Pacific College Library Named A Finalist For NCLIS Awards

San Diego, CA - Pacific College Library in San Diego has been named one of the ten finalists for the 2006 NCLIS Health Information Awards for Libraries, which are designed to encourage library programs that foster better health. Pacific College is the only Oriental Medicine School to be named as a finalist this year.

Finalists were chosen based on how well the program encouraged lifestyle improvement among the target population, the program's adaptability, collaboration with other community organizations, and how successfully the program was able to reach out to people with low information literacy skills.

Pacific College's library is considered to be a stand out in part due to the Senior Health Information program titled, "Senior Health Information Goes Electronic in San Diego." This program provides senior citizens the opportunity to improve their lives through access to reliable, accurate and authoritative health information

"This outreach project is one of the nation's first to serve local community seniors," said Naomi Broering, MLS, MA, FACMI, Dean of Pacific College's Library. Since 2004, when the project began, we have informed nearly 3,000 participants and taught nearly 500 class attendees. Clearly, PCOM is gaining national recognition for its' outreach services to the community. Other institutions are planning to implement services similar to our successful project."

Pacific College Library's health outreach works in partnership with the Florence Riford Senior Center, the First Lutheran Church, the Clairemont Friendship Community Center, and the San Diego Public Libraries in Pacific Beach and La Jolla in order to work hands on with the senior community to provide them quality health information. The Library also continually updates links on our website to health information databases including Medline Plus, Pub Med, NIH as well as online tutorials to provide authoritative educational health resources.

he final winner of this award will be announced May 3, 2006. Finalists will receive $1,000 towards the ongoing success of their project, and the grand prizewinner willbe awarded $20,000.

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