MIDLINE

Welcome to the latest issue of MIDLINE!

Be sure to check out Conference Call 2007, blogging the 2007 Joint Annual Meeting of the Midwest and Midcontinental Chapters in Omaha!

Have any comments or suggestions for improvement? Contact Editor Clare Leibfarth!

Good ideas always welcome!

From Chris Shaffer, Midwest Chapter President
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

The Medical Library Association is dipping its toes in the waters of social networking. With the theme “Only Connect,” MLA President Mark Funk introduced initiatives to move the business of MLA beyond e-mail and an occasionally updated website to the (wonderful? innovative? scary?) worlds of blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, and virtual meetings. It will be interesting to see how many of these actually get adopted and how they change the services and benefits we get from MLA membership.

Will future medical librarians learn to recognize a colleague’s avatar before they ever meet in-person? I’ve been using TheCat as my ID and the infrared cat photo as my avatar for many years now. Will that be my identifier in the medical library community as well? Or will corporate firewalls prevent my hospital library colleagues from communicating with me on LinkedIn and Facebook? Is medical librarianship a large enough community to support social networking, or will we be subsumed into the larger online library community?

Here in the Midwest Chapter, we’re doing our part to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. The new website will include RSS feeds and an online directory. The newsletter is hosted on a blog server (but still published on a schedule old-style). The Conference Call blog allows attendees to share their experiences at the annual meeting. The website redesign will offer ways for committees and the board to share information and work on "living" documents. I’m working with several chairs on the new committee charges using Google Docs, an online word processor that allows multiple people to edit a document simultaneously.

Join me in-person at the annual meeting and we can talk face-to-face about the virtual world! ☺

Submitted by Eileen Stanley, Chair Nominations and Elections Committee

The Nominations and Elections Committee is pleased to announce the results of the 2007 Election of Officers.

President-Elect, 2008: Deborah Lauseng
Recording Secretary, 2008-2009: Elizabeth Smigielski
Treasurer, 2008-2009: Marlene Porter

Potential Nominee to the MLA Nominating Committee: Edwin Holtum

The committee congratulates the winners and thanks the other candidates for their willingness to run for office. The Nominations and Elections Committee members are Pam Bradigan, Doreen Bradley, and Carol Galganski. I want to thank them and Bette Sydelko for their efforts and assistance in completing this task.

Please extend best wishes to our new officers!

If you’d consider running for office, please indicate that on your membership renewal form this fall.

Submitted by Teresa Hartman, Co-Chair, Conference Planning Committee
McGoogan Library of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

Only eight short weeks remain before library staff members and directors from the Midcontinental and Midwest Chapters of the Medical Library Association gather in Omaha for education, professional networking, and yes, even entertainment! Held at the Hilton Omaha on October 12-16, 2007, the License to Learn / License to Lead conference will be an event that you do not want to miss.

Looking for cost-effective CE? You can’t beat the deal offered at our joint conference. Classes on cutting-edge library topics worth 4 MLA CE credits are only $75 each. The most expensive class, worth 6.5 MLA CE credits, is only $125. See the articles later in this issue for more information about the CE classes being offered in Omaha.

Searching for opportunities to hear nationally-recognized speakers presenting topics vital to library directors and staff alike? The License to Learn / License to Lead conference has engaged speakers that cover the worlds of science, medicine, librarianship, and service excellence. And don't miss the chance to hear from our own local experts. An exciting array of posters and paper presentations are on the program

Wishing you had a place to meet other information professionals that are facing similar circumstances as you are dealing with in your facility? This conference offers a gathering of health and medical information professionals from over 16 states, you are bound to find like-minded colleagues or a mentor among them.

Combining recreation with your educational experiences during the conference? In addition to the great hospitality events that are planned during the conference, plan to explore the metro Omaha area and its recreational and cultural offerings.

For more information on conference activities and registration, please check out the fact-filled conference website: http://www.mcmla.org/2007.

Remember early registration ends August 31, so don’t delay!

