PH/HA News
Newsletter of the Public Health/Health Administration Section
of the Medical Library Association
Spring 2004
Editor: Barbara Nail-Chiwetalu
Column Editors:Marie Ascher (Grey Literature), Helena VonVille (GIS)
Newsletter Committee: Brad Long and Linda Spitzer
PH/HA News Web site: http://phha.mlanet.org/newsletter.html
CONTENTS
PH/HA Reports
Columns
MLA Announcements
News From/About the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Resources and Announcements
Guide to Content for Working Class and Multicultural Communities
Contributed Articles
Conferences/Calls for Papers and Posters
PH/HA Reports
From the Editor
Barbara Nail-Chiwetalu, Editor/Chair of Newsletter Committee, PH/HA, bnailchi@umd.edu
Thank you to those who responded to my call in the Fall 2003 issue for your feedback regarding this newsletter. We received some very complimentary comments. I am pleased to know that you appreciate the work that the many people put into each newsletter and find it useful.
I am particularly excited about the wealth of submissions we received for this Spring 2004 issue. Your contributions are what make this newsletter what it is. In addition to the usual categories, I am particularly pleased to present three contributed articles. You will find part 3 of Laura Larsson’s notes on how to create a great Web content, Part II of Brad Long’s discussion of the QuintEssential Conference, and the annual report from the Sewell Stipend recipients who attended the American Public Health Association (APHA) conference. Note that the Sewell article contains some valuable resources along with an account of the conference. Due to the length of two of the articles, you will find the full-text accessible from a link.
Keep that content coming! Thanks to all of the contributors and the Newsletter Committee for making this a wonderful resource for all.
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From the Chair
Marie Ascher, Chair PH/HA, marie_ascher@nymc.edu
Dear PH/HA Members:
I am most happy to be writing a column for the Spring newsletter, as this is the Spring that felt like it might never arrive. As I write this, it is snowing here in New York, but I remain optimistic.
We have a change that I’d like to report. Lisa Wallis is now the Webmaster/Web Committee Chair for the Section. Thank you to Lisa, and thanks to Ammon Ripple for his time served in this position.
Also, thanks to Marjorie Cahn for agreeing to serve as our Nominee to the Nominating Committee this year. Please be sure to support Marj as she will, if elected, be a great representative for our Section in this capacity.
Others will report the election results but I must say it is nice that we have enough interest in Section offices that we had two contested elections again this year. Congratulations to the winners. And thanks to all who run and serve.
Another Annual Meeting draws near and we have lots to talk about, so I hope you can make it to Washington DC to “Seize the Power”. Chair-Elect, Kris Alpi, has pulled some fantastic section programming together for PH/HA. You won’t want to miss it!
Regards,
Marie
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PH/HA Membership Report
Submitted by Pauline Fulda, PH/HA Section Membership Chair, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans
The new year of 2004 is off to a great start for PH/HA membership!
As of January 21, 2004, we have 161 members. That number includes 156 returning section members and 5 new members. Our section renewal rate for 2004 is an excellent 99.4%. Thanks to all of you who renewed your MLA and PH/HA Section membership for another year.
We extend a special welcome to our five new members. They are:
- Kathleen Alsup at the Medical Library of St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, MO
- Joan Colburn at the Health Sciences Library of MAHEC in Asheville, NC
- Jenny Garcia at the Coe Library of the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, WY
- Doreen Keough at the Public Health Library of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Administration
- Lee Vucovich at the Lister Hill Library of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
We are delighted to have them as new members and look forward to their participation in our section.
Please remember it is not too late to recruit new members to MLA and to our section. Individuals can join or renew by mail or even online at --https://www.mlanet.org/joinmla/mbrappf.html
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Columns
CDC Column: Open Access Publishing Conference
Buy a new Honda Accord sedan or renew a journal subscription? This analogy emphasizing journal subscription costs in today’s world is no surprise to serials librarians but it resonated with the audience at the recent Open Access Publishing Conference in Atlanta on January 7, 2004. Jointly sponsored by the libraries of CDC and Emory, this conference was the first in a series of annual educational events, which will address topics of concern to both library users and librarians.
