Outreach News:
OUTREACH BUFFET

Two Arkansas Hospitals Named Internet Connectivity Sites

The National Library of Medicine [NLM] offers various opportunities for medical libraries, hospitals and clinics to upgrade or install new Internet equipment for the purpose of providing health professionals with access to NLM’s services and resources such as MEDLINE via PubMed. The institution applying must have limited Internet access or none at all.

The newest recipients of these awards are Mercy Hospital of Scott County in Waldron, AR and Booneville Community Hospital in Logan County. Each of these hospitals will receive workstation equipment (computer, printer, fax, and software) and Internet service provider subsidy for one year, as needed.

Staff at each site will also be provided with free on-site training from the UAMS Library which will cover use of the equipment, basic Internet searching (if needed) and training in the use of PubMed for searching the clinical literature in the MEDLINE database. Their health professionals will have access to various biomedical and consumer health resources for clinical, research, and patient education needs.

If you would like additional information about Internet Connectivity grants, please contact Susan Steelman at 501-686-6737 or email SteelmanSusanC@uams.edu.

Exhibits

This period has been an extremely busy time for outreach services in the UAMS Library. In addition to regular classes, we have also been providing information on library services and biomedical resources during exhibits at annual conferences and meetings for health professionals.

We also exhibit at health fairs for the general public in order to distribute information on quality consumer health web sites and resources such as ARHealthLINK, the consumer health web site for the state of Arkansas. It also provides us with the opportunity to let Arkansans know that the UAMS Library is open to the public and they may come in to use our print and electronic resources.

September 7, 2002 Mary Ryan and Dena Plaisted exhibited ARHealthLINK and NLM’s MEDLINEplus consumer health web site at the 5-A-Day Health Fair held in the Rivermarket in downtown Little Rock. During a 4 hour period they distributed information to over 300 individuals.

Saturday, September 21, 2002 Susan Steelman and Abby Holt exhibited at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Psychiatric Society held in the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock. This was our first time to exhibit with this group and we look forward to working with them further in the future. In addition to providing them with information on NLM products and services, we also had the opportunity to make some good contacts with other exhibitors such as the NAMI group.

Upcoming Exhibits

The Library will also be exhibiting at the upcoming Arkansas Hospital Association annual meeting on October 10, 2002 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

To promote quality resources to the public, we will be exhibiting at the UAMS Wellness Fair to be held November 7, 2002. Please stop by and see us.

By Susan Steelman, MLIS