Katherine Chew

Persistent link for this collection

https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/144459

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 24

Harold S. Diehl: Pioneer In Randomized Controlled Trialsw
(2006-05) Block, Karla J.; Mcguire, Lisa; Chew, Katherine
The Bio-Medical Library is located in Diehl Hall, named after Harold S. Diehl, fifth dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School. Diehl (1891-1973) was a prominent figure at the University and is well known for his work in tuberculosis control, cancer research, smoking and health, and books on healthful living. Diehl is more than a name on a building and a prominent figure in his time. He was also an important contributor to the early history of controlled clinical trials through his pioneering 1930s research. He and co-workers published results in 1938 from what has been termed a “remarkable trial” on the efficacy of vaccines for the common cold. This work is often-considered one of the first instances of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial—though arguably so because the assignment of volunteers either “alternately” or “at random” is at issue. Whatever the assignment method, Diehl’s work is notable because it was far from common practice in research methods at the time and is considered an important example of an early controlled clinical trial—possibly predating the publication of a well-known British trial by ten years. Diehl’s research suggests there is much to be learned from prominent figures in an institution’s history.
Teaching The Publication Process: Road To Collaboration at the University of Minnesota
(2007-10) Chew, Katherine; Fine, Elizabeth; Gruwell, Cindy; Loftus, Wayne
At the University of Minnesota, librarians from the Health Sciences Libraries collaborated with the Academic Health Center’s Office of Clinical Research to produce a series of scientific writing seminars aimed at clinical researchers. This exciting partnership came about when the Office of Clinical Research noticed a sequence of library workshops called “Writing in the Health Sciences,” and invited the library to be part of the planning process for its seminar series. This poster traces the road leading to collaboration on this topic, from its beginnings as a simple library web page maintained by one librarian to a wide-reaching, interprofessional partnership.
More Than Just Going E-Only: Print Reduction Project at the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries
(2008-10) Chew, Katherine
Objective: In order to reduce journal subscription and bindery costs to avoid cancellations in an era of declining budgets, as well as free up shrinking physical space, the Health Sciences Libraries at the University of Minnesota embarked on a several year project, starting in 2006, to reduce the amount of print journals it was receiving. Methods: Online availability reports from serial vendors were obtained, data from a cumulative in-house use print journal project was utilized, as well as electronic journal usage statistics from our link resolver, SFX. Faculty and Interlibrary loans needs played into the mix, as did licensing agreements. Results: Over 500 print journals were cancelled and many other titles had electronic access upgraded. Discussion: Many issues, challenges and road-blocks were discovered as part of the process that had significant impact on title decisions.
FUSION: Melding Reference And Access Services Into A Single User Service Point In An Academic Health Sciences Library
(2009-05) Chew, Katherine
Objective: Analysis of the effectiveness in creating a synergic and collaborative team of reference and access services professional, paraprofessional and student staff with the goal of continuing to provide patrons with exceptional service in a single, combined user services desk. [39] Methods Setting/Participants: The year 2008 began with significant personnel re-organization, re-alignment of services and space planning initiatives. Management of Reference desk services moved from one library department to another. This coincided with a decision to combine the Reference, Circulation and Copy/ILL Services desks into one integrated user services desk for the start of 2008 Fall semester. [52] Brief Description: An organizational management consultant was engaged to facilitate an initial off-site “transition” meeting with personnel from the two departments who were suffering from change anxiety and job concerns. Three “town-hall” style meetings facilitated with active listening by the Associate Director were held throughout the Spring and Summer. The entire group worked together to decide on work flow, training needs, space design considerations and to deal with other integrated desk issues. [70] Results: The initial consultant-facilitated meeting allowed staff to express worries and fears about how the changes would impact their jobs, professional standing and performance evaluations. Active listening by the Associate Director and relaxed, informal settings motivated staff to articulate and examine possible issues and apprehensions. Spontaneously-created cross-functional task groups were formed to investigate solutions to identified issues, such as work flow, training, staffing and space. Reports were shared via email and in group settings. A staff position was re-designed to include duties from all the combined services and serves as a central pivot point for communication synergy.
