March/April 2002 volume 11, issue 2    In this issue: Digital Health Reference Service: A Cooperative Project with Public Libraries   PSRML Express Outreach Awards   It's "EZ" to Apply for NLM's Internet Connection Grants!   Membership Renewal Update   Joint Meeting Update   MEDLINE Facts   Where Can I Find a Listserv On...?   Surgeon General's Reports on the Web   NIH's New Rare Disease Information Center   Highlights from the January - February 2002 NLM Technical Bulletin      In every issue: Table of Contents for the NLM Technical Bulletin   Upcoming Events - 2002   Publication Information

Digital Health Reference Service: A Cooperative Project with Public Libraries by Kay Deeney Education & Exhibit Coordinator PSRML Would you like to collaborate on providing digital health reference services for questions referred from public librarians? Can you commit to about two hours per week? PSRML is working with the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System of Southern California on a pilot to offer this service to public librarians. The staff of the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System will provide training. To participate, you will need a PC with Windows 98, NT, or 2000, and a direct Internet connection. You can work from your hospital or library, or from your home if you have at least a 56K modem.   Performing digital health reference will give you experience in this new technology. See what it is all about! You can chat with callers in real time, walk users through searches and web sites, input search terms and fill out online forms, share documents with users, review what the caller does, and troubleshoot.   You may find that this service is something you want to offer your patrons, or that you would like to collaborate on with other medical librarians.   Twelve Californian public law librarians are participating in a similar pilot project to provide real time legal reference service via the Internet. Participating law librarians will be fielding law related reference questions received through the icons of participating libraries of the 24/7 reference service of the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System in Southern California and the Q&A café of the Golden Gateway Library Network in Northern California. They may also decide to expand access by adding icons to the public law library web sites.   More information about MCLS and the 24/7 Reference is at http://www.247ref.org. There is a nicely done tour of the system. And, there is a link for trying out digital reference.   The Library of Congress also has a collaborative digital reference project (CDRS). My understanding is that it is more of an email referral system pointing to experts at this time. They will be beta testing a web based system starting in March. For more information, go to http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/.   Please contact PSRML at kdeeney@library.ucla.edu to participate or if you have any questions.

PSRML Express Outreach Awards

PSRML is seeking applicants for outreach grants of up to $6,000. There will be two rounds of awards with up to four awards in each round. The goals of the Express Outreach Awards are: to promote outreach by network members to share their expertise and resources with a target audience not normally reached, to encourage partnerships and community-focused activities in support of the NN/LM mission, to promote awareness and use of the products and services of NLM and the NN/LM, and to improve access to health information for those health professionals and health consumers.

Your proposal may target: public health professionals, personnel at a healthcare facility or community agency, members of the general public, populations suffering from poor health status, geographic areas without adequate access to information resources, or populations without adequate health information literacy skills. To apply, go to the PSRML Express Outreach Awards page.

Express Outreach Award Calendar

First round
Period of performance: June 1, 2002 - May 31, 2003

Due date: March 29, 2002
Awards announced: April 30, 2002

Second round
Period of performance: September 1, 2002 - August 31, 2003

Due date: June 28, 2002
Awards announced: August 30, 2002

Other Grant Opportunities

For information on State Library LSTA grants, go to LSTA Heads UP! in the September/October 2001 issue of Latitudes.

2002 LIVE! @ your library is an ALA program that features live presentations to promote cultural communities. Consider a health theme! The grants section of this web site lists other sources of funding for cultural programs. Deadlines are March 15 and July 30.

Training Opportunities for Grant Writers

Here are several courses that you might take to strengthen your grant writing skills:

1. Measuring the Difference, PSRML/UCLA, Los Angeles, CA - Wednesday, April 24, 2002 (all-day)
2. Grant Writer's Toolbox, MLA, Dallas, TX - Friday, May 17, 2002 (AM)
3. Preparing Proposals, MLA, Dallas, TX - Friday, May 17, 2002 (PM)

PSRML posts Funding Opportunities on our web site at http://nnlm.gov/psr/funding_ops.html (or navigate from the PSRML home page).

It's "EZ" to Apply for NLM's Internet Connection Grants!

NLM has been working on streamlining the process for Internet Connection Grants. The 'PHS 398 EZ' approach is now incorporated into the application information on the Internet Connection for Health Institutions: Fact Sheet.

