Citations (Library Newsletter) April 2000

Library and Partners Awarded $214,000 for Border Health Network

by Jeanette Smith, Professor, Dean’s Office, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu

The NMSU Library is the lead agency for the Border Health Information and Education Network (BIEN!), a consortium of seventeen public and academic libraries, hospitals, and health organizations in Dona Ana, Luna, and Otero counties. Two recent grants, a $10,000 planning grant from the Paso del Norte Foundation of El Paso, and a $204,000 Information Access Grant from the National Library of Medicine, have been awarded to BIEN!

These awards will enable BIEN! to achieve its goal of creating opportunities for improving the health of people in the Border region through the provision of quality health information resources in electronic and traditional formats and through health education outreach activities in Border communities.

BIEN! is the brainchild of Norice Lee, director of the Dona Ana Branch Community College (DABCC) Media Center and chair of the BIEN! Executive Board. Sylvia Ortiz, the head of Branson Reference at the NMSU Library, is the project director. Members of the BIEN! Executive Board are Carol Brey of Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, Dr. Hugo Vilchis-Licon of the Border Epidemiology and Environmental Health Center, Frances Scappaticci of Memorial Medical Center, Dr. Paul Lang of the New Mexico Public Health Division, and Molly McGetrick of the DABCC Media Center.

BIEN! partner institutions in addition to those mentioned above are: NMSU Alamogordo Townsend Library, NMSU Health Science Department, Mimbres Memorial Hospital of Deming, La Clinica de Familia, Southern Area Health Education Center, NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, New Mexico Border Health Office, Hatch Public Library, Alamogordo Public Library, Marshall Memorial Library of Deming, and the Valley Community Library of Anthony.