Submitted by Clare Leibfarth, Midwest Chapter Newsletter Editor
Medical Library, Affinity Medical Center, Massillon, OH

Once again, this year the Midwest Chapter Communications Committee will be blogging the annual conference. Conference Call 2007 will bring you all the pre-conference information you need as well as reporting on conference activities during and after the Joint Meeting of the Midwest and Midcontinental Chapters in Omaha.

To keep up to date on all there is to know about the conference, you can subscribe to the Conference Call 2007 feed.

Are you interested in joining the Conference Call 2007 team? Reporters and photographers are welcome! No experience necessary! Contact Editor Clare Leibfarth for more information.

Will you be taking photos at the conference and posting them to an online service such as Flickr? Be sure to use the "official" conference tag: mcmla2007.

Submitted by Ed Holtum, Chair, 2007 Joint Annual Meeting Publicity Committee
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

MLA’s Midcontinental/Midwest Chapters 2007 Joint Annual Meeting in Omaha offers a lucky thirteen continuing education classes to choose from. For complete information about these offerings at visit the conference website's CE page.

Grant Writing for Success
J. Randal Johnson, Ph.D. and Claire Hamasu
Learn how to write a fundable proposal. Participants will complete the course with a manageable project and the outline of a proposal ready to be completed and submitted to their RML or NLM.

Emerging Mobile Technologies
Melissa De Santis and Gabriel R. Rios
Increase your knowledge of new technologies: Web 2.0 services, podcasting, wireless ubiquity, and emerging mobile services. Discuss issues regarding security and infrastructure. Study cases from institutions that are taking innovative approaches to using mobile devices and new technologies.

Leadership Skills
Natalie Reed
Identify leadership skills and then identify non-supervisory leadership opportunities. In-class discussion and worksheets will help create a personal action plan and timeline to obtain leadership experience.

Bioinformatics Primer
Diane Rein
An introduction to the vocabulary of bioinformatics, this class will demonstrate how to effectively search and navigate through the major medical bioinformatic resources. Various bioinformatic records and search strategies will be demonstrated, including both text-based and DNA/protein sequence-based (BLAST) bioinformatic database searching.

Getting Magnetized: Search and Service Strategies for Nursing Excellence
Margaret (Peg) Allen
Learn about knowledge-based information needs of nurses in clinical and academic settings, with an emphasis on evidence based nursing practice and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet initiative. Also learn efficient methods of finding resources for evidence-based practice, evaluate point-of-care resources, and identify collaborative education and service strategies to improve knowledge-based information services for nurses in clinical and academic settings.

Redesigning Library Spaces for the Electronic Age
Logan Ludwig
This fast paced course will examine technology space planning for new, remodeled, and renovated library space. Examine the design of electronic classrooms, information commons, public access workstations, and touch down stations.

Expert Searching Nursing & Allied Health
Peg Allen
This is a workshop for experienced health sciences librarians who want to improve their knowledge and skills as expert searchers on interdisciplinary teams.

Research for Beginners: Seven Steps for Success
Brenda Pfannenstiel
Examine why we don¹t do research, why we should, and how to get started. Participants will address the topics of getting the resources and approvals to begin, finding and using research instruments, collecting and analyzing data, avoiding project fatigue, and publishing the results.

Library Advocacy
Barbara Jones
This class will provide librarians with the tools and education to successfully advocate for their libraries within their institutions. It will increase awareness of the value of libraries and librarians to hospital administrators and health care professionals.

Patient Safety
Lorri Zipperer
How can librarians contribute to the work of patient safety at their institution? This course will introduce key resources related to patient safety. Learn how knowledge transfer can be identified as an element that supports an organization's ability to learn from both error and patient safety success.

Cultural Competency
Peg Allen
This course focuses on meeting the health information/health literacy needs of refugee and immigrant populations. The model can also be applied to low literacy ethnic groups.

