Power to the People: Serving the Underserved
This panel discussion will focus on the role of collaboration between public and medical libraries (both academic and hospital) in doing outreach to underserved populations. The information will be practical, focusing on how to create outreach programs—what works and what does not work.
Sponsors: Consumer and Patient Health Information Section, Hospital Libraries Section, Chiropractic Libraries Section, Relevant Issues Section; African American Medical Librarians Alliance SIG; Complementary and Alternative Medicine SIG; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Health Sciences Librarians SIG; Mental Health SIG.
Strange Bedfellows: Radical Shifts in the Relationships Between Libraries and Their Partners
Librarians are increasingly working with companies, organizations, or government entities which may have conflicts of interest with the mission of open access to health information. Vendors sponsor library functions and create indispensable products our patrons need yet may have business models which endanger library survival. Government agencies may provide information which is suspect or difficult to use yet they are charged with creating and disseminating that information. Organizations may simultaneously compete with and cooperate with libraries to provide services or access to information of relevance to their mission. What are the trends and how does the library profession deal with such conflicts of interest? Are there success stories which show a symbiotic rather than parasitic relationship? What is the long-term prognosis for these partnerships?
Sponsors: Relevant Issues Section, Leadership and Management Section
The Politics of Health Information: Keeping the New Barbarians at Bay
Recent years have seen an increase in the attempts to hide or distort health information which is at odds with the current political climate in the US. Once considered safe and protected, basic scientific and health information is under attack—sometimes from within (i.e., government appointees hostile to the mission of the agencies they work for), sometimes from without (i.e., political action committees and other pressure groups). The ability to widely disseminate such information electronically has actually led to a new problem—revision or distortion of what was considered sound and settled information. Examples include reproductive health and environmental information but there are potentially many other types of information which could be subject to political pressure. What is the role of librarians in protecting such information and making sure access to it remains freely available?
Sponsors: Relevant Issues Section; Chiropractic Libraries Section; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Health Sciences Librarians SIG
Transformation Begins with a Single Step…
THEME/BACKGROUND: Have you taken a stand on a library concern, an ethics problem, a medical issue, a breaking news story, or a world event—and made it professionally and personally relevant in your library and/or your life? Take the time to tell us how to make one small step for change.
SUBMISSION QUESTIONS/REQUIREMENTS: Send us your good examples of how you saw a problem and showcased it as a relevant issue in your library or program and share with colleagues how you handle the concerns of today's world.
Overcoming Challenges: Magnificent Medical Contributions
This biographical session focuses on individuals especially those who have overcome some adversity - be it physical challenges, racism, ethnic, minority, or gender discrimination - to make some significant contribution to the field of medicine.
Lucretia W. McClure -- Highly Qualified, Never Appointed
Valeri Craigle -- Tales of a Reservation Nurse: The Heroic Life of Edith LeRoy Richardson
Marilyn H. Steinberg -- A Biographic Look at Early Women Pharmacists
Andrea Y. Griffith -- Ruth Janetta Temple: A Community Health Hero for Los Angeles
Ophelia T. Morey -- From Self Doubt to Surgeon: Benjamin S. Carson Sr.
Tomeka Oubichon -- Colorful Medicine: Breaking Barriers, Stereotypes, and Making Strides
Sponsors: History of the Health Sciences, Chiropractic Libraries, and Relevant Issues Sections; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Health Sciences Librarians SIG
Affronts to Library Liberty: Legal, Ethical, and Practical Responses
Censorship is imposed by computer filters and by the removal or alteration of health information from libraries, depositories, and Websites. Information is restricted by license clauses and copyright law modifications. From the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act, patron privacy is both protected and threatened. How can health sciences librarians defend patron rights and help patrons navigate the maze of laws and regulations affecting access to health information? Speaker Jessamyn West is the editor of librarian.net and a frequent lecturer, writer, and activist on library issues. She has worked for public and academic libraries as well as Google Answers and the Gates Foundation and is currently the outreach librarian for the Rutland Free Library in Rutland, VT. She coedited the radical library worker compilation Revolting Librarians Redux.
Jessamyn West's presentation materials
Primary Sponsor: Relevant Issues Section.
Secondary Sponsors: Federal Libraries, Public Services Sections.
Making Critical Decisions: End-of-Life Health Care
Health sciences librarians play a key role in helping patients experience a dignified, comfortable, and peaceful death. From advance directives to grief and bereavement, from hospice care to pain management, patients and care givers have significant and varied information needs. Librarians improve the quality of compassionate care for people who are dying by providing health, legal, and ethical information. How can librarians best assist those making critical decisions regarding end-of-life health care?
Primary Sponsor: Cancer Librarians Section.
Secondary Sponsors: Relevant Issues, Research Sections; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgendered Health Sciences Librarians SIG.