Open access publishing is potentially of great interest to the public health community, which often experiences barriers in accessing information disseminated through traditional channels. The CDC–Emory Open Access Publishing Conference was intended to give local public health researchers, as well as biomedical faculty and scientists, an opportunity to learn more about this emerging publishing model. It was also timely – in December 2003 The Wall Street Journal ranked open access publishing as one of the 10 most important health stories of the year, in great part due to the well publicized launch of the Public Library of Science [http://www.plos.org/] PLoS Biology journal. Other 2003 milestones include the Bethesda Principles meeting [http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/bethesda.htm], the Wellcome Trust endorsement of open access [http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/1/awtvispolpub.html], and support from the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation and a number of leading European scientific societies.
The conference featured Dr. Harold Varmus, co-founder and chairman of the Board of the Public Library of Science, and a long-standing advocate of open access publishing. Dr. Varmus’ address, “The Coming Revolution in the Publication of Scientific Papers,” emphasized that in today’s Internet era, the traditional Gutenberg print publishing model is outdated. Electronic publishing has the advantages of reduced costs, global distribution, content that can be linked to datasets, improved archiving, and full-text searching. Several major open access publishing challenges remain including engaging professional societies in this approach, building sustainable open access business plans, and changing academic culture so that published works are evaluated for content rather than for the journal label.
A panel of speakers gave stakeholders’ perspectives. In addition to his Honda Accord analogy, Sheldon Kotzin spoke to NLM’s priorities of providing access to and permanent retention of the world’s biomedical literature, and he also described PubMed Central [http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/]. Dr. John Nickerson, editor of Emory University’s Molecular Vision [http://www.molvis.org/molvis/], related issues associated with the creation of this low cost refereed open access journal that has achieved scientific recognition in its field. Publishing trends affecting libraries were well discussed by Linda Watson, director of the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library and MLA representative at the Bethesda Principles meeting. Dr. Marta Gwinn, from CDC, presented a scientist’s viewpoint.
The Open Access Conference, with its simultaneous Webcast, was well received and sets a high standard for forthcoming CDC and Emory libraries’ educational events. The conference organizers were most appreciative of support by the National Networks of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern Atlantic Region. Conference presentations are viewable at the meeting Web site: http://ada/healthsci.emory.edu/openaccess.
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Accessing Grey Literature Report in Public Health
Submitted by Lea Myohanen, Elizabeth Taylor, Latrina Keith, and Janice Kaplan, all from The New York Academy of Medicine
Grey literature is defined as “that which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers.” (Ascher, M. GreyLitReport, 1999. http://www.nyam.org/library/greylit/whatis.shtml). The impetus for the establishment of The New York Academy of Medicine’s Grey Literature Report came from a conference held at the Academy in 1998 where researchers identified grey literature as an integral part of their research resources. Dr. Brad Gray of the Academy's Division of Health and Science Policy subsequently wrote about the importance of grey literature in health policy research (Gray 1998).
The Academy’s Grey Literature Report was first published in 1999, and it originally began as a way to serve the needs of the Academy’s internal researchers. Over the years, however, the popularity of the Report has led to the establishment of a subscriber list of over 200 readers who receive the Report via e-mail. The Report is currently published quarterly in an electronic format.
The subject areas of The Grey Literature Report span the broad areas of public health, health and science policy, and health of minorities and special populations, including children, women, and the elderly. To date, material in the purely clinical medicine areas has not been collected though we are considering expanding the Report in this direction, particularly as it pertains to clinical material for the researcher and the practicing public health workforce.
Currently two Academy librarians scan publication pages of organizations to locate and evaluate recent output in the form of case studies, conference proceedings, discussion papers, fact sheets, issue briefs, government documents, research reports, and white papers. So far no audiovisual material, videos, or Webcasts are included in the Report although there has been discussion about including these publication formats in the future. Organizations are identified through current awareness sites, staff referrals, and serendipitous reading. Scanned organizations include government agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, research centers, and some international organizations. (A list of publishers is available on the Grey Literature Report Web site). Academy librarians scan these organizations at least once during the publication cycle. The Report includes only English language material and primarily only resources that were published relatively recently in order to maintain the current awareness nature of the Report. When adding new organizations the librarians look for material that was published over a two-year span.
