Summer Happenings

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Summer 2025 edition of HLSP News. After a cool and rainy spring, Summer begins with our first (and let's hope only) heat wave. I hope all of you are able to beat the heat and find ways to enjoy Summer.

There has been a lot of news recently about big spending cuts to Medicaid and Medicare at the federal level making this a challenging time for hospitals in our area. We don't know what the final numbers will look like, and we will watch for how cuts will impact our hospitals and the libraries that serve them. It remains to be seen if there will be any impact on hospital library services. What is certain though is that SCRLC will be here to provide services and resources for all our hospital library members. So please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns about your ability to provide services and resources to your providers and administrators.

In this edition of HLSP News, we share some member news, recap the MLA '25 Conference, provide updates on resource sharing, include reminders about the HLSP grant program and end with some continuing education opportunities.

All the Best,

Christine Brown

Outreach Services Librarian/HLSP Coordinator

Member Highlights

The Guthrie Clinic published the first edition of its newly revamped medical journal. The new name is The Guthrie Journal, and it is an open access resource. It was revealed during their Research Day and will be published twice a year.

Congratulations to Danny Scopelliti received a Professional Development grant from NNLM and that paid for his attendance at an online class on evidence-based research at UNC.

NNLM's Region 7 did some focused outreach to Chenango, Delaware, and Otsego counties this past Fall and Winter. Their report was issued this spring, and they identified multiple health topics of concern including those classified as social determinants of health, mental health, accessibility, and environmental health. The report can be accessed here. We appreciate that they did this work, and we plan to incorporate some of the findings into our next Plan of Service work. While the work covers just three of our 14 counties, the findings apply to many communities in our area, and I hope you have a chance to review it.

MLA '25 Conference

I went to the Medical Library Association's conference in Pittsburgh at the beginning of May. I attended a class on hospital libraries before the official beginning of the Conference and met some great people and picked up some new ideas.

There was a large and informative poster session and dozens of vendor booths to meet with and discuss their services. And there were continuing education opportunities, immersion sessions, lighting talks, and symposia providing a multitude of educational opportunities.

It was a nice time to meet people in person, and I was able to talk with Danny Scopelliti and Mikki Smith (pictured above right) from Guthrie Lourdes. Laura Lipke was also there though we didn't get a chance to meet.

I attended many sessions on a variety of topics including how AI is impacting hospitals and medical librarianship; MeSH headings; ways to increase library material usage; celebrating contributions from people in marginalized populations; and negotiating with vendors. I have some new ideas I'm planning to incorporate in 2025-2026.

Electronic Resources

We renewed the STAT!Ref subscription and we removed 4 titles with very little to no usage and then added 3 titles that may generate greater usage. The new collection will begin July 1, and I'll distribute an updated list for you to share with your providers, administrators and students in early July. You'll access the subscription the same way you've been doing these past two years.

We have seen a greater number of members using the NEJM subscription with more than half using it now. I'll continue to work with the remaining members and hope to soon see all members accessing it.

HLSP Grant Program

As we approach the end of our fiscal year (June 30, 2025), we have received all grant applications, and the checks have been distributed. Additionally, we had leftover HLSP funds, so we were able to provide each member with supplemental funding. We are happy to provide our members with funding to increase their collection and resources for providers and administrators to access the information they need to provide top level health care.

The final report forms were sent this morning and are due at the end of July. We need receipts for the purchases by that date so we can complete our HLSP report so please send me the forms as soon as possible.

As a reminder, the purpose of the HLSP grant program is to provide funds that allow each member hospital library to purchase resources that will improve patient care. The funds are not intended to supplement the resources of an individual.

If you have any questions about whether a specific item or service is allowable, you can check the guidelines or reach out to me for information and a discussion.

Continuing Education

Upcoming Webinars

Health Wellness and Hospital Libraries Lunch and Learn series.

We are working on new programs for the 2025/2026 year which begins on July 1in a couple of weeks. Please check our website for notices about new programs throughout the Summer.

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) is offering the following FREE CE classes this Summer:

Librarian's Guide to Consumer Health - A 4-week self-paced course that focuses on the health information seeking behavior of consumers.

Health Statistics on the Web - A 90-minute webinar that will discuss the importance and relevance of health statistics in various contexts.

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is offering the following CE classes this Summer:

Resource Sharing, Interlibrary Loan, and Document Delivery: What, Where, Why, and How

This is an MLA program that the Long Island Library Resource Council is offering free of charge to its members and as a member of SCRLC, you can attend free of charge as well.

Exploring AI Literacy in Medical and Health Science Libraries and Developing AI Literacy Training - the webinar

For a complete listing of MLA CE classes, check out their website.

NOTE: There is a charge for each MLA CE class with a discounted price for members. SCRLC may be able to pay for your registration for MLA programs so keep that option in mind for these or any other courses on the MLA website.

Recently Recorded Webinars:

SCRLC's Lunch & Learn Series:

• Mosquito Borne Infections in New York State
• Fall Vaccine Update (Covid & Flu)
• Vaccine Hesitance and How to Address It
• All About Ticks

We still have seats available for an NLM webinar on Trauma-Informed Librarianship. Let me know if you would like to access to this webinar at no charge.

NNLM held a webinar on DOCLINE and FREESHARE in August and it was recorded.

MedlinePlus Tutorial for Librarians & Health Educators - self-paced. This interactive, narrated tutorial provides a tour of the MedlinePlus website and explains why MedlinePlus is a trusted reference when answering health information questions.

This tutorial takes about 1 hour to complete. (1 CE credit)

Recordings of past webinars can be found here.