NLM and NNLM for Public Health

Posted by Sarah Levin-Lederer on October 13th, 2023 Posted in: Blog
Tags: National Library of Medicine, professional development, Public Health

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Fall is public health conference season. When I exhibit at public health conferences, a lot of people know PubMed and MedlinePlus, but don’t know the other resources and services available from NLM and NNLM. However, some people see library in our name and either say, “I love libraries” (we do too!) or “Well, we don’t work with libraries/we’re not a library” (that’s ok).

NLM and NNLM resources and services are for any organization that works in health information, health information outreach and health information programming. Below are some of the FREE resources and services that we think are especially useful for our public health partners.

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

The National Library of Medicine is one of the 27 institutes of the NIH with a physical library located on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. NLM also creates and maintains a wide variety of online health information resources that range from highly specialized to resources for the general public.

• PubMed-36 million citations for biomedical literature. Doing a literature review for research or a grant? Start here.
• MedlinePlus-Health information in plain language for patients, family, friends and the general public.
• MedlinePlus en español
• History of Medicine Division-Bringing the library’s historical collection of photographs, videos, manuscripts and more online. Resources from HMD can help put modern medicine in context.

Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)

The Network of the National Library of Medicine is the regionally responsive outreach arm of NLM with seven regions, and national offices and centers that support the work of the network including training, evaluation and more.

• Training schedule offering asynchronous, on-demand and live webinars to fit your needs including some offering free CHES CEs.
• Resource Guides with information and links on topics including Public Health, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Health and Justice, and more.
• National Public Health Coordination Office (NPHCO) provides access to evidence-based public health resources including journals, e-books, and databases through the Public Health Digital Library.

NNLM Region 7

NNLM R7’s offices are located at the UMass Chan Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library (Worcester, MA) and serves New England and New York.

• Funding-R7 offers several funding categories to support health information and bridge the digital divide.
• Regionally responsive trainings including training for partner organizations and trainings that highlight regional experts.
• Priority Areas and Communities of Interest allow R7 to engage with partners around topics that matter to them including Graphic Medicine, Substance Use Disorder, Rural Health and more.
• Focused Outreach allows R7 to connect with partners in two geographic areas a year to learn more about the health needs and health information seeking behaviors of their communities.

Find R7 on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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