Serving the Public

Health Information for the Public Program at the NN/LM PNR

The Pacific Northwest Regional Medical Library is funded by the National Library of Medicine to:

• reach minorities, senior citizens, and low income populations
• with NLM and other organizations, improve access to electronic consumer health information at local, state, and regional levels
• promote MEDLINEplus

We are collaborating with a group of advisors to develop tools for this work.

Resources for Librarians and Health Educators

HEALTHINFOQUEST: Online tutorial helps you find the right health information for the consumer.

New! Public Libraries and Community Partners: Working Together to Provide Health Information - a website created by NN/LM to aid in planning health information outreach projects in local communities.

Nine Ways You Can Really Help Consumers Needing Health Information

Best Health Favorites for Your Computer...or to put on a public access computer

New! Workshop on Cultural and Linguistic Competence: Handouts from a workshop for RML and NLM staff, led by the National Center for Cultural Competence.

Handouts for consumers

• Evaluating Health Information: MEDLINEplus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing
• Quality filtering: How can I tell if this health information is good for me?
  ¡También en Español! ¿Como puede saber si la información le sirve?
• Promotional items: Libraries can get multiple, FREE Medlineplus bookmarks and posters directly from the National Library of Medicine. For other publicity items for your patrons, see our list of Promotional Items.

Find a health library

Our Directory of U.S. health libraries can be used to find addresses and phone numbers, as well as to locate Loansome Doc providers and libraries that serve the public.

Funding for health information outreach to consumers

• Access to Electronic Health Information (Current projects)
• Outreach Project Awards (Recent projects)
• Mini-awards (Proposals accepted at any time until funds are exhausted)
  • Training Award Application
  • Exhibit Award Application
• New! Other projects and RFPs
• Example of outreach activity - Extreme Outreach! PowerPoint presentation (10.79mb, created March 2003)

Classes and training materials.

• New!Consumer Health Classes for Public Libraries:
  • Prescription for Success: Consumer Health on the Web
  • From Snake Oil to Penicillin: Evaluating Consumer Health Information on the Internet
  • Looking in All the Wrong Places: PubMed for Public Librarians
  • Beyond an Apple A Day: Providing Consumer Health Information in the Public Library
• Class notes: Too Many Health Questions Got You Down? Here's Some Relief. Overheads from a 90 minute class for public librarians and health professionals on helping consumers find good health information.
• Consumer Health: An Online Manual
• Consumer Health Information: A Workshop for Librarians Providing Health Information to the Public. Developed by Lorna Springston and Marsha Sullivan.
• NN/LM PNR's Collection of Training Materials
  
• National Training Center & Clearinghouse

This publication is funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. N01-LM-1-3516.

NLM | MEDLINEplus | PubMed | NLM Gateway | TOXNET | LOCATORplus

NN/LM | UW HSL | NN/LM PNR | Contact us: nnlm@u.washington.edu | Revised: September 7, 2004

URL: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/hip/