Director’s Insights: Meet and Greet with Region 5

Posted by Kathryn Vela on July 18th, 2024 Posted in: Blog, New from NNLM Region 5, News from NNLM Region 5
Tags: nlm, nnlm pnr, NNLM Region 5, outreach

---

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended the Region 5 Executive Director Meet and Greet session this month! It was great to see some new and familiar faces as I shared my background and vision for Region 5.

I hugely enjoyed the Q&A portion of the session – the attendees asked some very insightful questions! I want to expand on the discussion started by our Region 5 NNLM members:

How does the Region 5 team work with a limited budget and an expanded community to connect with members?

Region 5 is a huge region! We cover over 1 million miles and five time zones, so outreach has always been an interesting challenge. We do our best to take advantage of virtual opportunities to connect with our members and partners throughout the region. This often looks like attending, presenting, or exhibiting at virtual conferences and meeting with members one-on-one over Zoom. That being said, we love to meet our members in person, so we also try to be strategic with our physical travel and spread our visits out to at least one unique state in our region each year. Over the last three years, we have met in person with members and partners in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Nevada, and Washington.

If you would like to meet with me to discuss how NNLM resources can support your work and professional development, we can schedule a one-on-one meeting!

Are there plans to expand the Public Health Digital Library?

We are always looking for ways to connect Region 5 members with the Public Health Digital Library! This collection contains over 290 journals, 80 e-books, and multiple databases. We work with the PHDL team to identify and contact local and state public health departments that might be interested in participating in this NNLM program. If you or someone you know would like more information, please let us know, and we can connect you with the PHDL team.

Be sure to stay connected to Region 5 to learn more about the exciting projects and programs we have coming up!