Waterfalls Are Not in the MeSH Vocabulary: One Library's Experience With Unexpected Flooding
(2009-10) Chew, Katherine
On the morning of April 17, 2009, an improperly maintained air conditioning unit cooling hose burst in the mechanical room on the fourth floor of Diehl Hall, resulting, at one point, in a spectacular ceiling to floor waterfall. This paper will present a case study in how on-site library staff, university library staff and various diverse university departments came together in a efficient and effective collaborative effort that minimized damage to the library and a co-habiting institute, quickly re-located staff and equipment that resulted in minimal disruption of patron and library services and allowed a previously scheduled open house for the institute to take place within a week. Lessons learned and best practices will also be presented.
Serving Multiple Stakeholders: Crafting a “blended” scorecard at the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries
(Association of Research Libraries, 2010) Chew, Katherine; Aspinall, Erinn E
Purpose: Since its introduction in the early 1990s, the Balanced Scorecard has been widely used in the corporate world as a means of assessing overall organizational health. In recent years, the Balanced Scorecard has been successfully adopted by non-profits, including large academic and public library systems. Health sciences and other special libraries also stand to benefit from the use of a Balanced Scorecard. However, they often work under complex organizational structures that involve administrative-level reporting to multiple and diverse stakeholders. As such, the standard four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard may not serve to adequately tell the library’s story. The Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) at the University of Minnesota has been working to develop and implement a “blended” scorecard that will provide meaningful measures of success for its multiple stakeholders. Design/Methodology/Approach: In 2006, the HSL formed a Metrics that Matter team that was charged to develop new ways of measuring library activities to express outcomes and impacts in ways meaningful to its funders and constituents. The team’s final report recommended that the HSL use a modified form of the Balanced Scorecard based on Cogdill, et. al.’s The Value of Library and Information Services in Hospitals and Academic Health Sciences Centers report to the Medical Library Association. In 2009, the HSL developed a blended scorecard that customized the standard four balanced scorecard perspectives by incorporating language from the strategic goals of the University Libraries and the Academic Health Center, its two major stakeholders. Findings: The HSL is in the early adoption phase of using their blended scorecard approach to measuring overall organizational health. In January 2009, the language of the blended scorecard was developed, approved by HSL managers, and presented to library personnel. Additional work was done to incorporate annual goals and strategic planning into the matrix and identify relevant measures and targets for each perspective. Pilot testing of the blended scorecard will be continued with the HSL 2010-2011 goal setting. The authors will present the lessons learned through this experience by outlining the steps taken to 1) develop a blended scorecard, 2) seek staff buy-in and organizational support, 3) implement pilot testing, and 4) adjust the blended scorecard based on findings. Practical Implications/Value: The HSL plans to use the blended scorecard to discover the extent to which its organizational goals have been met. Results will be used internally to set future goals and initiatives and externally to communicate successes and areas for improvement to its primary stakeholders. When used annually, the HSL hopes to have a set of comparison metrics that can be analyzed to determine success over time.
Size (And Location) Do Matter: Web Page Re-Design and the IM Chat Widget
(2010-10) Chew, Katherine; Reimer, Emily
The Bio-Medical Library installed an IM chat function on their recently re-vamped main webpage with much fanfare and anticipation in the Spring of 2007. The IM link was located next to the more conventional email, phone and other live chat links in the top portion of the left hand navigation bar. Over time, this service saw very little use, with a few random “chats” recorded every month. In late October 2009, the main webpage underwent a re-design. While the re-design itself was not overly radical, it had one significant change – in addition to the IM chat link in the left-hand navigation bar, an actual chat widget was embedded on the page that was visible “above the fold.” Instantly, IM chat usage rose astronomically to 1100% above of its previous usage. It became not uncommon for reference staff to need to handle several “chats” at the same time. This demonstration of the power of a visible IM chat widget, as opposed to a link, is leading to a campaign to have IM chat widgets embedded in more sections of the University’s web-presence, most particularly, the MyU/MyLibrary Portal and potential search “fail points” such as the online catalog. The visible chat widget is providing an expanded point-of-need, real-time “live” reference service that is proving to be a powerful and greatly appreciated communication tool.