Introduction to Study Design and Critical Appraisal
Connie Schardt
Learn to identify good studies and help support evidence-based medicine within your institutions. Learn critical appraisal skills through an understanding of basic study designs and validity issues related to reducing bias in clinical studies.

Institutional Repositories
Allyson Mower and Karen Estlund
Examine basic concepts, dilemmas, and requirements for creating, maintaining, and marketing an institutional repository. Topics include open access, copyright, system infrastructure, work flow and staffing, and recruitment and use. Part one addresses fundamental issues involved in building institutional repositories. Part two concerns strategies for creating a sustainable repository at institutions.

License to Learn / License to Lead: Knowledgeable and engaging instructors with relevant content. You can¹t go wrong with any of these offerings!

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine’s National Training Center and Clearinghouse will offer classes in PubMed (full-day) and NLM Gateway & Clinical Trials (half-day) at Creighton University on October 11th and 12th. Here’s a great opportunity to receive free expert training on two resources essential for any health science librarian. More information, including registration information is available from the conference web site.

PubMed: This full-day class is designed to teach students how to use PubMed® which includes MEDLINE citations. The class also includes an overview of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) and its importance as a tool to both searchers and indexers. PubMed® is a free class and is awarded 7.5 MLA continuing education credits.

NLM Gateway & Clinical Trials: This half-day class is designed to teach students how to use the NLM Gateway. It also includes a discussion and demonstration of ClinicalTrials.gov. NLM Gateway & ClinicalTrials.gov is a free class and is awarded 3.5 MLA continuing education credits.

Submitted by Ed Holtum, Chair, 2007 Joint Annual Meeting Publicity Committee
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

You should have no trouble getting to Omaha no matter what mode of travel suits you best. The terminal at Eppley Airfield, four miles northeast of downtown Omaha, is served by nine national air carriers and three regional airlines with direct flights to most major United States cities and connecting flights to points throughout the world. For those of you preferring a more adventurous experience, you might want to consider Amtrak. Omaha is served east and west by the famed, “California Zephyr.” Scheduled arrival from the east is 10:34 p.m., from the west, 6:14 a.m. The train station is about a mile south of the Omaha Hilton. On your way to your hotel you can stop at the original Union Depot about three blocks away. It’s one of the finest examples of Art Deco in the Midwest. The station is also home to the Durham Western Historical Museum. While Interstates 80 and 29 are the obvious choices for driving, you might want to consider including U.S. Route 30 as part of your road trip to see the remnants of the historical Lincoln Highway and forego some of the boredom of the superhighways.

To whet your appetite for fine accommodations, take a gander at the website for the conference hotel, the Hilton Omaha, Nebraska's only four diamond property. It’s connected to the brand new Qwest Center and only blocks away from the historic Old Market. A block of rooms have been reserved at the Hilton for October 12-16, 2007. The special room rate will be available until September 15th or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first. Conference-goers also have their choice of five additional quality hotels within walking distance of the conference. No matter where you decide to stay, making reservations is a snap or, rather, a click. Just go to the Hotel Information page on the conference web site.

Submitted by Ed Holtum, Chair, 2007 Joint Annual Meeting Publicity Committee
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Omaha is Nebraska's largest city, with a population of nearly 400,000 within the city limits and nearly 700,000 in the metropolitan area. More than a million people live within a 50-mile radius of this dynamic and energetic city. Don’t wait until you get to Omaha to start planning your social activities. From the "From McGoogan With Love: Welcome Reception" to the "Taste of Omaha" Dine Around Dinners to the "007 Musical Nightcap" with T. Scott and Kenny O, there will be plenty of conference sponsored fun. But don’t stop there. There are plenty of Omaha attractions, many within walking distance, including plays, music, films, animals, plants, boutiques, clothing stores, book stores, antiques stores, galleries, brewpubs, florists, coffee shops, and record stores.

