Send in Your Application to Participate in a New Bioinformatics Training Course: "A Librarian's Guide to NCBI"

In sponsored partnership, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) National Library of Medicine Training Center (NTC) are pleased to invite participation of health sciences librarians in a new bioinformatics training course: "A Librarian’s Guide to NCBI." Instructors will be NCBI staff and Diane Rein, Ph.D., MLS, Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology Liaison from the Health Science Library, University at Buffalo.

The course provides basic knowledge and skills for librarians interested in helping patrons use online molecular databases and tools from the NCBI. Attending this course will improve your ability to initiate bioinformatics services at your institution and/or extend current initiatives. Prior knowledge of molecular biology and genetics is not required. Participants who complete the class will be eligible for MLA Continuing Education credits. The course is free but travel costs are at the expense of the participant.

There are two parts to the course and applicants must take both parts:

• Part 1: "Fundamentals in Bioinformatics and Searching," a three week, online, (asynchronous) self-paced pre-course, March 4-18, 2013.
  The aim is to provide, from a librarian’s professional perspective, the fundamental knowledge and background information necessary for the subsequent, more intensive, hands-on second portion of the course onsite at NCBI. Bioinformatics will be introduced both as a discipline and as a research practice. Select NCBI databases, tools (including search tools) and bioinformatics records will be previewed. A beginning working knowledge of the necessary molecular biology vocabulary necessary to enable successful NCBI searches will be developed.

• Part 2: A 5-day in-person course offered on-site at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, April 15th-19th, 2013.
  Topics will include using the BLAST sequence similarity search and Entrez text search systems to find relevant data. This portion of A Librarian’s Guide to NCBI describes the various kinds of molecular data available, and explains how these are generated and used in modern biomedical research.

Applications are open to health science librarians in the United States. Applications will be accepted from librarians currently providing bioinformatics services as well as from those desiring to implement services. The application deadline is January 25, 2013. Applicants will need to fill out the application form, submit a supervisor letter of support form, and provide a curriculum vitae (CV). Applicants will be notified of acceptance on or about February 15, 2013.

Please view the application form at: //www.surveymonkey.com/s/6H6L3GJ. The course page with additional information is at: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/education/librarian/

Please direct any questions to: ncbi_course@lists.utah.edu