Free informational sessions on how to search for health information and how to evaluate health information sites will be offered in 21 communities across the state Sept. 18 through Oct. 5.
The sessions, which are open to the public, are led by medical librarians from the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Consumer Health Information Resource Service (CHIRS) and the National Library of Medicine. These sessions are part of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) through the Nebraska Library Commission.
“Increasing access to consumer health information leads to better informed consumers,” said Nancy Woelfl, Ph.D., director of the McGoogan Library of Medicine at UNMC.
The training sessions will enable citizens to make better informed decisions regarding their family’s health care requirements, she said, adding that these services have an economic impact because they are delivered at no cost through the CHIRS program at the McGoogan Library of Medicine and its library partners across the state.
“CHIRS provides the most current, reliable information available and is a great service that most people are unaware of. We hope to change that through these workshops,” Dr. Woelfl said.
This project is supported in part by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration BTOP. Additional funding is provided by the American Recover and Reinvestment Act and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Participating libraries are listed below.
Sept. 18 – 1:30pm – Neligh Public Library (for the Neligh and Elgin communities)
Sept. 19 – 12:30pm – Plainview Carnegie Library
– 1:30pm – Ainsworth Public Library
– 3:00pm – Osmond Public Library
Sept. 20 – 10:00am – Lied Randolph Public Library, Randolph
– 1:30pm – John A Stahl Library, West Point
– 2:00pm – Bloomfield Public Library
Sept. 21 – 1:30pm – Stromsburg Public Library
Sept. 24 – 10:00am – Sidney Public Library
– 2:00pm – Kimball Public Library
Sept. 25 – 3:00pm – Nancy Fawcett Memorial Library, Lodgepole
Sept. 26 – 11:00am – Culbertson Public Library
– 3:00pm – Holdrege Area Public Library
Sept. 27 – 9:00am – Alliance Public Library
– 2:00pm – Chadron Public Library
Sept. 28 – 10:30am – Rushville Public Library
Oct. 1 – 6:00pm – Clay Center Public Library
Oct. 4 – 1:30pm – Hruska Memorial Public Library, David City
Oct. 5 – 10:00am – Wahoo Public Library
– 2:30pm – Fairmont Public Library
About the Consumer Health Information Resource Service (CHIRS): To request free health information, you can visit your local public library, or contact the McGoogan Library of Medicine directly: in Omaha, 402-559-6221, outside Omaha toll-free at 1-866-800-5209, or via e-mail at askus@unmc.edu. Learn more at http://www.unmc.edu/library/consumer
About the University of Nebraska Medical Center: Through world-class research and patient care, UNMC generates breakthroughs that make life better for people throughout Nebraska and beyond. Its education programs train more health professionals than any other institution in the state. Learn more at unmc.edu.
The National Library of Medicine session is funded under contract No. HHS-N-276-2011-00006C with the University of Utah Eccles Health Sciences Library and awarded by the DHHS, NIH, National Library of Medicine. For more information see: http://nnlm.gov/mcr/ or call 1-800-338-7657