10 Ways to Stay Connected During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Posted by Tessa Zindren on March 26th, 2020 Posted in: Education, Health Professionals, In the Region, Outreach, Public Health, Technology

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Working remotely and want to stay involved? Looking for ways to participate in classes and events while practicing social distancing? If so, here is a list of ways to stay connected!

• Take on-demand classes offered by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) or Public Library Association (PLA). NNLM class topics include evaluation basics, grant and proposal writing, PubMed essentials, and many more!
• Attend one or more of the upcoming webinars hosted by NNLM, Every Library Institute, or the Medical Library Association (MLA). Both single and multi-week courses are available to participate in.
• Participate in the #citeNLM Wikipedia Edit-a-thon this April. The objective of #citeNLM is to improve the credibility and content of medical and health-related articles on Wikipedia by adding citations and information from National Library of Medicine (NLM) sources. The spring #citeNLM campaign period will run from April 1-30, 2020. Host your own event during the campaign period or join us for our virtual #citeNLM Edit-a-thon on Thursday, April 30.
• Attend the virtual Pandemic Response Hackathon March 27-29 hosted by Datavent. The hackathon is aimed at better understanding and mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and future pandemics. Public health experts, clinicians, and health care workers will be working alongside the technology community (e.g., engineers, back-end and front-end software developers, data scientists; product managers, UX designers, etc.) to contribute to the world’s response to the pandemic. Online registration for the hackathon remains open.
• Keep your body and mind energized by exercising at home! The National Institute on Aging‘s (NIA) exercise and physical activities page includes links to several resources and videos that are appropriate for all ages.
• Attend a virtual conference. During the week of April 13-17, the Association of College & Research Libraries Distance Learning Section (ACRL DLS) is hosting a virtual poster session. Posters may focus on successes and failures in teaching distance and online students, instructional techniques and approaches, and the tools and technologies used by librarians teaching virtually. Other virtual conferences taking place include the 2020 Community Oncology Conference (April 23-24) and American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (dates TBD).
• Contribute to a blog. NNLM MAR is always interested in learning about health outreach projects and activities that are happening in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Currently, we would love to hear about how you are connecting with your patrons and/or community members during the pandemic. Share your story with us to receive a Member Highlight on the MARquee! Other blogs like YALSAblog and The Hub are always looking for content as well. Please note: Blog submissions to NNLM MAR must be a minimum of 200 words (preferably in 3 paragraphs).
• Start a virtual book club for your patrons or community members. The NNLM Reading Club has several pre-selected books with discussion guides and promotional materials available. Topics cover a variety of National Health Observances. If you’re a virtual book club newbie, there are several free guides available online that may be useful to you.
• Participate in citizen science projects online. Invite your community to participate in projects that advance research on human and environmental health on the SciStarter website.
• Move your National Public Health Week (NPHW) activities online. NPHW is April 6-12, 2020 and the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) events are going all-digital. The APHA’s NPHW website has tips on how to move your activities online and incorporating daily themes into your COVID-19 messaging.

We hope that you find these resources to be useful over the next several weeks.

Wishing you all the best of health!

Regards,

The NNLM MAR Staff

COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation.
Get the latest public health information from CDC: coronavirus.gov
Get the latest research information from NIH: nih.gov/coronavirus