Archive for January, 2011
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius today announced the release of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the federal government’s evidence-based nutritional guidance to promote health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity through improved nutrition and physical activity.
The new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on balancing calories with physical activity, and encourage Americans to consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood, and to consume less sodium, saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains.
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans include 23 Key Recommendations for the general population and six additional Key Recommendations for specific population groups, such as women who are pregnant. Key Recommendations are the most important messages within the Guidelines in terms of their implications for improving public health. The recommendations are intended as an integrated set of advice to achieve an overall healthy eating pattern. More consumer-friendly advice and tools, including a next generation Food Pyramid, will be released by USDA and HHS in the coming months.
Some of the Key Recommendations included in the Guidelines include:
- Prevent and/or reduce overweight and obesity through improved eating and physical activity behaviors.
- Reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and further reduce intake in specific population groups.
- Reduce the intake of calories from solid fats and added sugars.
- Increase fruit and vegetable intake and replace refined grains with whole grains.
- Select an eating pattern that meets nutrient needs over time at an appropriate calorie level.
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines is available at www.dietaryguidelines.gov.
For more information on dietary guidelines, see www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines and www.healthfinder.gov/prevention
Friday, January 28th, 2011
The NN/LM SCR will offer the six hour version of the class Screencasting: Creating Online Tutorials at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Library (building 30 on campus map) in the Informatics Classroom, Room E2.310A in Dallas, TX on February 23, 2011.
Class: Screencasting: Creating Online Tutorials (6 Hour Class)
Instructor: Emily Hurst, NN/LM SCR
Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (Lunch break 11:30am – 12:30pm)
6 MLA CE contact hours
Registration Required. Register online. Deadline to register is February 14, 2011.
Building on concepts of understanding learning styles and how to organize and ‘chunk’ instructional content for the online environment, this course’s main goal is to teach librarians best practices for creating effective screencasts (video-based online instruction modules) using Camtasia, and other similar tools. Student learning outcomes for this full-day, face-to-face workshop include: the ability to determine how to get the most from your screencasts; learning how to divide content into logical chunks that are most appropriate for online learners; an understanding of best practices for creating content for their topic (e.g. storyboarding, script writing, and voiceover/narration); an understanding of what hardware and software tools work best for which content (and best sources for acquiring needed tools); and the ability to assess the effectiveness of screencasted content. The six hour class provides additional time for in-depth hands-on activities and more information on class design principles.
Don’t delay, register today!
For a list of all upcoming classes in the South Central Region visit the class calendar page.
Friday, January 28th, 2011
The NN/LM SCR will be offering the Patient Safety Resources Seminar class at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, Gibson D. Lewis Library in Fort Worth, TX on March 11, 2011.
This interactive seminar focuses on ways librarians can become more involved in patient safety processes and activities – both within their institutions and organizations and in providing patient safety resources for health professionals, for administration and staff, and for patients and families. Topics include understanding the definitions and issues of patient safety; locating where patient safety practices and contacts exist within an institution; identifying appropriate resources; and library advocacy in the area of patient safety. These four hours of lecture, discussion and brainstorming help librarians in all fields become effective agents for improving patient safety.
Class: Patient Safety Resource Seminar: Librarians on the Front Lines
Instructor: Ruicha Mishra, NN/LM SCR
Date: Friday, March 11, 2011
Time: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
4 MLA CE contact hours
Click here to register. Deadline to register is March 2, 2011.
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 will be released January 31, 2011, 10 a.m. EST
On Monday, January 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will hold a joint press at the George Washington University Jack Morton Auditorium to release the new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will discuss the Guidelines and provide key insights into the new recommendations.
Joining the Secretaries will be Dr. Robert Post, Deputy Director of USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, and Rear Admiral Penelope Slade-Sawyer, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
More information and a link to attend the live webcast of the press conference on January 31 can be found at http://www.DietaryGuidelines.gov. In addition, copies of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 will be available immediately following the press conference.
Monday, January 24th, 2011
Health disparities are differences in health outcomes between groups that reflect social inequalities. Despite progress over the past 20 years in reducing this problem, racial/ethnic, economic and other social disparities in health still exist and need to be addressed. The CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report, 2011, is the first in a series of periodic, consolidated assessments that highlight health disparities by sex, race, ethnicity, and other social characteristics in the U.S.