NLM's goal was to make the application process easier and the instructions clearer. The program goals remain unchanged, but the instructions for applying are new. Also, as a reminder, all applicants must use the PHS 398 5/01 form, not the earlier 4/98 revision. Applications that use the 4/98 version of the form are no longer accepted.

Highlights of the new process include:

• applicants do not have to complete all parts of PHS 398
• resumes may be in standard resume or bio form
• there is no need to use the 'research' table of contents
• there is only one budget page, not two
• an outline for a project plan is given to help structure the project plan
• a final checklist is provided to help applicants assemble the complete packet
• a revised statement of critical review factors is given

NLM's Internet connection program was created in recognition that many health-related organizations, particularly smaller ones and those in rural and/or urban health-underserved areas, lack resources to initiate Internet access even at a time when such access is available to most. A recent Latitudes article featured three recent Internet Connection grant recipients in the Pacific Southwest Region.  - JKK

(Editor's note: Adapted from email messages from Valerie Florance, Program Officer, NLM Extramural Programs, and Marjorie Cahn, Head, National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology)

Membership Renewal Update

Membership certificates for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine were shipped on March 1, 2002. By Monday, March 4, we were already receiving phone calls! The certificates truly are impressive, and callers plan to have them framed and placed prominently in their libraries. These certificates cover 2001 - 2006.

Of the 626 NN/LM members in the Pacific Southwest Region, 317 have already renewed their membership, a 51% renewal rate. Of these, 271 are DOCLINE participants who are Full Members. The remaining 46 are Affiliate Members.

About one-third of regional DOCLINE participants still have not renewed, and we will soon follow-up with these members.

To check on your membership renewal status, log on to DOCLINE and go to your DOCUSER record. Then go to the Services tab and select Network Membership from the pull-down button. If the Renewal Date box has a date in February 28, 2002 or earlier, your certificate should be in the mail. We hope to renew memberships for the remaining libraries and information centers in the next several months.  - JKK

Joint Meeting Update

The Joint Meeting of the Northern California and Nevada (NCNMLG) and Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA) in Scottsdale, Arizona was a great success! It was an excellent opportunity to learn about border health, rural health, and public health issues as well as innovative ways to deliver health information to the public. We learned about Open Source (PSRML and NN/LM web sites both use open source software!), were stimulated to think about models of hospital librarianship, and challenged with new ways to deliver NLM products and services. For more information, go to the conference web site at http://www.mlgsca.mlanet.org/jtmtg2002/.

PSRML staffed an exhibit booth throughout the conference and provided an update on January 31, 2002. Slides used for the update are available on the PSRML web site at http://nnlm.gov/psr/ppt/jt_mtg2002.pps (or navigate from the PSRML home page - > About Us - > Reports and Resources - > Presentations and Handouts). The slide show begins with an overview of network characteristics of the Pacific Southwest Region, and includes our thanks to network members who have contributed to outreach subcontracts, exhibits, and Latitudes articles. A handout, What's New at PSRML, was also distributed. A copy is available at: http://nnlm.gov/psr/pdf/jm_02.pdf.  - JKK

MEDLINE Facts

Do you need facts about MEDLINE for teaching and reporting? NLM's Key MEDLINE Indicators table includes: total citations indexed for MEDLINE, citations created for MEDLINE by data entry method, searches done using PubMed and the NLM Gateway, the number of journal titles in MEDLINE and Index Medicus, and the number of retractions, errata, and comments made to citations. This table is linked from the Bibliographic Services Division homepage. Also linked from this page are frequently asked questions about indexing, statistics on number of authors per citation in MEDLINE, and language distribution in MEDLINE from 1966 through 2000.  - JKK

Where Can I Find a Listserv On...?

