Our outreach activities bring health information, training and development to communities around New Mexico.
The UNM HSC Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center provides outreach to health care providers and consumers throughout New Mexico, including the state’s 22 Native Nations. Our Distance Services program at HSLIC extends the library’s reach by providing resources to health professionals, community groups, libraries, schools and students.
Our Native American Health Information Services (NAHIS) offers resources to health care providers serving the 22 Native Nations. The program also addresses the health information needs of the Native American community at UNM.
Through the following activities, Distance Services provides health information delivery, development and training to the community:
A consumer health resources subject guide, or LibGuide, provides information that can help patients learn more about their health care providers’ recommendations.
On request, HSLIC provides collection development assistance in the areas of health and medicine to organizations within New Mexico, including Native Nations.
HSLIC faculty provide training on how to effectively use library resources, such as National Library of Medicine classes, database demonstrations and exhibits.
Our Distance Services group provides training on health information resources to health and medical professionals that’s designed to help participants find, evaluate and use relevant health information.
We conduct training sessions at HSLIC, at other locations within the state or online. We can customize training for a particular group. Here are some examples of training we provide:
NLM classes are held at HSLIC and at other sites in New Mexico and provide Continuing Education (CE) credit for health and medical librarians, Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) for nurses and Continuing Pharmacy education (CPE) for pharmacists.
In addition, the South Central Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine hosts classes for health and medical librarians.
Distance Services faculty present and exhibit at conferences, health fairs and community events to provide a wide range of health information resources, including numerous online databases that are all freely available to the public. When possible, exhibits are displayed that display resources featuring live Internet demonstrations.
HSLIC’s Native American Health Information Services Program connects the library to Native Americans in New Mexico. The program offers resources to health care providers serving Native Americans throughout the state, and at UNM.
The program focuses on health information delivery, health information training and collection development consultation.
We offer classes to help students, health care providers, schools, libraries and community groups find, evaluate and use relevant health information.
We also can provide the following services available on request:
Through collection development consultations, faculty librarians offer guidance in establishing health information collections for the following:
HSLIC developed the Native Health Database (NHD). It contains records spanning almost four centuries, including citations and abstracts of health-related articles, reports, surveys and other documents pertaining to the health and health care of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Canadian First Nations. If available, a copy of the article will be sent to the requester free of charge.
The database may be searched by tribe, keyword, title, author, publication source or year, document type, region and state or province.
Here are a few ways to search for information in the NHD:
In the early 1990s, the Native Health History Database (NHHD) was developed from the donated collection of “Papers on Indian Health” by William W. Schottstaedt, MD (1917–2005).
In 2007, NHHD and the Native Health Research Database (NHRD) merged to become the Native Health Database, which covers current materials. In 2013, HSLIC received $35,000 from the National Library of Medicine to update and promote the NHD.
On November 4–5, 2016, HSLIC hosted the first face-to-face meeting of the Native Health Database (NHD) Advisory Board in 10 years. This group serves in an advisory capacity to HSLIC’s NHD by participating in developing strategic priorities for the database. Four board members developed a collective strategy and vision.
The guest speaker was Kevin English, DrPH, director of the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center. More than half the meeting was devoted to a facilitated goal-setting and prioritization activity led by Melissa Riley of Native Community Development Associates, LLC, New Laguna, NM. The discussion resulted in the creation of both short- and long-term goals and activities for improving the NHD.
To learn more about HSLIC's Distance Services and Native Services outreach programs, please contact interim co-director Sarah Morley, PhD, MLS, AHIP.
