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January 2010

MLA Receives Two-Year Grant for its Library Without Borders® E-Library Training Initiative

Medical Library Association Receives Two-Year Grant for Its Library Without Borders® E-Library Training Initiative

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is happy to announce that it has received a two-year $72,000 grant from the Elsevier Foundation to support the association’s Librarians Without Borders® (LWB) E-Library Training Initiative. MLA was one of six organizations to be awarded an Elsevier Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries grant that demonstrates how information resources can be used to address a variety of development issues – emergency management, the environment, boosting authorship and research skills and the distribution of clinical care information. The grant recipients were selected from 250 applicants worldwide for their innovation and potential for impact in the developing world, academic workplace and nursing community.

In the LWB grant proposal, MLA requested funds to continue to develop new training modules and update and convert others into distance learning courses; conduct another train the trainers course and help develop and use the Global Health Library (WHO) proposed trainers’ blog; and teach additional workshops in New Guinea and Africa, all of which continue to b uild on program activities supported by a 2007 Elsevier Foundation grant.

E-library training coordinator Lenny Rhine will continue to collaborate with the trainers from Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA), WHO/Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) and other WHO regional offices in developing and teaching regional or country workshops. Future activities include an 'Authorship Skills' course and Health InterNetwork Access to Research Program (HINARI) update at the 2010 Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) meeting (Burkina Faso) and follow-up training and assessment activities in Tanzania.

HINARI provides not-for-profit institutions in developing countries with free or very low cost online access to the major journals in biomedical and related sciences. It was launched in January 2002, with some 1500 journals from the 6 largest STM publishers and has enjoyed spectacular success. The substantial launch-day base has grown to more than 150 publishers giving access to more than 6,200 journals. Combined with Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) and Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE), the three public-private partnerships have the collective name of Research4Life.

The LWB e-library training initiative has developed new formats for the delivery of training using MLA’s Moodle e-course software package that includes innovative interactive tools for instructors and students. The LWB workshops and projects will result in a higher level and more efficient use of the electronic journals and other resources that are available via Research4Life and will support the broad goals that enable individuals and institutions in developing and transitional countries to gain access to and use a significant amount of the journal literature for health, social sciences, agriculture, and environmental sciences.

About the Medical Library Association
MLA is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,000 health sciences information professional members worldwide. Founded in 1898, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

About The Elsevier Foundation

The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to institutions around the world, with a focus on support for the world’s libraries and for scholars in the early stages of their careers. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 50 grants worth over a million dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. The Elsevier Foundation is funded by Elsevier, a leading global publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services.

For more information, please contact Carla J. Funk , funk@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x14.