Funding Awarded for Unaffiliated Health Professionals and Tribal Colleges and Universities Outreach!

Posted by Derek Johnson on May 18th, 2017 Posted in: Blog, Funding, News from the Region, Outreach

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The GMR office is excited to announce that the University of North Dakota Health Sciences Library (UND) has been granted an Outreach Award for its project, Information Needs Assessment of Unaffiliated North Dakota Rural Health Professionals and Biomedical Researchers, Phase II.

Background:

In early 2017, UND administered an information needs assessment to unaffiliated North Dakota health care professionals. The results indicated that many respondents are unaware that resources from the National Library Medicine, such as PubMed Health, NLM Drug Information Portal, and MedlinePlus are free to access and available to meet their information needs. Additional responses indicated that further follow-up through in-person conversations would generate valuable insight into additional information needs.

North Dakota is also home to five tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), four of which reside in rural areas where resources and services are limited.

Project Description:

The GMR office is funding the University of North Dakota Health Sciences Library to conduct interviews and/or focus groups with unaffiliated health care professionals and health professional organizations across the state to complete Phase II of the information needs assessment. UND librarians will also use funding from the GMR to expand relationships with TCU research groups and librarians.

Outcomes:

The funding award will help UND fulfill two main goals:

1. Complete its information needs assessment of unaffiliated health care professional, which will inform future outreach activities and training to address unmet needs
2. Expand relationships with TCU research groups and librarians and begin developing a plan to provide health science librarian consultation services to American Indian biomedical researchers.