Serving Multiple Stakeholders: Crafting a “blended” scorecard at the University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries
(2010-10) Chew, Katherine; Aspinall, Erinn E
Purpose: Since its introduction in the early 1990s, the Balanced Scorecard has been widely used in the corporate world as a means of assessing overall organizational health. In recent years, the Balanced Scorecard has been successfully adopted by non-profits, including large academic and public library systems. Health sciences and other special libraries also stand to benefit from the use of a Balanced Scorecard. However, they often work under complex organizational structures that involve administrative-level reporting to multiple and diverse stakeholders. As such, the standard four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard may not serve to adequately tell the library’s story. The Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) at the University of Minnesota have been working to develop and implement a “blended” scorecard that will provide meaningful measures of success for its multiple stakeholders. Design/Methodology/Approach: In 2007 the HSL formed a Metrics that Matter team that was charged to develop new ways of measuring library activities to express outcomes and impacts in ways meaningful to its funders and constituents. The team’s final report recommended that the HSL use a modified form of the Balanced Scorecard based on Cogdill, et. al.’s 2002 The Values of Library and Information Services in Hospitals and Academic Health Sciences Center report to the Medical Library Association. In 2009, the HSL developed a blended scorecard that customized the standard four balanced scorecard perspectives by incorporating language from the strategic goals of the University Libraries and the Academic Health Center, its two major stakeholders. Findings: The HSL is in the early adoption phase of using their blended scorecard approach to measuring overall organizational health. In January 2009, the language of the blended scorecard was developed, approved by HSL managers, and presented to library personnel. Additional work was done to incorporate annual goals and strategic planning into the matrix and identify relevant measures and targets for each perspective. Pilot testing of the blended scorecard will be continued with the HSL 2010-2011 goal setting. The authors will present the lessons learned through this experience by outlining the steps taken to 1) develop a blended scorecard, 2) seek staff buy-in and organizational support, and 3) implement pilot testing. Practical Implications/Value: The HSL plans to use the blended scorecard to discover the extent to which its organizational goals have been met. Results will be used internally to set future goals and initiatives and externally to communicate successes and areas for improvement to its primary stakeholders. When used annually, the HSL hopes to have a set of comparison metrics that can be analyzed to determine success over time.
User-defined valued metrics for electronic journals
(2013-02-18) Chew, Katherine; Stemper, James; Lilyard, Caroline; Schoenborn, Mary
Purpose: Building on the work done by the California Digital Library (CDL), the University of Minnesota Libraries is developing a set of user-defined value-based electronic journal usage metrics. User value is assessed in three overall categories: (1) utility or reading value, (2) quality or citing value, and (3) cost effectiveness. In addition to analyzing vendor-generated usage metrics, also included were Affinity String data, derived from the University of Minnesota’s central authentication system that anonymously captures a user’s academic department and degree program or position at the university and combined with vendor-generated usage data, provides a granular picture of journal use down to the title level. Collection management librarians and library users can benefit from a viable, more accurate metric for use and value of library resources than cost-per-download, which would ensure that the most needed/valued resources are available to further research and learning. Methodology: Metrics were identified that are utilized to determine e-journal retainability: OpenURL link resolver requests for article views, COUNTER-compliant downloads, JCR Impact Factors, Eigenfactor Scores, local citations from Thomson Reuters Local Journal Use Reports and Affinity String requests for article views. Two years of usage data were assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients to compare the different metrics. Affinity String data is correlated with the results to determine any discipline or degree level differences. A composite score is assigned to each journal to assess its overall value in comparison to other journals within the same broad subject category. Findings: This project found SFX clickthroughs a more consistent predictor than COUNTER downloads of the journals our faculty will cite in their articles, with Eigenfactor a more consistent predictor of citation behavior than Impact Factor.
If You Build It, They Will Come: Developing and Conducting Scholarly Communications Faculty Forums
(2013-05) Chew, Katherine
Objectives: How do you inform faculty, students and administrators about the challenges facing scholarly communications? What strategies can you develop that resonate with faculty that get them engaged in learning about the issues and potentially transform them into advocates? Developing and conducting campus-wide faculty forums are an extremely effective way of getting faculty and students involved in the scholarly communications debate. Methods/Results: This poster demonstrates the lessons learned and best practices in developing and conducting successful faculty forums on scholarly communications/open access topics using illustrative examples from past forums. Issues addressed: developing forum themes that strike a chord with faculty and students, pros and cons of deciding whether or not to have an outside speaker and the challenges involved, recruiting faculty speakers, deciding on venues, dates, times, marketing tips and tricks, applying for continuing education credit, the nitty-gritty of successful event planning and project management.