Evidence-Based Medicine Roundtable
Submitted by Carol Jeuell
Brennemann Library,Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL

I attended the Evidence-Based Medicine chapter council roundtable at the MLA meeting. I really appreciate this format for getting valuable information on a topic of my interest. This format allowed me to meet other librarians who shared information on their EBM programs. I was delighted to reconnect with one of my colleagues from a number of years ago and learn that we were dealing with the same EBM issues. We all exchanged e-mail addresses so that we could consult each other on EBM topics after the meeting. The roundtables are a great way to connect with colleagues who are focused on similar problems.

Concerns were brought up about teaching EBM and about what the format and content of a class should be. We each talked about how we approached teaching EBM and discussed the essential elements that should be covered. Special attention was directed toward the EBM pyramid that shows the different levels of evidence from expert opinion to critically appraised topics and systematic reviews.

The following specific sources of EBM information were listed and briefly discussed:

TRIPdatabase.com http://www.tripdatabase.com/index.html Information on the best available evidence can be quickly retrieved to answer clinical questions.

Journal of Family Practice http://www.jfponline.com/ Articles are published on evidence-based work that is relevant to family practice physicians.

Natural Standard http://www.naturalstandard.com/ This database provides evidence-based articles on complementary and alternative therapies.

Bandolier http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/ This is a monthly online newsletter on evidence of effectiveness and publishes that information in simple bullet points.

Joanna Briggs Institute http://www.joannabriggs.edu.au/about/home.php This site promotes and supports best practices by sharing information on the best evidence for effective health care practices.

DynaMed http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/aboutUs.php This database provides point-of-care reference information for the best available evidence to support clinical decision-making.

BMJ Clinical Evidence http://www.clinicalevidence.com/ceweb/index.jsp This journal publishes systematic reviews of important clinical decisions.

EBM Roundtable participants were encouraged to check out the following EBM tutorials:

Duke University http://www.hsl.unc.edu/services/tutorials/EBM/welcome.htm and
SUNY Downstate Medical Center http://library.downstate.edu/EBM2/contents.htm.

Technology Issues Roundtable
Submitted by Bryan S. Vogh
Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois, Chicago, Chicago IL

I was a recipient of the “Free Lunch” award that allowed me to attend the Chapter Council Roundtables Luncheon at MLA in Philadelphia. I chose the table for "Technology Issues for Hospital Librarians." I thought this experience would help me be a better Technology Coordinator by allowing me to hear first hand in an informal setting the issues that hospital librarians were experiencing. My goal was to listen, think about what I had heard and then see how I could take the information that was shared and use it to improve the GMR’s technology program.

The sharing centered on proxy issues and relationships with the information technology staff. There was a lot of head nodding and sympathetic looks exchanged as people discussed the issues they were experiencing. It would be great to see more development by MLA or the MLA chapters on issues related to the trend toward heavy use of and reliance on technology in libraries. A class on how to work with your information technology staff or dealing with proxy problems would seem to be right on target.

I am thankful for the opportunity to hear about these issues first hand. I think this experience will help me develop programs that are more connected with the concerns that hospital librarians face daily. I would encourage others to apply for this award both to connect with colleagues at the national level and to broaden your exposure to like minds.

Submitted by Julie Schneider
Ebling Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI

If you aren’t familiar with Woods Hole, Massachusetts, I can tell you that their claims to fame are many, and well deserved. The Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the SEA Education Association, NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center and, of course, the Captain Kidd Century Old Bar are just some of the highlights of this Massachusetts town that describes itself as “a salty, sea spray village that brings the Nobel Laureate and the local fisherman together in harmony.”

Photo courtesy of MBL

But maybe more importantly, twice a year in the spring and fall, Woods Hole becomes the setting for the BioMedical Informatics Course sponsored by the National Library of Medicine.

I and my fellow classmates began the journey of discovery on a Sunday evening in late May 2007. Over drinks and snacks we had our first chance to meet the people that would share with us what they knew about the topic of biomedical informatics. At least what could be shared over the course of an hour and a half session. After giving us some time to meet and mingle, our course director, Christopher Cimino, brought us all together and gave us a chance to introduce ourselves including the faculty. Right then I really began to appreciate the opportunity that I had been given to be a part of this course and to interact with the people that were there.