Finding the right listserv is sometimes the best way to find an expert in a topic. A quick but thoughtful message sent to a group of experts can save hours of time. Here are a few suggestions on finding a listserv to suit your needs:

A list of 70 health sciences library related listservs was compiled by Benoit Thirion
http://www.chu-rouen.fr/documed/lis.html#medlist

AcqWeb's Directory of Journals, Newsletters and Electronic Discussion Archives
http://acqweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/acqweb/journals.html#listservs

AARP's Guide to Internet Resources Related to Aging: Listservs
http://www.aarp.org/cyber/sd3_0.htm

Environmental Health Listservs from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
http://www.astho.org/environmental/listservs.html

globalhealth.gov's Listservs and News Groups
http://www.globalhealth.gov/listservs.shtml

HealthWeb's Health Administration Electronic Discussion Groups
http://www.lib.umich.edu/hw/health.admin/e.discuss.html

HealthWeb's Public Health Electronic Discussion Groups
http://www.lib.umich.edu/hw/public.health/e.discuss.html

Library Oriented Lists and Electronic Serials
http://www.wrlc.org/liblists/

Pharmacy Related Listservs or Other Mailing Lists
http://www.pharmacy.org/lists.html

Rural Issues: Listservs & Discussion Lists
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~rcled/resources/listserv.html

Social Work Access Network's Listservs List
http://www.sc.edu/swan/listserv.html

Telemedicine Electronic Discussion Links
http://tie2.telemed.org/links/listserv.asp

Finally, you might try searching CataList, the official catalog of LISTSERV^® lists. As of February 26, 2002, CataList included 53,706 public lists out of 202,679 LISTSERV lists
http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html

- JKK

(Editor's note: The Directory of Scholarly Electronic Journals and Academic Discussion Lists from the Association for Research Libraries has ceased publication. The electronic version will continue to be available online to subscribers, but will no longer be updated as of January 2002. It will only be available by IP number.)

Surgeon General's Reports on the Web

Full text copies of all reports issued by the United States Surgeon General are now available on the Web at http://sgreports.nlm.nih.gov/NN/. This new site, which includes over 70 digitized reports, is the result of collaboration between NLM and the Office of the Surgeon General. The collection includes Reports, Proceedings, and Workshops from 1964 - 2000, as well as Reports, Conference Reports and Proceedings, and Calls to Action since 2000. These latter materials are also available in NLM's HSTAT at http://hstat.nlm.nih.gov.

Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Surgeon General - - whose title means chief surgeon - - is the federal government's principal spokesperson on matters of public health. In recent decades, the Surgeon General has been a respected voice on public health issues, preventive medicine, and health promotion through public appearances, speeches, and reports and publications. The Surgeon General has often been called upon to deal with difficult and controversial issues, such as smoking and sexual health. The Surgeon General's public statements often served to generate debate where there had been silence, to the benefit of the nation's health.

The collection begins with the 1964 Report on Smoking and Health and includes many issues related to national health and social policy. Later reports continued the examination of smoking and health and also included reports on aging, AIDS and HIV, child health, health promotion and disease prevention, Hispanic and Latino health, mental health, oral health, physical activity and health, sexual abuse, suicide, and television violence among others.

The site includes an online Exhibit, which includes a selection of documents and visuals, organized by subject. The exhibit provides short essays and lists of reports both alphabetical and chronological by document type. All of the materials may be accessed via a search engine as well; searches may be conducted through the entire text as well as metadata.   - JKK

(Editor's Note: Taken from an email message from Marjorie A. Cahn, Head, National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology and from the NLM web exhibit, Reports of the Surgeon General.)

NIH's New Rare Disease Information Center

The NIH Office of Rare Diseases has announced a new Genetic and Rare Disease Information Center. A rare disease is defined as one that has a prevalence of less than 200,000 affected individuals in the USA. More information is available on the Center's web site at http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov including definitions, a list of rare diseases, patient support groups, patient travel and lodging, and research and clinical trials. Also available on the web site is contact information for Information Center staff who will respond to inquiries from the general public, health care professionals, and researchers.

MEDLINEplus also has information on Rare Diseases, including a link to the Office of Rare Diseases and to information on orphan drugs from the Food and Drug Administration.  - JKK

Highlights from the January - February 2002 NLM Technical Bulletin

PubMed/MEDLINE Available with 2002 MeSH and Two Changes

What are the two changes? First is an update on the comments/corrections family of fields. These comments/corrections now display as links so that you can navigate from one citation to another. For example, you can move from a citation for a letter that comments on another article to the PubMed record for that article. A complete list of the different types of comments and corrections is included in this article. Second, beginning in January 2002, PubMed records may include full names for authors. Full names will be included in the following fields: Full Author (FAU), Full Personal Name as Subject (FPS), and Full Investigator (FIR). These fields will display above the standard author field (AU). Full name fields are not searchable.

