Patrick Ellis, Head of the W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library, can’t seem to wipe the grin off his face. He’s just learned that his grant application to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the establishment of a Canadian Virtual Health Library was successful.
The CIHR has approved multi-year funding of $800,000 ($500,000 / $200,000 / $100,000) to implement an online network of national health libraries which will make high-quality health information available to all Canadians. This triumph is the result of eight years of hard work by a task force of the Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA/ABSC) which Patrick co-chairs. The application identified Patrick as the principal investigator and was supported by letters from 37 other individuals and organizations.
“Canadian libraries have never undertaken such a project, so it’s both scary and exciting,” says Patrick. “But everything we’ve learned through our environmental scan and by partnering with projects like the Canadian Nurses Association 'NurseOne' tells us that the need is great and there are solutions.”
The Canadian Virtual Health Library is certainly an idea whose time has come. The CHLA-sponsored environmental scan of international and Canadian virtual health library initiatives found that the availability of quality-assured health information through nationally or internationally coordinated virtual health libraries delivers real benefit and has a positive impact on health care. Canada has lagged behind other nations in developing a national strategy to address disparities in service and access to health information resources. A Canadian Virtual Health Library will ensure that all health professionals, wherever they are in Canada, have ready access to information applicable in their work, as well as to training and assistance from experts in locating the best evidence.
The Kellogg Library supports the information needs of health practitioners in the Maritimes, and partners wherever possible with health authority libraries. Health sciences libraries across the country play similar roles, but none of them can fulfill all the information needs of unaffiliated practitioners. The goal of the CVHL is to coordinate all of these existing services into a one-stop national resource.