University of Iowa health sciences library lands $6.5 million grant

IOWA CITY - The University of Iowa's Hardin Library for the Health Sciences has been chosen to serve as one of eight regional medical libraries that will support the National Library of Medicine in its efforts to, among other things, improve public access to health information.

The National Library of Medicine, which is the world's largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health, will award UI's Hardin Library a $6.5 million five-year grant to establish the office for the 'greater Midwest region.”

The center will become part of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, which consists of eight 'competitively selected” regional medical libraries. Iowa's site will require six full-time staff positions and - like the other sites - will aim to provide all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information, according to a UI news release.

The regional office also will improve public access to information 'so citizens can make informed decisions about their health.” To that end, Hardin librarians will foster partnerships to facilitate training for health professionals, community organizations, health-information centers, and other public, hospital, and academic medical libraries across Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Hardin Library, according to a UI news release, will fund awards to help regional libraries and information centers educate and support unaffiliated health professionals and consumers.

'This recognizes the UI Hardin Library for the Health Sciences as a national leader in health information access,” John Culshaw, university librarian for UI Libraries, said in a news release. 'Not only does this contract reflect well on the quality and breadth of our library's outreach efforts within Iowa but also on the high level of staff expertise and leadership at Hardin.”

Linda Walton, associate university librarian for UI Libraries and director of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, will direct the new regional medical library. Elizabeth Kiscaden, a clinical education library at Hardin, will serve as associate director.

Walton's leadership will involve developing partnerships - like with the UI College of Public Health to provide its professionals with online training. Those efforts, in particular, will emphasize service for underrepresented groups like the North Dakota Native American tribes and underserved areas in urban Indianapolis.         

Although university officials stressed the UI Hardin Library will continue to serve as the outreach medical library for the State of Iowa, it's adding region-wide services and a variety of projects - including a new partnership with the University of Michigan to start an initiative to provide training and support for data management.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, which was authorized by Congress in the 1965 Medical Library Assistance Act, has worked to equalize and enhance access to health-sciences information, according to a UI news release.

For the five-year grant period, Hardin Library staff will pursue the following goals:

' Collaborate with network members and other groups to improve access to and sharing of biomedical-information resources

' Promote access to and use of biomedical-information resources for health professionals and members of the public - especially related to a national goal of eliminating health disparities

' And develop, promote, and improve electronic access to health information