Power to the Patient: New Definitions of Health Literacy
Health literacy is much more than patients' ability to read educational pamphlets and comply with prescribed medical treatment. Librarians and health care providers inform patients about their rights to privacy and access to medical records, teach patients to negotiate complex health care systems, assist patients with access to services and programs, provide information to assist patients in making treatment and health management decisions, and much more. Patients are taking charge of their health care information. How are librarians contributing to patient empowerment?
Primary Sponsor: Consumer and Patient Health Information Section
Secondary Sponsors: Cancer Librarians, History of the Health Sciences, Relevant
Issues Sections.
Seize the Power of the Next Generation: Innovative Ways to Recruit Young and Diverse Librarians
Jana Bradley, FMLA, director, Master of Library and Information Science Program, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY; Ellen Detlefsen, associate professor, Department of Library and Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; and Kathryn Skhal, interlibrary loan assistant, Carlson Health Sciences Library, University of California-Davis, and student, LEEP, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.
Cosponsored by Ad Hoc Professional Recruitment and Retention Committee; Relevant Issues Section; Medical Library Education Section; Membership Committee; African American Medical Librarians Alliance SIG; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Health Sciences Librarians SIG.
Knowing When to Get Out of the Water: Delivering Disaster-Related Public Health Information
With a renewed focus on homeland security in the United States, the need for immediate access to disaster-related public health information is as important as it has ever been. The focus of contributions to this session will be on innovative uses of technologies such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), pocket personal computers, wireless networks, or other handheld devices to disseminate disaster-related public health information to those who need it most. Disaster-related public health information topics include bioterrorism and other acts of terrorism, disease outbreaks, or natural disasters.
Primary Sponsor: Relevant Issues Section.
Secondary Sponsors: Federal Libraries, Public Health/Health Administration,
Consumer and Patient Health Information, and Hospital Libraries Sections.
Many special consumer groups are at risk for various health problems due to social, economic, and behavioral factors. In many cases, these populations who have the greatest need for quality health information are the most difficult to reach. How do we design services to reach these populations? What do we know about what information they need? Speakers will discuss topics such as health information for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youth; immigrants and non-English speaking users; migrant workers; and low socioeconomic status, low-literacy, rural, or inner-city populations.
Primary Sponsor: Public Health/Health Administration Section.
Secondary Sponsors: Dental, International Cooperation, Consumer and Patient
Health Information, Relevant Issues Sections and Outreach; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgendered Health Sciences Librarians; and African American Medical Librarians
Alliance SIGs.
Navigating the Rapids of Rehabilitation: Reasons and Resources
Librarians in specialized rehabilitation facilities and related health care organizations are confronted with developing collections suitable to the specific needs of their diverse and unique patrons. Standard selection tools and recommended core collections are not "one size fits all." The rehabilitation hospital librarians must adapt and develop collections that incorporate some standard resources but that also suit the needs of their audiences. This panel presentation will provide attendees with an overview of existing selection tools for rehabilitation collections, recommended print and electronic resources, and ongoing challenges in collection development and unique roles for librarians working in the rehabilitation field. Presenters: Amy Louise Frey, AHIP, librarian, Health Sciences Library, Hospital for Special Care, New Britain, CT; Robert Mackes, medical librarian, Schering-Plough Library of Science & Medicine, Union Hospital, Union, NJ; and Pat Herndon, Noble Learning Resource Center, Shepherd Center, Atlanta, GA.
Primary Sponsor: Collection Development Section.
Secondary Sponsors: Relevant Issues Section and Rehabilitation Hospital SIG.
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Plainly Speaking: Meeting the Health Information Needs of Low-Literate Consumers
This program explored issues surrounding the provision of health services and information to low-literate consumers, focusing on strategies for responding to their health information needs and locating plain language resources to assist them in understanding their health care problems.
Co-sponsored by the Consumer and Patient Health Information Section.
East/West: Merging Trends in Medical Therapeutics
Co-sponsored by the International Cooperation Section, the Consumer and Patient Health Section and the Complementary and Alternative Medicine SIG.
Youth Violence: the Present is Tense. Issues to Address for a Better Future
Featured contributed papers and invited speakers.
Co-sponsored by the Public Health/Health Administration Section.
Millennium Management; A Worklife Diversity Skills Workshop
Featured guest speaker Sandra Rios Balderrama, Diversity Officer for the American Library Association.
Co-sponsored by the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Health Sciences Librarians SIG.
Relevancy Ranking: Championing Involvement in Contemporary Social Issues
Co-sponsored by the History of the Health Sciences Section.
The Human Rights Campaign: Advocacy Initiatives for Healthcare Legislation
Co-Sponored by the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Health Sciences Librarians SIG and the History of the Health Sciences Section.
Global Crisis in Violence
At Risk in America: The Health Care Needs of VulnerablePopulations
Beyond the Journals: How Do Consumers Make Medical Decisions
Relevant Issues Section
Last updated September 12, 2006.