The NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region consists of a vast and diverse area of roughly 48 million people. The RML, based at the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library in Los Angeles, supports a variety of libraries and health information centers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the U. S. Territories in the Pacific. The Region stretches across six time zones, as well as the International Date Line. The geographic diversity presents a study in contrasts and great differences in information needs, from the urban hubs of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, to the remote island communities of the Pacific. The Region covers 11% of the total U.S. land area, and includes nearly 16% of the total U. S. population. In addition to the great geographical distances, the Region is culturally, ethnically, and linguistically very diverse. Over 200 languages and dialects are known to be spoken and read in California, making it one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. Arizona is home to many Native Americans and Hispanic Americans, Nevada has many frontier counties, and Hawaii has the largest population of Native Hawaiians. Another challenge is the changing landscape of health sciences libraries, particularly hospital libraries, which are undergoing a continuing trend of downsizing and closure, primarily due to institutional economic pressures and retirements of senior librarians. Despite these challenges, we have developed a program to publicize and promote the resources and services of the National Library of Medicine to as many audiences as possible. One of our key strategies is carefully planning the timing of webinars and other online meetings for the convenience of all parts of the Region. We also make extensive use of social media channels, two blogs, and an electronic announcement list to promote the word about new or revised NLM resources, upcoming events, technology tips, training information, and funding opportunities that may be of interest to our constituents. To support hospital librarians, we have extensively supported advocacy efforts by sponsoring workshops and providing professional development funding directed at hospital librarians wishing to enhance their skills. The Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library proposes to continue providing Regional Medical Library services to the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and U.S. Territories in the Pacific Basin for the 2016-2021 Cooperative Agreement. We recognize that technologies and health information priorities will change during the course of the agreement, and we stand ready to monitor and evaluate the communication tools used by our primary audiences, and to adapt our methods accordingly. We believe that the program put forward in this proposal to serve the NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region provides a balanced, logical, and flexible approach to improving access to health information and to promoting the systems and services of the National Library of Medicine.
Overall Component Project Narrative The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, also known as the Regional Medical Library Program, established by the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, has served the biomedical information needs of the nation for over forty-five years. Network members are supported by eight regional offices, the Regional Medical Libraries (RMLs). The overall mission of the NN/LM is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information, and improving the public?s access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health.
| Barr-Walker, Jill; Nevels, Iesha (2018) Creating value through outreach in a hospital setting: a case study from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Library. J Med Libr Assoc 106:483-489 |