Over the next five days, with sessions scheduled from 8:30 in the morning until 9:00 at night, we were introduced to a broad range of topics that are a part of biomedical informatics study. From database theory to clinical information systems and the Visible Human Project, the team of instructors shared with us their research and working knowledge of a topic that interested them as much as it enthralled most of us. While the days sound long, I still wish I could return for a couple more days, maybe even just a couple of hours, to ask those questions that I have now that I didn’t have when the class started. Or just to meet with everyone again over a beer at Captain Kidd.

I would be remiss if I didn’t end with my sincere thanks to Donald Lindberg and the National Library of Medicine for this tremendous opportunity. Thanks to each and every one of the instructors who took the time to share their expertise with us and enthusiasm for this area of study; particularly our course director, Christopher Cimino. And last, but never least, huge thanks to Cathy Norton and her staff for sharing their beautiful facilities, their vigilance in keeping us on track, their support at every turn, and their humor when they probably wanted to strangle some of us.

If you haven’t ever applied for a MBL fellowship, do it NOW. And save me a seat at the Captain’s and I’ll buy the first round.

Submitted by Brian Wooton, DO
Fargo, ND

When I arrived in Woods Hole for the BioMedical Informatics Course presented by the National Library of Medicine, I found myself standing along with several other strangers as the Peter Pan bus driver unloaded our wheelie bags onto the tarmac of the ferry dock. As I had been here once before when my medical librarian wife attended the course five years prior, I became de facto leader, picking my way past seafood restaurants, bars, and classrooms of a sleepy New England port that existed only because of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Like Make Way for Ducklings, we wandered over a tiny drawbridge, around Eel Pond, and then to Swope Hall. Though many of the younger students may have found dorm life a return to normalcy, a larger number of us were looking at our middle-age through the rear-view mirror.

Photo courtesy of MBL

The schedule began with a meet-and-greet. As I am a family physician working for the Indian Health Service in northern Minnesota, I didn’t think I had much in common with anyone. I knew from the list of students that people were from all over the country and from all professions. There were medical librarians, of course, but also folks from public health, dietetics, even an executive from a drug company. Even the physicians weren’t of my ilk, with representatives of psychiatry and heme/onc and even researchers. I mostly stayed off to the side, enjoying my glass of wine and letting others mingle.

The next morning, thirty laptops were set up in a classroom overlooking the harbor. I chose my usual “ejector seat,” in the back closest to the door, where I spent most of medical school. If things get too boring, it’s a short trip out the back door. The first lectures were about where medical informatics got its start, and the lecturers were scions of the discipline. Ed Hammond did his first work using punch cards, and Dr. Donald Lindberg took the NLM into the 21st century from the middle of the 20th. Lunch in the cafeteria, more lectures on the working parts of informatics, dinner, evening workshop on a database project. We were divided into groups for our project, to construct a database to aid a public health project.

It was the project more than anything that began to make the experience gel for me. There were six of us, two docs, three medical librarians, and a public health officer. We met for meals and for drinks at Captain Kidd’s, argued about design and goals of the project, and mostly got to know each other pretty well. I learned just how select a group we all were. Out of 300 people who applied, only thirty of us got in. The students were smart, interested in more than just medicine, peers in a world where we have spent our lives as the oddballs. We were either too smart or too driven or too geeky to fit in with society at large, victims of our success. The lowest degree in the room was a masters, with most people there with either two masters degrees or a doctorate level. Better still, they weren’t just family doctors. Family docs all know about the same stuff, knowledge a mile wide and an inch deep but generally restricted to medicine. These people knew stuff about stuff that added up to the group knowing a whole lotta stuff.

Over the course of a week, I started to groove on the subject material. Some very smart people have devoted a lot of mental horsepower to converting the art and mechanics of medicine to a process that allows capture of knowledge in a digital format. This has to happen while doing a difficult task, practicing medicine. We heard lectures on team building and overcoming institutional inertia, online resources, and database management. Even better, we made professional contacts, learned about other disciplines, and made friendships.

