UIC health sciences library receives $8.9M contract to serve 10-state Midwest region

The national library network responsible for MEDLINE/PubMed and other Web-based health information services has awarded an $8.9 million contract to the Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago to serve as its Midwest regional library for another five years.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine gives consumers access to biomedical journal articles through MEDLINE/PubMed; full-text reports from the National Institutes of Health through Medline Plus; and information about clinical research through ClinicalTrials.gov.

The network has contracted with UIC to serve the 10-state Midwest region since 1979.

"The contract enables us to continue to reach health professionals in rural and inner-city areas, the public health workforce, and special populations," said Kathryn Carpenter, assistant university librarian for the health sciences.

As regional library, the UIC Library of the Health Sciences maintains a network office that provides services such as interlibrary loan, technology support and professional development to more than 3,000 member libraries.

The regional library helps health professionals to integrate health information technologies into clinical practice, and improves public access to reliable, culturally appropriate health information resources.

Recent projects include a program in which UIC and the Heartland Alliance worked with public library branches and mutual aid agencies to improve the Internet research skills of immigrants and refugees; a Web portal to allow parents of children with developmental disabilities to connect with their health-care teams at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton; and an Ohio State University effort to bring health information to low-literacy populations served by three large public library systems.

Source: www.uic.edu.