Though the Grey Literature Report lists organizations and their electronic links to the latest publications, the unstable nature of the Web has led the New York Academy of Medicine Library to also collect paper copies of nearly all of the items identified in the Report. The librarians order free print copies from the publishers whenever this is feasible. Often, however, the turnaround time is such that for the sake of expediency, it is preferable to print copies directly from the Web. These reports are then cataloged to our Innopac OPAC system and to OCLC.
Over 65 percent of the grey literature items added to OCLC are unique according to 2003 data. Currently, two catalogers and two technical services assistants input bibliographical information (title, author, organization, etc.) and assign subject headings to each record. In addition, the electronic link and the full table of contents, when available, are added.
Grey literature items owned by the Academy library can thus be located by searching the Academy’s online catalog at http://innopac.nyam.org. However, users' inability to search the content of the Grey Literature report by subject has led us to search for other forms of content management. One possibility is to migrate the report to a stand-alone database that could be searched in a variety of ways, including title, author, subject, publishing organization, keyword, and the date of publication. We are presently investigating various database options as a possible solution to this problem in response to a recent survey.
The final task in the production process of the report is to add the bibliographic information including the web address of each document to the Academy's content management system, which produces the Web version of the Report. This data entry is performed in our Technical Services department.
Since the fall of 2001 the New York Academy of Medicine has been under contract with The National Library of Medicine (NLM) to identify, collect, and house grey literature material from selected organizations and to catalog them into NLM's LocatorPlus system. Since the beginning of the contract the New York Academy of Medicine Library has contributed nearly 700 reports to LocatorPlus and as well as many serial-like titles to PubMed.
In the fall of 2003, the grey literature team conducted a survey of the over 200 subscribers to the Grey Literature Report. The survey consisted of 11 questions mailed to the subscribers electronically. Our goal was to find out, among other things, whether the subscribers were librarians or researchers involved in public health and health policy. As we suspected most of the respondents are librarians. We were also interested in finding out how the reports are used. Again, most of the respondents indicated that they pass the report along to researchers in their organizations. In terms of improving the report the survey confirmed much of what we suspected needed to be improved. It indicated that most subscribers would prefer to receive the report monthly as opposed to quarterly. Another improvement suggested was making the report searchable directly as opposed to searching via the library's online catalog.
The future areas of exploration for the Grey Literature Team include digital archiving issues and marketing the report to a wider audience, including public health professionals, and academics and politicians interested in the policy areas of health care.
The report can be read at http://www.nyam.org/library/greylit.shtm or at www.greylit.org. Subscriber information is available at this address.
- Reference:
- Gray BH. Sources used in health policy research and implications for information retrieval systems. J Urban Health. 1998 Dec;75(4):842-52.
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MLA Announcements
Proposal for Symposium
Submitted by Catherine R. Selden, NLM/NICHSR, selden@nlm.nih.gov, phone: 301-435-2240
National Library of Medicine and the Public Health/Health Administration Section submitted the following preliminary proposal to MLA for a symposium at the 2005 meeting. It was tentatively accepted. Now, we are preparing the formal proposal, which is due to MLA on April 15, 2004. The MLA CEC will meet during the MLA meeting in Washington, DC in May to consider the final proposals. Time to put on your thinking caps for MLA 2005 in San Antonio. We will be asking for your recommendations on specific topics and speakers and for volunteers to join an organizing group.
Proposal for symposium for MLA 2005: The Role of Information Services in Emergency Preparedness Planning
Emergency preparedness involves coordinated planning and information sharing between a variety of governmental agencies on a local, state and national level, as well as health care organizations, law enforcement, and the media.
This symposium would provide speakers and interaction on the information resources and services that need to be developed and promoted to strengthen public health planning and emergency preparedness. Previous sessions offered around the country have focused on identifying particular resources that could be useful. This symposium would be broader in scope and would discuss areas of unmet needs, the possibility of national sharing of resource cataloging, collection and access, and the expanding role of the librarian in training emergency services personnel and others who need this information.