Herbs and 2002 MeSH

How many of you read the article in the last issue of Latitudes called Late Night Reading: Medical Subject Headings 2002? "Herbs" has been eliminated from MeSH, "on the basis of its vagueness in discourse". This article in the Technical Bulletin explains why "herbs" has been eliminated.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

NLM has been indexing the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews since Summer 2000. Copies of the reviews are available through DOCLINE. (NLM's license with Cochrane permits supply of copies in response to ILL requests.) You can also order copies online from the publisher at a fairly reasonable price ($15 as of February, 2002, with extra charges for same day processing and/or FedEx same day delivery); go to the document delivery section of their Web site at http://www.cochranelibrary.com/Cochrane/. Cochrane is not yet available for LinkOut for Libraries. More detail on Cochrane Reviews and their indexing in MEDLINE is available in this issue of the Technical Bulletin.

PubMed's Systematic Reviews

This issue of the NLM Technical Bulletin includes an excellent article on Systematic Reviews. Briefly described in the last issue of Latitudes, this issue continues with a detailed description, examples, and the strategy used in the Systematic Reviews filter. You can select Systematic Reviews on PubMed's Clinical Queries screen linked on the left sidebar.

Table of Contents for the NLM Technical Bulletin

Table of Contents for the January - February 2002 issue:

In this issue:

PubMed/MEDLINE Available with 2002 MeSH and Two Changes - e2
Herbs: Clarification for Medical Subject Headings - Annotated Alphabetic List 2002 - e3
New License Agreement for Non-U.S. Organizations for Use of MEDLINE^® and Other NLM Databases Solely for Research Purposes - e4
Hands On: Ordering Documents from NLM Gateway Results - e5
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Included in MEDLINE^® - e6
New PubMed^® Filter: Systematic Reviews - e7
MEDLINE^® Maintenance - e8
Cataloging Changes for Serials Issued Simultaneously in Print and Online - e9
Technical Notes: - e1:

Publication Delays of Index Medicus and List of Journals Indexed for Index Medicus 2002
More Frequent Release of MEDLINE Records to PubMed and Licensees
New Heading Added to 2002 MeSH
TOXNET Link Added to PubMed's Sidebar
New Biological Warfare Web Site
Reports of the Surgeon General Available on the NLM Web Site
Key MEDLINE Indicators

Upcoming Events-2002*

*Please visit the PSRML Library Professional Development Award web page to apply for an award to attend educational events. PSRML will make available awards up to $1,000 to individuals in Primary Access Libraries in Region 7. Applications may be made at any time.

Publication Information

Please send items and contributed articles for Latitudes to Julie Kwan, Editor, at jkkwan@library.ucla.edu.

Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library (PSRML), Headquarters for Region 7, NN/LM

UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library/PSRML
12-077 CHS
Box 951798
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798
Phone: (310)825-1200 or (800)338-7657
Fax: (310)825-5389
URL: http://nnlm.gov/psr/

PSRML Staff

Alison Bunting, MLS, Director, abunting@library.ucla.edu
 
Elaine Graham, MLS, Associate Director, elgraham@library.ucla.edu
 
Announcement coming soon!, Health Information Services Coordinator
 
Kay Deeney, MLS, AHIP, Education & Exhibit Coordinator, kdeeney@library.ucla.edu
 
Heidi Sandstrom, RN, MLIS, Consumer Health Information Services Coordinator, heidits@library.ucla.edu
 
Julie Kwan, MS, AHIP, Library Network Coordinator, jkkwan@library.ucla.edu
 
Andrea Lynch, Network Assistant, andlynch@library.ucla.edu
 
Michael Miller, Computer Resource Specialist, mmiller@library.ucla.edu
 
Karen Ricard, Administrative Assistant, kricard@library.ucla.edu

Network members may subscribe to the Regional email discussion list by clicking here. If you do not want to subscribe to the Regional email discussion list, but would like to receive Latitudes click here.

Latitudes: Newsletter of the Pacific Southwest Region, National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) is published bi-monthly by PSRML.

Funded by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under a contract (#N01-LM-1-3517) with the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library.