Disciplinary Differences in Applying E-Journal Metrics
(Library Assessment Conference, 2014-08-04) Stemper, James; Chew, Katherine; Schoeborn, Mary; Lilyard, Caroline
Purpose: Determine if the relationship between a) journal downloads or rankings and b) faculty authoring venue or citations to them varies by discipline. Does the strength of the correlations vary by discipline? Do the social sciences or humanities differ from the physical or health sciences? Are there differences between similar disciplines (e.g. physical & health sciences), or within disciplines (e.g. nursing to pharmacy)? Determine if the newer ranking metrics Eigenfactor & SNIP correlate better with downloads and citations than Impact Factor? Determine if Scopus is a valid alternative to Local Journal Use Reports as a way of correlating faculty publication & citation practices with journal selections Methodology: Use data: 4 years of (2009-2012) collected for each subject journal set: OpenURL link resolver article view requests & publisher’s COUNTER article downloads Ranking data: 5-year Impact Factor, current EigenFactor & Source Normalized Impact Per Paper (SNIP) recorded for each journal title Citation data: 2 years (2009-2010) collected from Thomson Local Journal Use Reports (LJUR); 4 years (2009-2012) from Elsevier SciVal (Scopus) Journal value assessed by: (1) author decisions to publish there (2) external citations to these authors (3) cost effectiveness (via downloads *and* citations) using rank correlation coefficients to compare the different metrics Conclusions: Inform selection decisions Use LJUR and Scopus: LJUR reports more subscribed titles whose local faculty articles get cited by peers, but Scopus reports more subscribed journals that local faculty author in Obtain liaison/subject coordinator input: Hard to centralize collection if the “best fit” metrics vary by discipline Understand patterns of use Capture demographics of logins and interdisciplinary use Show value to the academy Defend library tax on departments Offer services to help faculty demonstrate impact e.g. for tenure portfolios
E-Journal Metrics: Exploring Disciplinary Differences
(NISO, 2015-04) Chew, Katherine; Schoenborn, Mary
Collection librarians have an ongoing need to align acquisition and retention decisions about library resources in order to provide the best possible outcomes for their users and accountability to administrators. In previous collection management research, we developed a decision-making blueprint by incorporating the relationships between the journals that our users downloaded and the journals that our faculty cited in their articles. In this presentation, we take the next step by exploring the extent to which disciplinary differences exist in the relationships between the downloading of our subscribed journals and a) faculty decisions to author articles in these journals and b) the choices their external peers make as to whether or not to cite our faculty’s articles in these journals. Does the strength of the relationships vary by discipline? Do the social sciences / humanities differ from the physical or health sciences? Are there differences between similar disciplines such as the physical and health sciences, or within disciplines, such as nursing to medicine, or are they alike enough for one formula to suffice? Together, these metrics will help fine tune our sense, at a disciplinary level, of the value that our users assign to our collection through their decisions about which journal articles to download, read, and cite.
Breaking Into Uncharted Territory: Collaborating On NIH Public Access Policy Compliance with the Sponsored Projects Administration
(2015-05) Chew, Katherine
Objectives: Non-compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy can severely hamper researchers’ efforts by delaying awards funding. Facilitating compliance with the policy can be a problematic process, especially across large institutions with numerous colleges, schools, centers and institutes. Collaborating with a department that spans all of these entities can ensure unlimited opportunities to provide compliance support and assistance.
Methods: In early 2013, librarians from the Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) were invited to meet with the training coordinator for the campus-wide Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) to discuss potential collaboration to help with the potential ramifications of NOT-OD-13-042; the NIH Public Access Policy (PAP) notification concerning the delaying of processing of awards with start dates 1 July 2013. As part of this collaboration, SPA and a HSL librarian would co-present SPA sponsored workshops on the public access policy, an eRA Commons account would be assigned to provide access to the Public Access Compliance Monitor (PACM) and the NIH Manuscript Submission System, public access policy questions, issues and My NCBI /My Bibliography training requests received by SPA would be routed to the librarian and the creation of a detailed Public Access Policy Compliance library webpage that featured library and SPA resources.