Special areas of content would include:
- Risk communication for consumers/providers/media
- Hospital and agency preparedness
- Forensic, legal, fire/EMS needs
- Mental health response
- Environmental and toxicological health (esp. as related to chemical and radiological concerns)
Issues in training, methods of information delivery (especially under adverse conditions) and building collaboration among diverse constituencies would also be addressed.
Potential sponsors or groups, which could be interested in participating: (none of these have been solicited)
- Public Health/Health Administration Section of MLA
- Other sections including Federal Libraries, Hospital Libraries, etc.
- National Library of Medicine and Partners participating groups [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nno/partners.html]
- Environmental Protection Agency Library (Region 6, Dallas) or other federal libraries
- Library of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism
- International Network for Fire Information and Reference Exchange
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News From/About the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
IADL Grants for Health-Related Organizations
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ep/GrantIADL.html
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers Internet Access to Digital Libraries (IADL) grants to health-related institutions that wish to provide the professionals and clients of their organization with access to high-quality health information via the Internet. IADL grants can be used to support a variety of activities and services including but not limited to the following:
- The purchase and installation of equipment and software for initial or expanded connectivity to the Internet, including computers, servers, firewalls and routers
- The cost of installation and leasing of new communication circuits to connect to an Internet Service Provider and the cost of Internet Service Provider fees during the grant period
- The cost of open-access personal computers and software that enables access to Internet-accessible digital libraries.
Academic centers, hospitals, clinics, schools and community health centers, libraries, public health facilities, and units of state, local or federal government, among others, are examples of organizations that are eligible to apply.
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New Fact Sheet for Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nno/partners.html
Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce is a collaboration of agencies and organizations with a common goal of helping the public health workforce find and use information effectively to improve and protect the public's health.
Agencies and organizations participating in Partners include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), the Public Health Foundation (PHF), and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE).
A fact sheet that describes the Partners collaboration is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nno/partners.html. A brochure with information about the National Library of Medicine's resources that are particularly relevant to public health practice is also available at http://phpartners.org/pdf/information_card.pdf.
Strengthening and promoting this collaboration is a major goal of the NLM and NN/LM, and we need your assistance. Please help us share information about the Partners collaboration and PHpartners.org by considering the addition of a link from your library's site to PHpartners.org. PHpartners.org provides news of interest to public health workers and links to public health Internet resources. In addition, your suggestions for additional content and site improvement are most welcome. Suggestions can be provided via the online suggestion box at http://phpartners.org/suggest.html.
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Beginning November 1, 2003, visitors to two of NLM's Division of Specialized Information Services resources, TOXNET [http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/] and AIDSinfo [ http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/], have been offered a chance to share their opinions through a pop-up survey. The survey is presented at random intervals, so not all users will see it.
The first customer satisfaction score for TOXNET is 76 (based on Nov-Dec 2003) and 80 for AIDSinfo. For comparison, the average federal government score is 71, with a range from 48 to 86 (for the National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus Web site). In the private sector, recent scores include: Amazon.com - 88, Google - 82, and NYTimes.com - 70.
The TOXNET survey uses the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) methodology. The ACSI was created in 1994 at the University of Michigan Business School and is widely used to evaluate customer satisfaction with major corporations, and now with federal resources. Information on the methodology and satisfaction scores is available at http://www.theacsi.org/overview.htm.
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NLM Releases New CBM - Distance Education in Public Health, CBM 2003-3.
Compilers: Rita Kelliher, Association of Schools of Public Health, and Catherine R. Selden, National Library of Medicine
Teaching at a distance is not a new concept. Correspondence courses have been in existence for years. However, technological advances have expanded the education and training opportunities available to students, especially practitioners in the field. E-learning is clearly in ascendancy. As a result, individuals around the world can further their education through online courses and degrees, satellite broadcasts, and audio-taped lectures. Learning can now take place virtually anytime and anywhere.