The report provides analysis and reporting of the recent trends and ongoing variations in health disparities and inequalities in selected social and health indicators, both of which are important steps in encouraging actions and facilitating accountability to reduce modifiable disparities by using interventions that are effective and scalable.
The complete 116-page report may be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.cdc.gov/features/HealthDisparitiesReport/?s_cid=tw_cdc292
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
The recording for the January 19, 2011 SCR CONNECTions webinar, Online Collaboration Tools, is now available online at http://nnlm.gov/scr/training/webmeeting.html. Presentation materials are provided.
The next SCR CONNECTions will be held on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 10:30 am CST (9:30 am MST). The topic will be the new Environmental Health Student Portal and other K-12 Student Resources from the National Library of Medicine.
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
Finding a time for everyone to meet and work on a project can be difficult. The task of finding a meeting time only grows more cumbersome when trying to coordinate the schedules of team members at different institutions and in different time zones. Doodle is a web-based scheduling application to eliminate all the frustration of setting up meetings.
Instead of asking everyone which time is best for them, the meeting coordinator can select a series of times, and then ask the group to individually choose the times when they are available. When filling out their best available time, users can leave comments for one another if necessary. Coordinators can then pick the best time when the team or the majority of the members can meet.
While Doodle was initially created for event scheduling, Doodle also provides other services such as free polling options. Users can send a poll out to a group in order to help select a meeting venue, dining choice or other option.
You can schedule an event and send out requests without signing up for an account. Signing up for an account is good for users who may need to make changes to an event or send the invitation to others in the future. Doodle provides users with the option of logging in using various accounts such as Google or Yahoo. Once you create an account you can also connect Doodle with your Google or Outlook calendar to help make selecting the best time even easier. Doodle is available for mobile devices.
Doodle is ad supported; however, there are paid account options which eliminate ads. Businesses can also sign up for paid services from Doodle including enhanced security features and personalized URLs.
Thursday, January 13th, 2011
Winter storms have been affecting a significant portion of the country, requiring libraries to shut down. Are you ready for an emergency that could require your library to temporarily close? Do you have a disaster plan that will ensure that your users can access the resources even if they can’t make it to the library?
If not, now is the perfect time to plan. Take a look at the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit ‘s recent blog posting on writing a disaster plan. You’ll find templates, examples and videos on creating your own library disaster plan.
Remember, an emergency can take place at any time. Make sure you’re ready.
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
How prepared are you to assist teenagers with the health questions they are asking these days?
A new class, From A(norexia) to Z(its): Providing Health Information to Teens, will be held in Houston at the Texas Medical Center (HAM-TMC) Library on Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:00 am.
This free, hands-on class from the NN/LM SCR will present an overview of health information needs of teenagers and their information seeking behaviors; review communication skills needed during reference interviews with teenagers; and discuss credible health information resources that are designed for teens. This class has been approved by the Medical Library Association for 3 contact hours of CE credit.
Class title: From A(norexia) to Z(its): Providing Health Information to Teens
Date/time: Monday, February 7, 2011, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Location: Houston, TX, Texas Medical Center (HAM-TMC) Library, Street Level Classroom (http://nnlm.gov/training/schedule/site.html?site_id=97)
To register: http://tinyurl.com/scrclasses
For more information, contact firstname.lastname@example.org or 713-799-7880
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Introducing Blogadillo mobile! Thanks to the use of the WPtouch plug in for Word Press you can now read Blogadillo from your mobile device. The plug in provides a streamlined view of the blog with easy to access posts. When viewing the URL http://www.nnlm.gov/scr/blog on an iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and BlackBerry Storm/Torch mobile device, the WPtouch plug in automatically transforms Blogadillo into a mobile ready blog for easy reading.
Each post will appear in date order with the most recent post being on top. You will also notice calendar icons on each post to show you when it was first posted. You can view other details including post title, author and categories right from the main page. To access the full text of the post, just touch the small arrow to the right of each post. The mobile blog also features a search feature. To search Blogadillo simply press the search icon near the top right of the screen.
Don’t delay, try it today!