Results: Collaboration with SPA began in Spring 2013. A Public Access Policy dedicated HSL email address, public-access@umn.edu, was shared with SPA and non-compliance questions that arrived at SPA were routed to this address for trouble-shooting. Assignment of an eRA Commons account by SPA increased the ability to “diagnosis and treat” non-compliant articles, as it facilitated access to the PACM, NIH Manuscript Submission System and awards view in My Bibliography. A detailed, SPA-user friendly website devoted to the policy, NIH Public Access Policy & Compliance was developed that included cross-references to resources found on the SPA training webpage. The first co-teaching occurred in November 2013 and followed by co-teaching engagements at the SPA training site, an auditorium based recorded webinar and workshops at departmental in-service training. Coordination with SPA has led to helping NIH investigators campus-wide that would not otherwise have thought to turn to HSL for help on compliance issues -- law, statistics, bio-sciences, chemistry or from the coordinate campuses.
Conclusion: Collaboration with SPA on NIH Public Access Policy compliance has exponentially expanded the services and scope that the Health Sciences Libraries is able to offer NIH investigators in their grant and research efforts, resulting in more research dollars awarded
Seeing the Big (Art) Picture: Developing a Rotating Art Program in an Academic Health Sciences library
(2016-05) Chew, Katherine; Orr, Michelle
Purpose/Objectives: Develop a rotating art exhibit program to turn an outdated, aesthetically unpleasing 1960s style building interior into a stimulating, thought-provoking, intellectually inspiring atmosphere for studying and learning. This space would foster community-building with the Academic Health Center and campus art community by showcasing student and faculty artwork and serving as an inspirational focal point on healing and the arts.
Methods/Brief Program Description: In summer 2013, a working group was established to identify spaces for an art gallery in a traditional library building. The group consisted of staff from the Library as well as the University Libraries Art & Architecture librarian. Walk-a-rounds were conducted to inventory and photograph available “white spaces” and discuss each space’s suitability as an art gallery for the display of rotating art collections. Each potential space was evaluated on the degree of security (probability of theft or vandalism), accessibility to patrons, visibility of artwork, versatility of the space (wall art, three dimensional, digital) and the amount of facilities work needed to convert the space into one suitable for displaying art. Concurrently, art exhibit polices and application forms from other health sciences libraries were located and studied; other campus art galleries were visited for inspiration and networking potentials.
How To Learn To Stop Worrying And Love Mindfulness: Wellness in the Workplace
(2016-09) Chew, Katherine; Rashid, Julie
According to the American Psychological Association’s 2015 Work and Well-Being Survey, 29% of employed adults indicated that they felt tense or stressed out during the workday, although 62% of employed adults reported that they had the resources to manage the stress in their daily work life (APA 2015). We all know the technological advancements in libraries are changing the way we do our work and that change causes stress. How well individuals are able to cope with these stressors can affect not only their own engagement and job effectiveness, but their interactions with others. What is the role of the organization in supporting wellness in the workplace? How can staff incorporate mindfulness in simple ways into their day-to-day work? Join these presenters as they discuss hands-on exercises and grassroots efforts to support wellness and mindfulness in their departments without spending a lot of time and money on the effort.
Helping Decipher Doctorspeak: Health Literacy in Your Community
(2016-10) Chew, Katherine
People are increasingly responsible for making their own health decisions. Health information literacy is recognized as a critical life skill that helps patients and caregivers in making medical and health care decisions. Improving health literacy is a foundational way to work toward achieving health equity. Librarians can help navigate and evaluate health information. This past March, a broad coalition of Minnesota health organizations released the Minnesota Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy which outlines six priorities with actionable strategies to improve health literacy across the state. Strategies range from improving patient-centered resources to enhancing education opportunities at all levels to investing in language and cultural resources. In the plan, libraries are recognized as places other than healthcare facilities where people go to find reliable health information. This session will provide an overview of the importance of health literacy to a health community, health literacy initiatives within the State of Minnesota, what resources are available for health information literacy training/workshops sessions for librarians to learn to assist patrons and health advocates with finding quality health information or where to partner for access to expertise/resources and guidelines for choosing trusted web-based health information resources. Libraries, whether public or academic, are gateways to health information and librarians ar4e recognized as offering the needed support to help deal with health information literacy issues. Communities will enjoy a high quality of health care thanks to health information literate consumers who make good decision based on sound information.