As technologies expand and we become more comfortable with their uses, we are discovering issues that demand further study. The National Library of Medicine has compiled Distance Education in Public Health, CBM, 2003-3, to explore these issues, as well as to help define and describe the evidence base for advancing distance-based training programs. The bibliography includes 471 citations covering 1998 to 2003. References are arranged into seven broad subject categories: Administration and Management; Evaluation; Legal/Regulatory Issues; Technology; Target Audiences; Library Services; and Web Resources. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive. It is intended to introduce the user to some of the major issues within distance education and lead to additional inquiry. Generally, articles in foreign languages, letters to the editor, editorials, and non-health related articles were not included. However, a few general distance education directories are included.
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Resources and Announcements
Guide to Content for Working Class and Multicultural Communities
http://contentbank.org
"The Search for High Quality Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Communities: Evaluating and Producing What's Needed" by The Children's Partnership is an excellent guide to producing and evaluating content that serves working class and multicultural communities. Available on the Web site above or in print at 1351 3rd St. Promenade, Suite 206, Santa Monica, CA 90401.
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Health Communication Partnership Launches Interactive Web Site
http://www.hcpartnership.org
The Health Communication Partnership (HCP), a team of five leading institutions led by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), recently launched its new Web site to help those working globally to strengthen public health through strategic communication programs. It offers a forum for sharing and learning between those in the field of health communication, advocacy, and community mobilization. It also features the Media/Materials Clearinghouse (M/MC), the Health Communications Materials Database (HCMD), and the Health Communications Materials Network (HCMN). For more information, visit the Web site above.
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Obesity Screening and Evaluation Recommendations
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/3rduspstf/obesity/obesrr.htm
The U.S Preventive Services Task Force has issued new evidence-based recommendations for obesity screening and treatment at the above Web site. This is an important link with the Steps to a HealthierUS and well as Healthy People 2010.
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Women’s Health 2004 Daybook
http://www.4woman.gov
This Web site has literally hundreds of publications on women’s health issues. The Women’s Health 2004 Daybook is published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health. This day planner covers health topics that affect women and includes various medical hotline phone numbers and Web sites. Call 1-800-994-9662 to request one free copy. When prompted, press 2. Provide your name, address, and daytime phone number.
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Health Economics Information Resources: A Self-Study Course
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/edu/healthecon/
A self-study course on health economics information resources is now available at the above Web site. This class was created from modules originally presented at the Medical Library Association 2002 as a Continuing Education workshop. Sponsored by the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR), the online interactive format for this course includes a review, quizzes, and related content.
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Free Subscriptions to the CDC Public Health Law News
http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/od/phlp
Public Health Law News is a free electronic newsletter published every weekday except holidays by CDC's Public Health Law Program. The newsletter contains summaries of news reports on public health law and related subjects; announcements of public health law—related publications, conferences, congressional hearings, and other events; a news quotation of the day; and other timely material. Information about subscribing via e-mail is available at http://www.cdc.gov/subscribe.html.
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Call for Linkages Awards Abstracts
http://www.phf.org/Link/projects.htm#2004LinkagesAwards
The Linkages Awards, presented annually by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, recognize exemplary community-based collaborative activities between public health practice agencies and academic institutions of higher learning. Collaborating organizations will be presented with a commemorative plaque and will receive cash awards. The deadline for abstract submission is April 9, 2004. For more information, visit the above Web site.
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Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness at the New York Academy of Medicine
http://www.phpreparedness.info
In July 2002, the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) was awarded a contract from the National Library of Medicine to develop a Web-based "Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness," in collaboration with the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University. Following a year of development and testing, and a subsequent a user-based interface redesign, the Guide was officially launched in the autumn of 2003.
The Guide is designed to improve electronic access to essential information resources by providing a single point of access to core electronic resources in public health and disaster preparedness, selected by information specialists and reviewed by subject experts from a wide range of disciplines. In addition to links to full-text publications, the Guide includes topical bibliographies of print and electronic resources and to pre-scripted searches of PubMed and other literature databases. The Guide currently provides access to nearly 1200 electronic publications related to public health preparedness.
