Planning and Implementing a Digital Library for

Public Health Seattle & King County

Ann Madhavan, MLS

A Collaboration Between…

University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries

Public Health Seattle & King County

Funded by…

The Grace and Harold Sewell Memorial Fund, Inc.

Sewell Learning Partnerships goal is to “place experienced librarians within leading health care organizations for the purpose of both partners gaining a greater understanding of how best information sciences can be effectively applied in each environment”

PHSKC

http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health.aspx

serves 1.8 million people – one third of the state’s population and the 12th most populous county in the U.S.

serves 39 incorporated cities (Seattle is the largest at 563,374)

jurisdiction covers 2,134 square miles of land (size of Delaware)

PHSKC - Slide 2

is the 10th largest public health department in the U.S.

has ~ 1,500 regular employees and 10 public health centers

provides safety net medical services, jail health services, EMS, has an research/academic health department, coordinates with community health partners…

The PHSKC HIV/AIDS Library…

originated in 1985 because of information needs of the AIDS epidemic

since 1994, has received NLM funding for several projects involving upgrading computer equipment and providing training to community based organizations

Needs Assessment

Survey Results Approximately 700 survey

respondents Greatest number of respondents fell

into the following interest/work categories:

Administration/Program Management Health Education/Promotion Public Health Nursing

Online Access

Over 80% have access to the Internet at home and/or work

Over 40% need to access online information more than once a day to do their job

Over 70% feel confident about their ability to do so

Over 55% know how to evaluate information from the Web as to reliability and accuracy

Most Frequently Used Websites

Search engines (Google, Yahoo, …) PHSKC Public Website PHSKC Employee Intranet Washington State Department of Health

(DOH) Centers for Disease Control and Preventi

on (CDC)

Information Needs

Almost 80% of survey respondents reported that if they had an information need they would search for the information themselves…

Locating Journal Articles & Books

Top Three Choices Recommendations from colleagues Workplace reference materials Newsletters or current awareness

tools

Types of Information Needed

Top Ten… Print Sources/Documents

(Word, Excel, PDF)

Electronic / Internet Sources

Telephone Directories for Contact Information (Phone numbers, Addresses)

Advice / Information from Colleagues

Professional Conferences & Workshops

Reference Books

Government Publications

Dictionaries

Best Practices / Evidence-based

Work Manuals

Topics All aspects of Public Health, including Infectious

Diseases, HIV AIDS, STD, Immunization, Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health, Toxicology…

Directories Community Specific Information Grant Information Legal Information State and Federal Government Information Technology-related Information Financial Information…

Public Health Journals

American Journal of Public Health JAMA: Journal of the American

Medical Association MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality

Weekly Report New England Journal of Medicine Public Health Reports…

Journal Recipients

60% of survey respondents did not receive professional journals for work purposes

Of those who did, most paid for them themselves

Lacking Skills In…

Using article databases such as PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, or Web of Science

Using Electronic discussion lists or listservs Finding "Grey literature" such as reports from

government agencies or NGOs that are not published commercially

Accessing journal subscriptions in print or online

Searching statistics databases such as ICPSR, census.gov resources

Consulting online catalogs, experts, librarians

Digital Library Poll

If a digital library (journals, books and related content available online in digital format only) of core public health journals and books were available in Public Health would you use the digital library content?

Yes 56.7% No 6.1%

If computer literacy training was made available to you what applications would you like to receive training in?

Microsoft Office File & Folder Management Internet Search Engines E-mail Geographic Information Systems Reference Managers

Yes !

Reoccurring Themes

Need for evidence-based, point of service, just in time information

Need for a diverse range of information resources on a wide range of public health related topics

Need and desire for improved access to information

Need and desire for training to improve information seeking skills

Perceived lack of time and support to maximize information use

Implications of Survey Results

Implications

Improve access to information Improve information seeking and

critical appraisal skills Improve knowledge management

skills

Plan…Explore a range of options to improve information provision including:

Development of a virtual/digital online library

Offering online and onsite training regarding efficient searching, critical appraisal, knowledge management, and application use

Issues to Consider Cost to implement & maintain

current investment in information resources?

cost effectiveness of electronic access?

personnel costs?

Issues to Consider – Slide 2

Sustainability who will update and maintain the

website? who will administer electronic

resource licenses? who will troubleshoot?

Issues to Consider – Slide 3

Levels of Support buy in from PHSKC? ownership? breadth of access? continuing financial support?

Issues to Consider – Slide 4

How to Measure/Evaluate Impact is the resource being used? is it being used effectively? is it having an impact? can we improve usability?

Questions?

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