April 22, 2004
Outreach Evaluation Resource Center
The Outreach Evaluation Resource Center provides assistance in developing well-planned evaluation to help target and measure outreach success.
OHIONET
According to Ginger Saha, OHIONET has negotiated many database packages for OhioLINK and the California state system. OHIONET also has some ejournal offerings where they offer reduced pricing for interested libraries. The contact at OHIONET who arranges these deals is Mary Mlynar Conroy, 800-686-8975 or mconroy@ohionet.org.
Outreach Clearinghouse
UW Stout has an Outreach Clearinghouse for the campus. This is an interesting idea that could possibly be adapted for the U or for Minnesota health sciences libraries.
Health Information Access for Rural Nurse Practitioners example
From 1997-2001, the Bio-Medical Library managed a NLM grant called Health Information Access for Rural Nurse Practitioners. The purpose was to eliminate distance and other barriers to health information encountered by nurse practitioner students living in rural areas. The project included loaning laptops to nurse practitioner students, providing training, offering financial support for local Internet access, and document delivery.
Excerpts from the grant application:
"Health care providers in rural, medically underserved areas also have limited access to health science information. Further, attracting primary care providers to rural underserved and shortage areas is problematic due to the isolation from colleagues and lack of access to current health information."
"Library service to remote sites has concerned librarians for years and new initiatives are discussed in the literature."
April 19, 2004
Tri-County Hospital Example
Tri-County Hospital in Wadena received a National Library of Medicine Access to Digital Libraries grant. They subcontracted with the Bio-Medical Library to provide training to hospital staff. The hospital is a 49-bed facility in Wadena with three satellite Rural Health Clinics. The hospital's library consists of some books and one journal (JAMA) in print with some archives on CD-ROM.
Relevant excerpts from the grant application:
"Tri-County Hospital expects digital connectivity to assist in supporting the scarce human resources of healthcare providers and professional practicing in the Wadena, MN rural environment. Reducing isolation and increasing access to high quality databases through technology applications will have a positive impact on recruitment, retention, and every-day decision making for the rural setting."
"Rural healthcare facilities face challenges to providing high quality services that can be partially met by using technology applications successfully and through meaningful collaborations."
Access to Electronic Health Information RFP
The NN/LM has issued a RFP for Access to Electronic Health Information projects. Single institutions can apply for $10,000. A group of two or more institutions can apply for $40,000.
The focus in on projects designed to improve access to electronic health information for such groups and organizations as consumers, underserved and minority health care professionals, public health workers, public library, and community-based and faith-based organizations.
April 18, 2004
MLA Outreach SIG
MLA has an Outreach Special Interest Group. Notes from recent meetings are available online.
Products to Investigate
freely available products like PubMed, MedlinePlus, Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, Merck Veterinary Manual, etc.