Partners and volunteers are now being sought to assist in evaluation and refinement of the Web application, and the production of structured abstracts and topical literature reviews on significant subject areas. Individuals interested in contributing to the Guide as a content editor or abstract/review author should contact the Project Manager, Constance Malpas (cmalpas@nyam.org). Recommendations for additional resources to be included in the Guide should be addressed to the Project Librarian, Paolina Taglienti (ptaglienti@nyam.org).
An email update service was launched, in January 2004, to improve awareness of recent publications in public health preparedness. For a trial period of two months, subscribers will receive bi-weekly summaries of new content added to the Resource Guide database. To join the mailing list and receive further updates during our trial period go to http://www.phpreparedness.info/contact.php.
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NACCHO Receives Grant to Define Local Governmental Public Health
Submitted by Pat Libbey (202) 783-5550, Ext. 247, E-mail: plibbey@naccho.org
(WASHINGTON, February 23, 2004) – The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is pleased to announce that The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded the organization a $200,000 grant to develop an operational definition of a functional local public health agency.
Communicable diseases such as smallpox, avian flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and mad cow disease offer an example of public health threats that have the potential to pose significant harm to populations. Governmental local public health agencies are charged with protecting the health of their communities; and yet, their capacity to do that varies widely.
“NACCHO is seeking to develop a shared understanding of what people in any community, regardless of its size, can expect their local governmental public health agency to provide,” said Patrick Libbey, executive director of NACCHO. “What public health responsibilities are governmental in nature, and cannot be delegated or assumed by others in the community?”Jody Hershey, MD, MPH, NACCHO president, said, "The definition, once accepted, is intended to provide a means by which government can be held accountable by the citizens it serves; to further clarify local public health workforce needs; and to drive local, state, and federal funding priorities."
NACCHO will unveil the definition, to be developed by local public health officials and local board of health members, at its annual meeting this summer. Subsequent efforts will focus on cultivating a shared understanding of local governmental public health responsibilities among federal and state health officials, as well as local and state elected officials.
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NACCHO [http://www.naccho.org/] is the national organization representing local public health agencies. NACCHO works to support efforts that protect and improve the health of all people and all communities by promoting national policy, developing resources and programs, seeking health equity and supporting effective local public health practice.
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U.S. Conference of Mayors Offers HIV/AIDS Prevention Grants Program
The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) [http://www.usmayors.org/], in cooperation with the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention [ http://usmayors.org/uscm/home.asp], invites proposals to strengthen local capacities to carry out effective HIV/AIDS prevention activities through its HIV/AIDS Prevention Grants Program.
Proposals will be accepted for two tracks: Track One proposals should address implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention services targeting Native Americans; Track Two proposals should address the implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention services targeting gay/bisexual men of color.
USCM plans to award grants totaling $530,000 to local health departments, community-based organizations, and Native American tribes/nations for implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention projects targeting these two populations. Approximately $180,000 of that amount will be allocated to three grants of $60,000 each for Native Americans; the remaining $350,000 will be allocated to five grants of approximately $70,000 each for gay/bisexual men of color.
All proposals will be judged by an external panel of experts solely on merit; membership in USCM is not required.
See the U.S. Mayors Conference Web site for complete program guidelines. The deadline for proposals is May 24, 2004.
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CDC Launches New Online Journal to Link Public Health Research and Practice
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r031215.htm
CDC has launched a peer-reviewed electronic journal focused on prevention, screening, surveillance and population-based programs that address chronic disease, the agency announced.
Unveiled Dec. 15, Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy (PCD) will be targeted primarily to researchers in chronic disease prevention and intervention, as well as health professionals who deal with chronic conditions and population health.
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SMART BRFSS Provides Data Comparisons by Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area (MMSA)
by Kris Alpi
http://www.cdc.gov/brfss
Growth in sample sizes now enables CDC to offer data comparisons at the metropolitan level in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). BRFSS prevalence estimates can be generated for the U.S. Census Bureau's metropolitan and micropolitan areas (MMSAs) and metropolitan divisions. MMSA data comparing 30 health risk factors will be offered to the public next week via Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends (SMART) BRFSS, a searchable Internet site.
