Region 7 is Collecting Impact Stories

Posted by Margot M on October 8th, 2025 Posted in: Announcements
Tags: community engagement, Funded Projects, rural health

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We are currently working to collect stories that show the positive impact NNLM R7 has had on our partners and the communities that they serve. We’d like to hear from you! 

Our National Evaluation Center (NEC) defines impact as the measurable change that occurred after your organization’s engagement with the Network of the National Library of Medicine.

What is measurable change?

Types of Impact

• Now there is a (service or product) that did not exist before.
• Now we have the capacity to offer (service or product) that we could not do before.
• Now we think about a (service or product) differently than we did before.

For example, NNLM Region 7 provided funds to the Hadley Parrot Library at Northern Light-Eastern Maine Medical Center for the addition of a digital consumer health collection. Community members submit an online account request. After downloading the Libby app, they can conveniently and privately borrow these audiobooks and digital books dealing with sensitive and challenging health topics.

NNLM Region 7 provided funds for this paramedic training program at Elizabethtown Community Hospital. The funds allowed the purchase of newer technology for their rural classrooms. The technology allowed paramedic students to be trained across Essex, Warren, and St. Lawrence Counties in New York State. Improved audio and visual technology in rural areas was achieved.

These are two success stories, but failure can be part of the impact process. NEC tells us that we learn from failure as well as through success. Failure helps us understand our ecosystem and the factors beyond our control. Failure helps us right-size our expectations of ourselves and our collaborators. Please do not hesitate to tell us how your failure helped you think differently about your work. 

We ask you to consider helping us show our impact on communities in Region 7. Contact us for a link to our feedback form. If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at the email below, or to the office at nnlm-region7@umassmed.edu.