National Network of Libraries of Medicine - Region 2

The mission of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by: 1) providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information resources; and, 2) improving the public's access to information systems and information resources to enable them to make informed decisions about their health. The Program is coordinated by the National Library of Medicine and carried out through a nationwide network of health science libraries and information centers. The Network comprises eight geographic regions, with a contract for one Regional Medical Library to manage program activities for each region. This contract is for the RML for Region 2, which is located within and provides services to the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The NN/LM goals are: to develop collaborations among network members and other organizations to improve access to and sharing of biomedical information resources throughout the nation; to promote awareness of, access to, and use of biomedical information resources for health professionals and the public, with a particular emphasis on contributing to the Healthy People 2020 goal of eliminating health disparities; and to develop, promote, and improve electronic access to health information by network members, health professionals, and organizations providing health information to the public. A. Network Infrastructure. Each RML is expected to maintain a level of programs and services to continue supporting the infrastructure of the network. Included are activities related to planning, promoting, and implementing services within the region; coordinating the activities of the region with other regions and within the national program; and serving as a contact point for the region in relation to other library and information networks or health organizations and professional associations. The network infrastructure supports health sciences libraries' collaborations with a variety of organizations, including other health sciences libraries as well as affiliate member organizations. Collaborations with affiliate network members such as public libraries and community-based organizations often lead to outreach projects with broad community impact. Specifically the contractor shall undertake the following: Develop and implement a program designed to provide health professionals in all parts of the Region with a basic level of information services; provide document delivery to provide health professionals; assess and respond to the needs of health sciences libraries in order to support programs to improve the transfer of health care and biomedical information within their institutions and through their participation in the network; assist NLM with the implementation of a National Emergency Preparedness Plan; obtain ongoing feedback from users about their information system and information resources preferences, needs and uses, and recommend ways of improving health professional and consumer access to information; conduct or participate in needs assessments or surveys of users and non users of NLM; assist Network members with negotiating e-licensing agreements; develop programs to assist the information professional in promoting evidence based health information in the institution; and assist NLM in identifying and increasing access to collections of historical and unique materials related to the health sciences. B. Outreach Programs. Each RML will implement an outreach program designed to provide health professionals in all parts of the region with basic information services, by maintaining or by negotiating arrangements with libraries willing to serve individuals without a library affiliation. Health professional outreach programs include targeted programs to make underserved rural, minority, and inner city health professionals aware of available health information resources (including PubMed and other specialized NLM databases). In the development of programs to improve the public's access to health information, the RMLs will work with network libraries, state library agencies, state, public and school libraries, community-based organizations, as well as other regional, state, and local organizations that provide health information to the public. Outreach efforts will focus on MedlinePlus and PubMed as resources for locating health information. Outreach programs encompass the following types of activities: 1. Outreach to Health Professionals and Public Health Workers. The contractor shall continue to develop, implement, and evaluate targeted outreach programs to bring biomedical information resources within easy reach of U.S. health professionals and the public health workforce, who are not directly affiliated with an institution with a medical library, with special focus on those in rural, inner cities, Medically Underserved Areas (MUA), and minority health practitioners or those who serve minority populations. The RML outreach program shall focus on: special populations or subject disciplines that have been identified as priority initiatives (e.g., health disparities, consumer health, health information literacy, HIV/AIDS, health services research, toxicology and environmental health); local/state public health departments with particular emphasis on Internet access and collaborations with other organizations/institutions that work with public health personnel; and institutions whose objective is to train minority health practitioners or those who serve minority populations; and to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate resources and provide training in the effective use of electronic health information resources. Health professionals serving minority populations have a special set of problems in accessing information. 2. Consumer Health Information Services. NLM's mission includes providing timely, accurate, and understandable consumer health information to help patients, their families, and the public play a more active role in managing their health and health care. An NLM outreach goal is to reduce health disparities among African American, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaskan Native, and other minority populations through training to promote access to and use of health information among diverse communities. The contractor shall develop, implement, and evaluate outreach programs to increase the public's awareness of and access to high quality electronic health information. In carrying out these programs, the contractor shall work with a variety of intermediaries, including network members, health professionals, public health workers, information professionals, educators, community, faith-based, volunteer, and other types of organizations, including those serving minorities, special and underserved populations, health advocacy and self-help groups. The NN/LM consumer health outreach program shall include: developing programs that reach special populations (e.g. minorities, seniors, teens, veterans' groups, low income populations, etc.), focus on special topics (e.g. health disparities, health information literacy, HIV/AIDS, public health, culturally and linguistically appropriate information, personal health records, emergency preparedness, etc.); promoting NLM resources to consumers; fostering collaborations and encourage outreach partnerships among Network members, community, faith-based, and volunteer organizations to improve access to electronic consumer health information at the local, state, and regional levels; developing culturally and linguistically appropriate resources; providing training in the effective use of electronic health information resources; and developing pilot projects to identify and promote the roles of libraries in institutions that have received or are seeking NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) with a focus on community engagement. 3. Training to Support Electronic Access to Health Information. The contractor shall support training in the effective use of electronic health information resources on the Internet. Emphasis should be on reaching health professionals, public, school and other librarians, and other intermediaries who do not have access to such training or who intend to train others, including consumers. Training should focus on topics not available through other sources and should include, but not be limited to: PubMed, MedlinePlus, and other specialized NLM databases; and finding and evaluating health information resources on the Web. 4. Technology Improvement. The contractor shall develop and implement an NN/LM technology improvement program, if needed, to encourage high quality health information access and delivery to Network members, health professionals and consumers in the Region. Emphasis should be on the ?underconnected,? particularly in inner city and rural health organizations, to upgrade and maintain technology access.