Adventures in Bibliometrics: Research Impact and the CTSI
(2016-10) Chew, Katherine; Bakker, Caitlin
Objectives Bibliometrics, the application of quantitative analysis to publications, is of growing importance for institutions, departments, and research centers. This paper describes one library's collaboration with a Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) to employ evaluative bibliometrics to determine research impact. Methods The Libraries were approached by the CTSI Monitoring & Evaluation Team to engage in a process of identifying and implementing the most appropriate bibliometrics for evaluation purposes. This initiative leveraged the library's understanding of NIH's Public Access Compliance Monitor, Scopus, Web of Science, and research networking systems such as SciVal Experts and Pure. Using grant information, a strategy was developed to identify CTSA-funded publications and to calculate and represent effective measures of impact. Results For the first time the CTSI had the ability to benchmark supported publications against research publication productivity at the University, at other universities, across disciplines, against six other CTSA sites and track progress across the years of the CTSA grant. Conclusions The Libraries was able to contribute high quality, standardized metrics to evaluating the University CTSI’s impact in clinical translational and team science of their contributions to advancing health research that can make a difference to individual and population health. In addition, provide useful information for their recent grant applications where standardized bibliometric analytics will be very valuable in strengthening the proposals.
Health Fact Or Fiction: Utlizing an iPad Flashcard App to Engage and Educate Fair Attendees.
(2017) Chew, Katherine; Beschnette, Anne
Objectives/Purpose: Attracting fair attendees to stop and interact with library staff about health information resources has always been a timeless problem, especially when you are competing against other, more “flashier” exhibits within the immediate area. The challenge is to come up with a way to captivate people and engage them long enough to enlighten them about reliable health information resources. Methods/Brief Program Description: Since the mid-2000s, the Health Sciences Libraries has staffed a booth at their state fair highlighting NLM and library resources and services. In 2014, the booth staff debuted a new attraction – a health fact or fiction quiz that utilizes an iPad flashcard app. The quiz consists of health related questions, where the quiz taker would guess true or false, and then tap the iPad screen to see the answer or swipe to the next question. All of the answer pages contain the answer, a short explanation about why it was true or false and a url(s) to a health information resource. The initial quiz consisted of seven true / false questions and the following year this was expanded to fourteen questions. The questions were selected to cover a wide variety of health topics designed to provoke discussion about health information. Results/Outcome: We had very engaged people who had fun trying to guess the medical device and the health true or false quiz had participants actually reading the information as to why a question's answer was true or false with a few friendly discussions about why a certain question was true versus false based on changing health information. We expected most people to try to answer just a few questions, but many cycled through all of the questions and a few even tried both quizzes. Comments received after taking the quizzes included “that was really interesting” or “I learned a lot.” Conclusion: Fair attendees greatly enjoy participating in games and are very willing to spend the time at an exhibit where their brains are also engaged. The quizzes are a great way to connect with exhibit visitors by providing a setting that encourages shared story-telling and provides the opportunity to discuss a wide variety of health information, both from the aspect of what people think they know to opening up avenues of new knowledge and understanding.
Medical Education Health Literacy: Embedding the Plain Language Summary into Medical School and Resident Didactics
(2017-04) Chew, Katherine; Bongiorno, Connie
Research has linked poor health outcomes to literacy levels. The ACMGE considers patient communication a priority in medical education. The University of Minnesota incorporates the Plain Language Summary (PLS) in both medical school and resident didactics. Taught by the Clinical Librarian, the PLS is first introduced to medical students. The students learn the tools to construct the PLS and link to follow-up patient resources. Literacy education continues with patient health databases and customizable provider handouts that meet literacy levels between 6th and 8th grade. Grading and evaluation is the responsibility of the Clinical Librarian. This concept is repeated in resident didactics.
Adapting - Transforming - Leading: A Year in the Life of a NNLM Sponsored Outreach Librarian
(2018-05) Chew, Katherine
Objectives The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) establishes partnerships with health sciences libraries that share the NNLM's mission of outreach. Outreach librarians sponsored by NNLM regional offices conduct a wide range of activities on the behalf of the NNLM to public libraries, health professionals and to the general public with emphasis on instruction on National Library of Medicine resources. Methods As a designated Partner Outreach Library for the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) NNLM, the Health Sciences Libraries Outreach Program supports the outreach mission of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and aids the GMR in its mission to improve awareness of and access to reliable, freely available, online health information resources by delivering programming within the local communities on such topics as health literacy, healthy aging, information resources for immigrants, NLM science resources or outreach librarianship. This is done through exhibiting at strategically chosen health or community events or conferences throughout the year, presenting informational sessions at these conferences, conducting training or workshops at public libraries for library staff or patrons, providing PubMed instructions for local high schools, and participation in GMR grant funded outreach projects.