Invitation Letter

NAME

ADDRESS

DATE

Dear ______:

My name is Don Jason, and I am an Associate Fellow at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). As part of my spring project, I would like to invite you to participate in a focus group that will assess the comprehensiveness of the 27 professional competencies essential for health information outreach, identified by the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) in a 2011 Delphi study. This focus group will also help to identify personal characteristics for librarians, which complement the professional competencies.

In addition to assessing professional competencies and identifying personal characteristics needed for librarians to conduct effective health information outreach, the information gathered in these focus groups will be used to develop a self-assessment tool. This tool can be used by librarians to assess their readiness for health information outreach practice and to help identify gaps in their education/training.

A total of six one-hour focus groups will be held as part of this project. These focus groups will only include participants from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) GMR. Three focus groups will include GMR-designated Outreach Librarians and the remaining three focus groups will include Directors of GMR-designated Outreach Libraries. You will only attend one focus group session.

How will this study be conducted?

Please plan to attend one Adobe Connect focus group:

GMR Outreach Librarians Only	GMR Resource /Outreach Library Directors Only
Day 1, Time 1 Day 2, Time 2 Day 3, Time 3	Day 4, Time 4 Day 5, Time 5 Day 6, Time 6

I will send you an online poll prompting you to select the two focus groups time slots that are most convenient to you. Please complete this brief poll by (State a specific date).

Further Clarification on the Focus Groups:

Be advised that the focus group discussion will be recorded; however, no personal identifiable information will be used in the reports.

The focus group will be held as an interactive webinar using Adobe Connect Pro. The one hour session will be led by a member of the NLM staff and will include a small group of your peers.

If you should have to cancel your attendance before the focus group, please let me know via email as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this project feel free to contact me via email or telephone.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Don P. Jason III, MLIS, MS

Associate Fellow

U.S. National Library of Medicine

8600 Rockville Pike Cubicle 2N05G

Bethesda, MD 20894

Phone: (301) 496-4944

Fax: (301) 480-2370

Email: don.jason@nih.gov

Project Sponsors:

Renée Bougard, MLIS

Outreach Librarian NN/LM National Network Office

Jacqueline Leskovec, MLIS, MA, RN

Outreach, Planning and Evaluation Coordinator National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region