In late 2004, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine was awarded a 3-year grant expected to total approximately $400,000 by the National Library of Medicine to develop the Family Medicine Digital Resources Library (FMDRL). FMDRL will provide an administrative and technical framework for the dissemination, review, revision, archiving, and maintenance of presentations, learning modules, quizzes, examinations, simulated clinical cases, and other curricular materials. This library will include curricular materials from all levels of family medicine education.
The vision for FMDRL is to be the primary mechanism used by family medicine educators to share curricular materials—resulting in efficient, effective dissemination of curricular materials nationally and internationally. Efforts will be made to build and maintain a critical mass of content related to the core strategic goals of STFM. The library is being developed with an open standards-based infrastructure, permitting interaction with other digital libraries, such as the Health Education Assets Library.
Editorial and administrative oversight for FMDRL will be provided by a steering committee of educators, informaticists, researchers, and librarians. Jacob Reider, MD, Albany Medical College, serves as steering committee chair, and Roger Sherwood, CAE, STFM executive director, as principal investigator for the grant. Other FMDRL Steering Committee members include Helen Baker, PhD, MBA, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine; Richard Usatine, MD, University of Texas HSC at San Antonio; Enid Geyer, MLS, Albany Medical College; Mary Moore, PhD, University of Texas HSC at San Antonio; and Traci Nolte, STFM communications director.
The FMDRL Steering Committee would like acknowledge the dedicated work of the University of Washington, the STFM Group on Faculty Development, and the STFM Group on Evidence-based Medicine for their creation of a pilot Web site that has provided the FMDRL development team with valuable information and feedback as we move forward on the development of this resource.
At the recent STFM Annual Spring Conference, held April 30 to May 4 in New Orleans, members of both the pilot Web site and the FMDRL Steering Committee presented a seminar and spoke to chairs of STFM special interest groups about the FMDRL and how STFM members can become involved in the success of this valuable resource for family medicine educators.
For more information on the FMDRL or to find out how you can get involved, visit http://www.fmdrl.org or contact FMDRL staff liaison, Traci Nolte, at tnolte{at}stfm.org.
- © 2005 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.