For approximately 20 years, BRFSS has tracked health-risk behaviors, preventive health practices, and health-care access among different U.S. populations, identifying those at greatest risk for morbidity and mortality. However, while BRFSS has routinely provided data comparisons by sex, race/ethnicity, and age group, comparisons by geographic area have been limited to states and territories.
SMART BRFSS, with standardized methodology and timely (i.e., approximately 3 months) delivery of results, can be a vital tool for local public health officials, filling a critical need for local surveillance data to support implementation and evaluation of targeted programs and better planning of prevention efforts. In one SMART BRFSS comparison of data from 98 MMSAs, the unadjusted prevalence of self-rated fair or poor health ranged widely, from 6.7% in Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, Maryland, to 26.2% in Huntington-Ashland, West Virginia-Kentucky-Ohio (median: 13.7%).
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Statistical Briefs on Adult Obesity and Work Loss Days in the US
Two briefs have been released by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on adult obesity and work loss days in the US. For more details check out the Web sites at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/PrintProducts/PrintProd_Detail.asp?ID=601 for adult obesity and http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/papers/st31/stat31.htm for work loss days.
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HHS Launches Smokefree.gov and Smoking Quitlines
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced plans to establish a new HHS toll-free telephone number that will serve as a single access point to a national network of smoking cessation quitlines. This will help provide all smokers in the United States access to the support and tools they need to quit smoking. Scientific evidence, reported in the PHS Guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, shows that quitlines are an effective tool to help smokers quit. Select to read the HHS press release [ http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040203.html]. The national network of smoking cessation quitlines is complemented by the HHS Web site [http://www.smokefree.gov/] which provides access to quitline numbers currently offered by individual states and NCI. Select to access Web site [ http://www.ahrq.gov/path/tobacco.htm] for AHRQ's smoking cessation materials for clinicians and patients.
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Minority Health FY2002 and Improving Quality of Child and Adolescent Health
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a new fact sheet that lists new activities and projects on minority health and can be accessed at: http://www.ahrq.gov/research/minor02.htm. Improving Quality of Child and Adolescent Health can be accessed at: http://www.ahrq.gov/child/chqual.htm.
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NIH Presents Word on Health
http://www.nih.gov/news/WordonHealth/
The National Institutes of Health present Word on Health, a consumer health information Web site, which presents reports on research done at the National Institutes of Health. Since these reports are not copyrighted and so can be used without permission from NIH. Topics include: osteoporosis, SIDS, household products database.
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Secretary's Advisory Council on Public Health Preparedness
http://www.hhs.gov/asphep/council.html
The Secretary’s Advisory Council meet in Washington, DC on January 22 and 23, 2004. This council met with Secretary Thompson in order to discuss was to prepare for public health emergencies, in particular bioterrorism. For details, visit the Department of Health and Human Services’ Web site above.
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National Public Health Week – April 5 – 11
http://www.apha.org/nphw/
The topic for this year’s National Public Health Week is "Eliminating Health Disparities, Communities Moving from Statistics to Solutions." For more information, see the American Public Health Association’s Web site above.
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National Women’s Health Week – May 9 – 15
http://www.4woman.gov/whw/2004/about/
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced that National Women’s Health Week will take place from May 9th to May 15th. The signature event, National Women’s Check-up day, will be on May 10th. The focus of this event is on the importance of incorporating simple preventive and positive health behaviors into everyday life. For more information, visit the Web site above.
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Contributed Articles
Content First: Technology Second. How to Create Great Web Content. A Seminar by Gerry McGovern, Part 3. July 16, 2003
Submitted by Laura Larsson, larsson@u.washington.edu
Laura presents Part 3 of her notes from Gerry McGovern’s talk about creating great Web content at http://phha.mlanet.org/archives/newsletters/mcgovern3.html. You may reread Part 1 in the Summer 2003 issue at http://phha.mlanet.org/archives/newsletters/summer2003.html#Content_First , and Part 2 in the Fall 2003 issue at http://phha.mlanet.org/archives/newsletters/fall2003.html#content.
