NNLM initiatives and priority areas represent issues, topics and activities that align with the mission of the NNLM and strategically align with the goals and objectives of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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Building A Healthy Information Environment
Together, we have the power to build a healthier information environment. Just as we have all benefited from efforts to improve air and water quality, we can all benefit from taking steps to improve the quality of health information we consume.
— The U.S. Surgeon General, Advisory on Building a Health Information Environment
The NNLM engages with communities to raise awareness of trusted, high-quality, and relevant information and develop strategies to improve health literacy, data literacy, and understand and actively engage in medical research (clinical trials).
Bridging the Digital Divide
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted barriers to health and well-being that were increased due to the digital divide. Issues such as decreased internet connectivity, lack of Wi-Fi, and video chat or webcam technology in both urban and rural areas can hinder access to online health and medical information, and telehealth to its fullest capacity, especially to communities of color, the poor, and medically underserved (Clare, 2021).
The goal of this national initiative is to promote technology and digital equity, digital literacy, and telehealth through long-term partnerships and collaborations that will bring access to online health information to communities across the United States.
Environmental Determinants of Health
Through the Environmental Determinants of Health initiative, the NNLM will establish a baseline of understanding of EDIs for NNLM members. Environmental factors can influence human health, including physical, chemical, and biological factors that are external to a person, and all related behaviors. Collectively, these are referred to as environmental determinants of health (EDHs). Threats to any one of the EDHs can have an adverse impact on the health and well-being of the population. These environmental threats can occur naturally, human-made, or because of social conditions and ways people live. Addressing these EDHs will directly improve the health of the population.
Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science (CCS) is an NLM and NIH priority area for NNLM. Through citizen science and crowdsourcing, NNLM can engage communities in addressing societal needs and accelerating biomedical science, technology, and innovation. Collaborations between communities and researchers build capacity to address problems and meet research goals. Community participation in the research process also builds trust between NNLM and the communities that we serve.
Engaging network members through CCS supports NLM’s FY2020 Congressional Justification, which states that NLM is "committed to encouraging citizen science as a way to provide opportunities for members of the community to work with NLM to improve and apply NLM products and services in novel ways" by creating a link between NLM researchers and the community.
- Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Join NNLM staff members and Wikipedians virtually during our twice yearly one-day edit-a-thons or host an event at your institution.
- Citizen Science Month Celebrate amazing discoveries, incredible volunteers, hardworking practitioners, inspiring projects, and anything else citizen science-related with SciStarter, NNLM's Citizen Science Month partner.
Data Science
NNLM supports the NLM Strategic Plan 2017-2027: A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health. This effort is led by the National Center for Data Services. Through funding, education, and outreach, the Network serves as a resource for librarians, students, and interested individuals to learn about library roles in data science and data management and emerging trends in supporting biomedical research.
Student Engagement
Student Engagement is an NLM and NIH priority area for NNLM. The purpose of NNLM’s strategic focus in this area is to:
- champion health sciences librarianship by developing partnerships with Library and Information Science (LIS) and other graduate programs; and
- collaborate with undergraduate programs, professional associations, and other organizations.
NNLM student engagement supports goal three of the 2017-2027 NLM Strategic Plan, “Build a workforce for data-driven research and health.”
Students and faculty are strongly encouraged to connect with their regional point of contact, Office or Center to find an activity that might be of interest.
Substance Use Disorders
Substance Use Disorders is an NLM and NIH priority area for NNLM. According to the most current National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) more than 19 million Americans have a substance use disorder, including use of illegal drugs, misuse of prescription drugs, alcohol and tobacco. By providing trusted health information to libraries, schools, community-based organizations and public health departments, NNLM strives to engage all in our communities and network to address the issue of addiction prevention and treatment collaboratively.
- Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) The NIH HEAL initiative supports science-based solutions to end the opioid crisis.
- Substance Use Disorders Guide The Substance Use Disorders Guide is a list of online health information resources for patients and their support system. It includes topical information on opioid misuse and addiction.
All of Us
The NNLM All of Us Program coordinates engagement and training activities offered by NNLM in support of the NIH All of Us Research Program (All of Us), a large, multi-faceted research initiative seeking to collect biomedical data from one million people across the United States, to support precision medicine by making the data available for biomedical research.
This partnership between the National Library of Medicine and All of Us began in September 2017 with a 3-year pilot program to establish a Community Engagement Network and a training platform for All of Us, supported by existing NNLM awardees. The pilot years included funding to NNLM Regional Medical Libraries to support regional engagement with All of Us and contribute to nationally coordinated programs and services. Two national centers evolved from this pilot that continued to serve the needs of the initiative through 2022: the Training and Education Center, and the Community Engagement Center. Based on the results and impact of NNLM pilot activities, a new National All of Us Program Center (NAPC) was devised for the 2022-2026 cooperative agreement cycle to centralize continued community engagement and training support for this initiative. The NAPC was awarded to the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Iowa in a team-science, co-PI agreement to begin May 1, 2022.
The NAPC has developed and distributed a robust portfolio of community-based programs and services, focusing on health literacy, digital literacy, research literacy, citizen science, precision medicine, and supporting participation in research. These programs and services aim to build the knowledge, resources and skills necessary for individuals to make informed decisions about their health, understand how they can contribute to research, and understand how to engage with health information and research in a digital environment. Through this work, the NAPC strives to support the mission of NNLM to improve public health across the spectrum, ensure that people understand how medicine, research, and healthcare are evolving to be tailored to individuals, and understand the importance of participation in research programs like All of Us, especially for communities that are underrepresented in biomedical research.
The NAPC has also created and housed educational content for NNLM and All of Us, and built and maintained the All of Us Training and Education Platform to centralize access to learning content for All of Us audiences, serving an important role in the program’s infrastructure by ensuring access to compliance-related and role-based trainings, and regularly evaluating the learning needs of program partners to support them in their work. This training supports healthcare providers, community engagement partners, and staff of the All of Us Consortium to engage, recruit, retain, and return value to program participants, and it supports researchers to access and use All of Us data in the production and dissemination of research results.
As the All of Us Research Program is approaching the end of their initial program period in 2026, NNLM will sunset support for this initiative in two phases. The Community Engagement function of the NAPC will end on April 30, 2025, after many successful years of building relationships and partnerships with public libraries to conduct community-based events and programs that raised awareness of and engagement with All of Us. The Training and Education function of the NAPC will end on April 30, 2026, after transitioning the All of Us Training and Education Platform to long-term retention partners to ensure continuity of services for future program maintenance.