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United States National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

Additional "Partners In Information Access" Awards Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 1999
CONTACT: Robert Mehnert
Kathy Gardner Cravedi
(301) 496-6308
publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov

Additional "Partners In Information Access" Awards Announced

(Bethesda, MD)-- Seven additional "Partners In Information Access" awards totaling nearly a quarter of a million dollars were jointly announced by the National Library of Medicine and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM). These outreach projects are part of the joint Partners in Information Access program for public health professionals which also involves the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the Public Health Foundation. The Partners' web site is at www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/partners/.

These awards bring to 18 the number of contracts funded under this program. Thirteen were awarded last October (www.nlm.nih.gov/news/press_releases/newtools.html).

The goals of the Partnership are to (1) increase public health professionals' awareness of the services of the NLM, NN/LM and CDC; (2) assist public health professionals in getting connected to the Internet; (3) train them in using information technology and information services; and (4) to increase awareness of public health information needs and resources among NN/LM members.

A brief description of the awards follows:

University of Connecticut Health Center Library, Farmington, CT
May 1999 to April 2001 ($44,859)
Project Director: Marian H. Levine
Phone: 860-679-3323; Fax: 860-679-1230
E-mail: levine@nso.uchc.edu

Public health professionals in the 114 district and town departments of health in Connecticut are the focus of this project. Based on a 1997 Internet survey conducted by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, 22 district and municipal health departments and 14 part-time health departments responded that they were not yet connected to the Internet. This project will provide modems and ISP connections for those departments. The goal is to train at least 90% of the full- time and 80% of the part-time professionals. Publicity for the training sessions will be done through the Connecticut Department of Public Health and other organizations. Exhibiting at the annual Connecticut Public Health Association will also be part of the project.


Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center, Albany, GA
Health Sciences Library
May 1999 to April 2001 ($49,342)
Project Director: Pamela M. Reynolds
Phone: 912-439-7185; Fax: 912-888-5154
E-mail: reynolds.p@gain.mercer.edu

The Southwest Georgia AHEC will target public health professionals on the staffs of 14 county public health offices and the district office in the southwest quadrant of Georgia. Site contacts will be designated at the district office and at each of the county health departments. A minimum of three visits will be conducted at each site. The initial visits will be made to conduct needs assessments. The remaining visits will be hands-on training workshops in the use of Internet Grateful Med, PubMed, CDC Wonder, and informal "troubleshooting" sessions. Promotion will be done in cooperation with the District Director and the county department directors.


Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
The Annette and Irwin Eskind Biomedical Library
June 1999 to November 2000 ($48,965)
Project Director: Nunzia B. Giuse
Phone: 615-936-1402; Fax: 615-936-1384
E-mail: nunzia.giuse@mcmail.vanderbilt.edu

Individuals working in metropolitan, county, and state public health departments, local public health institutions, and public/private community-based public health organizations in Tennessee are the target population for this project. Project Directors will strengthen existing partnerships with the Tennessee Department of Health and develop new partnerships with state and national public health associations, the National Congress of African American Churches, the Tennessee Department of Health Office of Health Promotion, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Train the trainer sessions will be conducted for public health personnel. There will be a Web site with an interactive query page, Web links, and online tutorials.


University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Edward G. Miner Library
July 1999 – June 2001; $50,000
Project Directors: Elizabeth Banzer and Julia Sollenberger
Phone: 716-275-6767; Fax: 716-756-7792
E-mail: eban@miner.rochester.edu
jsol@miner.rochester.edu

The Edward G. Miner Library administration was alerted to the need for enhanced information access and services for a broad range of public health professionals in Monroe County through recent collaborative efforts with the Monroe County Health Department. This project will target 200 public health professionals in a 7-county region of New York State. Baseline data will be ollected in the initial phases of the project. An Electronic Circuit Librarian Program will support access to public health information and related biomedical topics to public health professionals in the Greater Rochester Area. The program will allow public health professionals to receive Internet training, request and receive library services via the Web, and other information services.


University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
Harley French Library
August 1999 – July 2001; $31,891
Project Director: Barbara Knight
Phone: 701-777-3993; Fax: 701-777-4790
E-mail: bknight@mail.med.und.nodak.edu

This project will target all public health professionals in North Dakota. The objectives are to: 1) identify their information needs; 2) inform them of the services available from he Harley E. French Library, the NN/LM, and NLM and provide instruction in accessing these services; 3) improve the level and quality of communication between the Harley E. French Library reference desk staff and public health practitioners in the state; 4) investigate the "information seeking process" in relation to public health professionals' information seeking skills; and 5) develop a plan to continue meeting the health care information needs of the state's public health professionals. Packets of information will be developed and onsite presentations and hands-on classes will be conducted.


Houston Academy of Medicine, Houston, TX
Texas Medical Center Library
May 1999 to April 2001 ($48,814)
Project Director: Deborah D. Halsted
Phone: 713-799-7163; Fax: 713-797-0163
E-mail: deborahh@library.tmc.edu

This is a collaborative, urban focused project with the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, the Houston Public Library, and the Harris County Public Library. The project will: 1) develop an outreach publicity campaign to acquaint public health workers with the resources of NLM and CDC; 2) conduct an outreach training program on public health information; and 3) design a special public health homepage with links to the NLM and CDC, local, state and regional sites, and locally developed information pages on public health. The target population will be selected city workers in the Fire, Health and Human Services, Public Works, and Solid Waste departments.


Texas Woman's University Libraries
Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX
May 1999 to April 2001 ($49,990)
Project Director: Jeffrey T. Huber
Phone: 940-898-2602; Fax: 940-898-2611
E-mail: jhuber@twu.edu

State and local public health professionals in the Dallas, Denton, and Forth Worth areas will be the target population for this project. A train-the- trainer approach will be used for individuals engaged in public health in the targeted area. Phase One will consist of visits to the Denton, Dallas, and Tarrant county health departments, a needs assessment and promotion campaign, and a Web page that will provide access to CDC and NLM resources and allow users to query experts on public health information- related questions. Phase Two will consist of on-site resource demonstrations sessions using TWU's mobile computer lab and the computing labs at TWU and Texas Wesleyan University. The third phase of the project will involve small group intensive, hands-on training sessions with individuals identified during the larger resource demonstrations.

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Last updated: 28 April 2004
First published: 07 July 1999
Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content

Last updated: 28 April 2004
First published: 07 July 1999
Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content