Proposed Health Libraries Assistance Act

In a letter to the Honourable David Dingwell, MP, PC, Minister of Health, dated March 3, 1997, Jim Henderson, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, proposed a Health Libraries Assistance Act. Some of the key points outlined are as follows: A Canadian Health Libraries Assistance Act could create an infrastructure to maintain national standards for health care. Health Canada, a major producer and distributor of critical health information, should be a key player in this network, offering links to its resources via the library network working with Health Canada libraries. The primary units of the network should be identified as the hospital and community health centre libraries serving practicing professionals, patients, and consumers. The proposed Health Libraries Assistance Act would designate funds, broaden federal support of libraries and coordinate their activities through legislation mandating: a network of libraries coordinated and funded federally; increased sharing of existing resources and development of new collections and services to respond to identified gaps, new opportunities, and changing needs; training in health library science; the systematic collection and organization of information to create a common base ofknowledge shared nationally; advocacy for evidence-based practice (health care providers) and choices and decisions based on current, reliable information (patients, consumers, and administrators); programmers targeted to reach remote and special populations, such as rural practitioners, aboriginal peoples, seniors and recent immigrants, and address specific problems, such as substance abuse, nutrition and HIV/AIDS; and tools for universal access which accommodate individual needs and self-directed learning. The need to do more with less, in a climate of restructuring, demands ready access to reliable, current information for all participants in the Canadian health care system; patients and consumers, students and teachers of the health professions, researchers in academia and industry, policy makers, health service researchers and analysts, facility and programme administrators, writers and reporters, executives and professionals in industry, workers in health and manufacturing facilities, and clinicians caring for patients. If they share a common knowledge base through a network of libraries spanning Canada, they will be encouraged to cooperate in: conforming to high national standards; supporting efficient and financially responsible change; expediting the transfer of research into practice; and using health care resources wisely and effectively. Expenditures required to create and maintain this network are not large. They may generate net saving - lives as well as money - and will certainly improve the quality of life for many Canadians. Vol. 21 No. 2 1997 Issue Contents HLABC Home Page Updated: 5/6/97