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Public Health at the QuintEssential Conference (Part II)
Submitted by Brad Long, bradley.long@jefferson.edu
In the last issue of PH/HA News [http://www.phha.mlanet.org/archives/newsletters/fall2003.html#quint], I had mentioned that the QuintEssential Conference, held in Philadelphia this past October, had one panel discussion speaker specifically address public health. However, I didn’t mention that there was another program that also specifically covered public health. Unfortunately, due to a conflict with my schedule during the conference, I missed this program. Fortunately, the PowerPoint slides from both programs are available on the QuintEssential Conference Presentations Web site [http://www.quintmeeting.org/present.html].
As I mentioned in the last article, the first presentation was part of Communicating with Professionals panel that I moderated. Walter Tsou, MD, MPH, a Public Health Consultant and the President-Elect of APHA, gave a presentation entitled Public Health and Medical Libraries: Can We Talk? [ http://www.quintmeeting.org/PublicHealth.ppt]. He gave his viewpoint on how communication between librarians and public health professionals can improve. He also discussed the barriers to utilization of library resources and common public health practice, as discussed previously. One piece of advice that Dr. Tsou gives is that medical librarians should market their services better to the unaffiliated public health professionals.
The second program offered at the conference was MEDLINEplus Goes Local [ http://www.quintmeeting.org/medline.ppt]. The speakers were Carol Jenkins, Christie Silbajoris, and Diana McDuffee from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. As many of us may already know, MEDLINEplus Go Local is a state or regional database component of MEDLINEplus [http://www.medlineplus.gov/]. It provides links to community health services county-by-county for the state of North Carolina. This is the pilot state for the NLM sponsored program. These three members of the development team discussed issues that they had to deal with creating such a Web-based service from scratch. To see the finished project, the North Carolina MEDLINEplus Go Local site is called NC Health Info and is available online [http://www.nchealthinfo.org/home.cfm].
In conclusion, public health topics were available at the QuintEssential Conference. The conference did cover a broad range of topics, not exclusively to medical librarianship either. With the Philadelphia Chapter of SLA also sponsoring the conference, topics specific to special librarianship were also offered.
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One Visionary's Dream a Success: APHA 2003 and Sewell Librarians Intersect
Submitted by Barbara Carlson, Laura Larsson, Molly Youngkin, Abby Holt, Claire Twose, Carolyn Medina, Michael Sholinbeck,
Eris Weaver, Ammon Ripple, Barbara Nail-Chiwetalu, Helena VonVille, Harvey Brenneise, Marilyn Hall, Barbara Folb, and
Nancy Schaefer
Fourteen health sciences librarians, designated 2003 Sewell Fund Stipend Recipients, attended and participated in the APHA Annual Meeting, “Behavior, Lifestyle, and Social Determinants of Health,” November 15-19, 2003 in San Francisco. They shared the vision of the late Dr. Winifred Sewell, a distinguished librarian in the fields of medicine and pharmaceutical sciences and creator of the Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund, Inc. of increased librarian identification with public health professionals. Sewell Stipend Recipients had a Masters in Library Science and/or Information Science and an interest or involvement in public health practice. They were selected through an application and review process administered by the Public Health/Health Administration section's Client Relations Committee chaired by Nancy Schaefer… Article continues at http://phha.mlanet.org/archives/newsletters/sewellapha2003.html.
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Conferences/Calls for Papers and Posters
Building Bridges Conference
http://www.aahp.org/links/bridges04/
April 1-2, 2004, Miami, FL
"Research on the Cutting Edge: Adopting Evidence for the Real World" is the topic for the tenth annual Building Bridges conference sponsored by AHRQ, CDC, and AAHP-HIAA. For more information check the Web site.
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Third Annual Health Literacy Conference 2004
http://www.iha4health.org
May 13-14, 2004, Anaheim, CA
Each attendee receives the American Medical Association Foundation Kit on Health Literacy: Help Your Patients Understand and all 5 books from the "What To Do For Health" Book Series. For more information, visit the Web site or call 1-800-434-4633.
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