Tuesday, November 30, 2010

MHGL ceases operation December 1, 2010

The Vera P. Shiffman Medical Library regrets to announce that Michigan Health Go Local (MHGL) will cease operation December 1, 2010.

OUR HISTORY
MHGL has been a provider of health services information to Michigan residents since January 2007. This MedlinePlus Go Local initiative was introduced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in 2000. The Shiffman Medical Library began its development of a Michigan database in 2004 with support from the NLM. During the height of its operation, MHGL grew to almost 15,000 records representing 200 different health services including hospitals and public health departments, support groups and free clinics throughout all 83 counties in the state. Each record was vetted and updated by medical librarians then indexed with 300 medical and health topics.

A move by NLM to redirect its resources after close evaluation resulted in the decision, announced in February 2010, to discontinue further support and development of Go Local Projects. Despite several attempts, efforts to obtain ongoing local support for the Michigan-based web resource have proven unsuccessful. We are forced to refocus our efforts toward providing community health information outreach through traditional sources and the creation of alternative venues. We deeply appreciate the relationships and support we have enjoyed with NLM and all our colleagues over the years of this project and look forward to the future opportunities.

OUR FUTURE
Our current plans include collaborating with regional partners to share the data from the Michigan Health Go Local project to benefit Michigan residents. We will continue to announce specific partnerships and other outreach activities as they develop. In the meantime, please continue to use MedlinePlus medlineplus.gov as a trusted resource for consumer health information and contact us through email migolocal@wayne.edu or phone 313-577-6666 for local health information assistance. Visit our new website www.mihealthgolocal.org/

We sincerely appreciate all the support we have received from our colleagues and the community.

Sandra I. Martin, Interim Director
Shiffman Medical Library
Wayne State University

Linda A. Draper, Outreach Librarian
Shiffman Medical Library
Wayne State University
313-577-8943
Ldraper@wayne.edu