About halfway through the course, my wife emailed the link to a blog that was maintained by a classmate. Rachel, who is a librarian from Vanderbilt, had made an entry that told about going to “nerd camp.” This tickled me no end. Indeed, the smart kids were all together in one place. We had a lifetime of being the smartest one in the room, but now the smart kids were all in the same class. We went to Martha’s Vineyard together, we drank at Captain Kidd’s together, it was like we finally got rid of all the bullies and jocks, and slackers and the nerds now ruled the school. And the teachers weren’t just Mrs. Bjorklund trying to teach us Spanish. Many were near legends in their field and who still took time to lift a frosty mug with us after the day was done.

On the penultimate night, we had a clambake scheduled. I imagined finding a lonely stretch of beach and burying hot rocks on which we were to throw a bushel of clams and a few crustaceans. Instead, we were transported to a mansion overlooking a bay studded with sailboats. We drank free booze while standing on manicured lawns, the nerds having the country club experience. We had run of the house that had been bequeathed to the National Science Foundation; I explored every corner, every bathroom, even the basement and the kitchen. Earlier in my life I had been the one washing dishes in the scullery, now I was being served coconut shrimp. I felt like someone had died and I graduated to the grown-up table at Thanksgiving dinner. Afterwards, we went to the house allotted to Chris Cimino, our fearless leader, where we drank wine and beer and stronger spirits and I realized that at last, I had found my peers.

The last morning I was only mildly regretful of the previous evening’s activities, and our speakers reached a crescendo of whiz-bangery that blinded me. Michael Ackerman (who looks like Donald Fagan’s brainy cousin) told the story of the making of the Visible Human. After this, the NLM’s own Dr. Lawrence Kingsland lit us up with what’s on the Internet’s horizon and how this amazing technology is about to get unbelievably amazinger. The last event was the presentation of our projects, where it became obvious that the value of the project was in the team building and not the work itself. Goodbyes, hugs, promises to keep in touch, and then the gradual dispersal of our band of geeks.

That evening in the dorm after about half of our class had left, several of us had reason to sit in the hallway with a bottle of red wine and a few plastic glasses. Although I missed my wife, going home seemed a grim prospect. I didn’t want to leave this fantasy week of nerd camp. The next morning, a few of us got back onto the Peter Pan bus. I got a kiss on the cheek from an ad exec from Manhattan, a handshake from a public health officer from New Orleans. Logan Airport pared us down further, and the last of the gang waved goodbye to me from O’Hare’s terminal as she left for Springfield, Illinois, one of the ducklings who had originally followed me from the bus stop. When my wife greeted me at the gate of Fargo’s airport, most of me was home but a small part was left in Woods Hole, in a classroom overlooking the tugboat in the harbor.

Submitted by Carol Perryman
School of Information & Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC

At the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Health Science Library Association, T. Scott Plutchak urged health science librarians to consider new avenues for practice, and even to think about discarding old, outworn ones. In Second Life, a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), librarians of all types, including medical and consumer health librarians, have an opportunity to do just that.

Funded by the Greater Midwest Region of NN/LM through the Alliance Library System in East Peoria, Illinois, librarians at HealthInfo Island in Second Life explore the provision of consumer health information services in a virtual environment. The island is home to a consumer health library and a medical library, as well as virtual outposts or displays run by the NLM Special Information Services, contractors for NIH, the Swedish Red Cross, the Toronto Alzheimer Society, and our newest building the Accessibility Center, which houses another GMR NN/LM funded project. This latest initiative intended to encourage awareness of vision, mobility, learning, and other disabilities will be hosting an open house September 9th.

