit from working collaboratively with other fellows and mentors. Experienced Program faculty and mentors will provide content and facilitation for the cohort.

Candidates for fellow should have a strong interest in pursuing a directorship in academic health sciences libraries, as well as significant management experience. Applications are welcomed from professionals working in academic health sciences libraries, hospital libraries, or other library-related settings. Applications from qualified minority candidates are encouraged.

Applications due: August 1, 2012

More information is available at NLM’s  News and Events.

The NN/LM SCR is proud to announce the recipients of the 2012 Library Student Outreach Award.  The purpose of this award is to promote the value of outreach to library school students interested in health sciences librarianship.  The six recipients will attend the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) Annual Meeting in Lubbock, TX, October 13 – 17, 2012 and participate in meetings, conference sessions and other activities designed for them to learn about the importance of health information outreach and services conducted by librarians in the South Central Region.

1. Elizabeth Amos, Library School: University of Oklahoma
2. Ligia Groff, Libary School:  University of North Texas
3. Phill Jo, Library School:  University of Oklahoma
4. Melody Miller, Library School: University of North Texas
5. Andy Taylor, Library School: University of Oklahoma
6. Garnet Nowell, Library School: University of Oklahoma

Librarians with an interest in public health, make this the year you attend the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. Stipends funded by The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund for this purpose will be awarded to at least 11 librarians in 2012. This year’s APHA meeting will take place in San Francisco, CA from October 27 – 31, 2012. Its theme is Prevention and Wellness Across the Life Span.

Applications are now being accepted. The deadline for application is Friday July 27, 2012, 5pm EST. For more information and an application form, go to http://www.phha.mlanet.org/blog/2012/sewell-stipend-2012/.

For more information on the 2012 APHA meeting, see http://www.apha.org/meetings/highlights/.

For more information on the Sewell Fund, see http://www.sewellfund.org/.

The mission of the Fund is to increase librarians’ identification with medical and health care professionals. Stipends have been awarded annually since 2001.

If you have any questions, please contact Barb Folb directly at folb@pitt.edu or any one of the committee members listed on the website.

Know a library student who is interested in learning more about health sciences librarianship and/or health information outreach?  Why not tell them about the NN/LM SCR’s Library Student Outreach Award?  The award provides funding for students to attend the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) Annual Meeting in Lubbock, TX, October 13 – 17, 2012 and participate in meetings, conference sessions and other activities designed for them to learn about the importance of health information outreach and services conducted by librarians in the South Central Region.

Applying is easy but the deadline is June 30th, so get those applications in today!

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2012-2013 Electronic Consumer Health Outreach Award.  The goal of this award is to ensure that health professionals, their patients and the general public are connected to the health information resources they need to make informed health care decisions.

Recipient: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – Shreveport, Shreveport, LA
Project: The YMCA of Northwest Louisiana Project
Description: Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport will partner with the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana to provide computer equipment that YMCA members and staff can use to find online health information at three fitness center locations. The Library will offer training sessions on NLM resources and will develop educational materials to publicize the public training sessions and NLM resources.

Recipient: Texas AHEC East – Greater Houston Region, Bellaire, TX
Project: CLICKS to Sip-n-Surf
Description: The Texas AHEC East – Greater Houston Region will offer a tested program of customized computer literacy classes at two senior centers. The seniors will receive 36 3-hour long coaching sessions on the computer, Internet, MedlinePlus and NIHSeniorHealth. In addition, they will create the first Internet café in Houston that is designed for underserved seniors.

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipient of the Digital Preservation and Access (DiPA) Award.

The purpose of the Digital Preservation and Access (DiPA) Award is to increase accessibility to historically significant and unique items in the South Central Region by providing funding for Network members to digitize portions of their collections. These digital collections will be made freely available online.

Recipient: University of Texas Medical Branch Moody Medical Library, Galveston, TX

Project: In Pasteur’s Own Hand: The Creation of a Digital Repository

Description: The purpose of this project is to create a digital repository of carefully selected material from the private library of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). This project seeks to dramatically improve user awareness and access to the personal and academic thoughts of one of the world’s most celebrated scientists. The Pasteur Collection held at the Blocker Collections at UTMB’s Moody Library contains 154 items including books, offprints, prints, manuscripts and unpublished handwritten letters by Pasteur which he maintained in his personal library. This project envisions digital preservation and also foresees increased user access to this collection. The project will allow the library to offer some of these materials in English, edit the images for legibility, enter descriptive metadata, and provide access to this collection on both the Moody Medical Library and the Texas Digital Library websites. Digitized PDFs images will feature the original document, the French transcription of the hand written documents and notes, and the English translation.

For a full list of funded projects from the NN/LM SCR please visit: http://nnlm.gov/scr/funding/scrfunded.html

Please join us in congratulating the University of Texas Medical Branch Moody Medical Library!

Public health institutes (PHIs) are nonprofit organizations that work to improve the public’s health by fostering innovation, leveraging resources, and building partnerships across sectors. PHIs address current and emerging health issues by providing expertise in areas such as: Fiscal/Administrative Management; Population-Based Health Program Delivery; Health Policy Development, Implementation, and Evaluation; Training and Technical Assistance; Research and Evaluation; Health Information Services; Health Communications and Social Marketing and Convening/Partnering.

In August 2011, National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) embarked on a new set of projects that are designed to amplify PHI’s roles and impact on public health performance, policy, and evidence, as well as strengthen NNPHI’s own infrastructure and partnerships. This Call for Proposals seeks to enhance the performance of the public health system by supporting additional states with finding ways to use the PHI model to help address their pressing health challenges. This project will fund up to two states to advance efforts to establish a PHI that meets NNPHI’s definition, with an ultimate goal of improving these states’ public health systems.

Important dates:

• May 30, 2012 (1:00 – 2:00 p.m. CT): Dialogue4Health Webinar, “What can a Public Health Institute do for my Public Health Department?” More information at: http://ow.ly/aKljD
• June 6, 2012: Letters of intent due
• June 25, 2012: Deadline for full receipt of proposals
• Late July 2012: Project recipients announced

For complete information, see: http://ow.ly/aKklj

The NN/LM SCR is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2012-2013 Health Information Literacy Award.

Institution: Crossroads Pharmacy, Mesquite, TX

Project Title: Improving Health Information Literacy in Seniors Using Internet Resources

Description:  This project will be a pilot study assessing the effectiveness of computer training on the MedlinePlus and NIHSeniorHealth databases among seniors in the Southeast Dallas area. The project will utilize two groups: the study group and the control group. The study group will participate in the educational program, while the control group will receive the standard pharmacy prescription drug information handout. An after-training assessment will measure the effectiveness of the training on health literacy.

Congratulations!