The new Accessibility Center (left), the Consumer Health Library (right),
and part of a display about consumer health information services

Displays around the island are often created in collaboration with a wide assortment of people, including LIS students, an epidemiologist, non-profit health entities such as the Alzheimer’s Society of Toronto, Canada, and support groups for a range of health issues. Visit HealthInfo Island, now located next to islands owned by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the CDC, and the University of Gronigen Medical Library, and you’ll find much more than you expected. In mountain gardens, small and large spaces created by real life New Zealand landscaper-turned-educational software designer Isa Goodman offer places for support groups to meet. At the other end of the island, Toxie Cortes and his colleagues are working to replicate the NLM Toxtown website so visitors can learn more about environmental hazards. Interactive "information objects," like the giant cigarette located above the fireplace in the Consumer Health Library, lead the user through a menu of choices, ultimately offering resources in the form of web pages, flash tutorials, or take-away notecards A laptop provides links to CAPHIS-approved health sites.

Participation in such an environment challenges the creative imagination. How can we re-envision informational displays to make them more interactive? How can we market to a community that literally crosses boundaries of discipline, culture, language, time, and space? If we’re successful, how can individual reference services be offered to a community that now numbers in the millions? What is a library collection in a place where proprietary resources are out of the question? We feel collaboration is part of the answer.

A focus on responsive development might mean starting with few, but broad, quality resources (MedlinePlus, for example), then creating others in direct response to need. For us, it means outreach to dozens of active support groups, enlisting their help in the creation of displays, workshops, and health fairs. One recent event featured a Greek internal medicine physician who met with a Second Life diabetes support group for an informal Q & A session. Another example is the AIDS/HIV display created by an epidemiologist in conjunction with an HIV-positive young person that offers prevention information along with free virtual condoms and a link to support group contacts.

It also means active and adaptive learning, something at which librarians excel, and relationship-building between librarians and much larger entities (such as the Johns Hopkins Berman Center for Bioethics, NLM, or IBM) as well as between multi-type librarians in a vital and growing community.

Librarians Carol Perryman, an experienced consumer health and medical librarian and a 4th-year PhD student at SILS UNC-Chapel Hill, NC, and Guus van den Brekel, Coordinator of Electronic Services at the Central Medical Library, University Medical Center Gronigen, the Netherlands, welcome your visits and involvement in this intriguing exploration of what the future holds! Contact Carolina Keats (Perryman’s "in world" name) or Namro Orman (van den Brekel's "in world" name) in Second Life, or email Perryman for more information or a tour of this not-so-strange new world.

Submitted by Sharon Kambeitz-Lumphrey
Allina Hospitals & Clinics, Minneapolis, MN

A classroom of participants attended the "Patient Safety Resource Seminar" course presented by Holly Burt of the Greater Midwest Region of the NN/LM. With her passion for teaching, Holly presented a well-received course on a wealth of the best patient safety resources for librarians. Following the morning's CE, Chair Judy Heeter convened the June 8, 2007 annual business meeting at noon in conjunction with the group lunch. It was announced that Donna Barbour-Talley was officially elected as Chair-Elect. The official launch date, July 31, 2007 was announced for the website called My Health Minnesota - Go Local and that ceremonial remarks will be made by Dr. Donald Lindberg; Dr. Frank Cerra, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, University of Minnesota; and Suzanne Miller, State Librarian.

Final announcements were made that HSLM along with other Minnesota organization members will present the September 2007 program, Minnesota Library 2.0 Summit with presenter Michael Stephens, internationally known technology speaker and author. Social software is touted as the new wave of technologies and will draw a diverse group of librarians and information workers throughout Minnesota.

Submitted by Anne Mackereth
Greenawalt Library, Northwestern Health Sciences University, Bloomington, MN

Have you heard about this "Library 2.0" thing? Want to learn more about it and how it can help you and your library? You’re in luck!

On September 14, 2007, HSLM and other Minnesota organizations will sponsor internationally known library technology speaker and author Michael Stephens for a day-long Library 2.0 event.

Michael will kick off the morning with an introduction to Library 2.0. The afternoon session will be based on his book, Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software.

You can register for either the morning or afternoon session, or for both. Registration is discounted when attending both sessions. The morning session, Introduction to Library 2.0, includes a continental breakfast with registration. The afternoon session, Best Practices in Social Software for Libraries, includes lunch.

The event will be held at the Radisson Hotel in Roseville, MN. The Radisson will provide free parking and free wireless access for attendees, whether you want to blog the class or just try out some of the tools during the breaks. We plan to have some fun and games, too. If you ever wanted to try out Dance Dance Revolution or Second Life, this will be your chance. If you've never heard of Dance Dance Revolution or Second Life, come learn about them!

To register and for further information, visit: http://mnlibrary2.blogspot.com/.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Submitted by Mary K. Taylor
Morris Library, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

Megan Barkelar is the Consumer Health Librarian at the Health Resource Center of Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in her home town of Lacrosse, WI. She provides library services to patients, staff, and community members. She has an undergraduate degree in Information Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and received her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. Her hobbies include photography.

Caroline Conlon is the Library Director of the Medical Library & College of Nursing Library at St. Anthony Medical Center in DeKalb, IL, where she "manage[s] and participate[s] in the daily operations of these two libraries." She is responsible for strategic long-term planning. She adds, "I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I was hired in February as the Information Services Librarian for Saint Anthony College of Nursing. I was also in my last semester of completing my master’s degree. The director who hired me left in May due to her husband relocating, and I was offered her job. I graduated and became director of two libraries all in one week’s time." Caroline received her bachelor's in Art History from the University of Illinois-Chicago and her MLS from the University of Illinois. She is a native of Elmhurst, IL.

Melissa Rethlefsen is the Education Technology Librarian at the Learning Resource Center at the Mayo Clinic Libraries of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She works in both the Learning Resource Center and the Mayo Clinic Medical School library. Her duties include collection development, instruction, tutorial and other web development, reference, and education technology support for medical students and medical school faculty. Melissa's professional interests include social software, public health, and bibliometrics. This native of Winona, MN received her undergraduate degree in English and History from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She received her MLS from the University of North Texas in 2004.

Congratulations to MLA Fellow James Shedlock, AHIP, FMLA, Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL!

Congratulations to all who worked on the 2006 Midwest Chapter Annual Conference in Louisville! The chapter won an Honorable Mention in the MLA Public Relations Swap and Shop for promoting the meeting using burlap bundles of Kentucky bluegrass seed.

Beth Carlin will be representing the Midwest Chapter at an exhibit at the upcoming Health Sciences Librarians of Illinois meeting.

Each year, members of the Medical Library Association honor individual achievements of high order in specific areas of librarianship. The deadline for nominations/applications for MLA's awards and honors is November 1, 2007.

The list of awards and honors and their past recipients as well as nomination/application forms are available on MLANET.

MIDLINE is published in electronic format four times a year by the Midwest Chapter/Medical Library Association. The newsletter archives are available at http://midwestmla.org/midline-archive/. Statements and positions expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily represent the official positions of the chapter, the chapter board, or the editor. Contributions from all chapter members are welcomed and encouraged.

Copy deadlines for future issues are as follows:

Fall 2007: October 15, 2008
Winter 2008: January 15, 2008
Spring 2008: April 15, 2008
Summer 2008: July 15, 2008

Contributions may be edited for brevity, clarity, or conformance to style. The Medical Library Association Style Manual, available at http://mlanet.org/publications/style, provides guidelines for MIDLINE contributors. All copy should be submitted in electronic format to the editor, Clare Leibfarth (email: leibfarth@oucom.ohiou.edu). Photos should be submitted as .jpeg files.

Mailing address changes should be reported to: Bette Sydelko, Membership Secretary, Midwest Chapter/MLA, Fordham Health Sciences Library, 125D Medical Sciences Bldg., Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435 (e-mail: bette.sydelko@wright.edu).

The Midwest Chapter/Medical Library Association website is located at http://midwestmla.org.

Clare Leibfarth, Editor
Medical Library
Affinity Medical Center, Doctors Campus
400 Austin Avenue N.W., Massillon, OH 44646