MEDLINEplus Goes Local with Upcoming Library Web Site
News & Views, UNC Health Sciences Library
Summer 2002
Finding good local health resources on the Internet can be a hit or miss process. But the Health Sciences Library is changing that: A team of librarians is developing an innovative project that will help North Carolinians locate the local health care resources they need.
The NC Health Info project (www.nchealthinfo.org) is gathering information from local health Web sites from across the state and compiling a catalog that will centralize local health resources, ensuring that North Carolinians have a portal to the resources and education they need.
Peggy Hull, Project Director of NC Health Info, stressed that the project is perhaps best defined by what it is not-NC Health Info is not a database of health information; it is rather a catalog of existing health-related Web sites for users who want to find a resource suited to their needs: for example, respite care for an elderly relative, or local programs for a woman recently diagnosed with breast cancer, such as clinical trials, cancer specialists, or wig retailers, or the location of testing services to ensure that well water is safe to drink.
Hull pointed out that the Internet, while it offers users a tangle of health resource information, does not tailor its search results to the user's community. "The vast array of health information available on the Web can have greater impact linked to local programs and services. People can then take active steps to improve their health," she commented. With NC Health Info, the Library is developing a cutting-edge solution to the difficulties that users face when searching for local health avenues.
The project will focus on the health agenda of the state, addressing local health concerns such as the location of support groups for Alzheimer care givers, whether it is safe to eat fish caught in Pamlico Sound, and the location of an exercise class for breast cancer survivors in Chapel Hill.
"We answer questions that help people lead better lives. Not 'What is' questions, such as 'What is diabetes?' but 'Where is,' as in 'Where is a specialist in my county?'" commented Hull. The site will also address matters such as the cleanliness of local water sources. Hull noted that the "What is" informational questions can be answered by MedlinePlus, a health information Internet portal supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that educates users about health and diseases.
NC Health Info will personalize the important information found on MedlinePlus, guiding users to an array of local resources that address their health concerns and allow them to take action on information they gather.
The project's goal, offering Internet resources about local health and giving prominence and visibility to them, demonstrates librarians' real value as information-access navigators. Hull pointed out, "Warehousing data is not what our profession is about. The public perception of us as dowdy custodians is in error. Librarians can guide North Carolinians to resources and information that can help them lead better lives."
This Health Sciences Library project is aligned with the university's mission of service to the state and demonstrates how librarians can contribute to the health of citizens by enabling access to medical resources. "There is a real synergy between libraries and public health. Libraries are distinct in each community, and librarians know their community," said Hull.
Funded by a contract from the NLM, NC Health Info is a joint project of the Health Sciences Library and the School of Information and Library Science. The NC Health Info project will launch its site in the fourth quarter of 2002. Over the past year, the project team has been collecting local Web-based health resources, building a database of 600 to 1,000 important local Web resources that represent the geodiversity of state medical and public health resources.
The project team is indexing the Web resources and creating an interface so that users can browse and search for items of interest. And the NLM is funding the Library in developing this site as a demonstration project so that this service can be replicated in other states, possibly resulting in a nexus of local health databases nationwide.
NC Health Info is serving a larger mission of the Health Sciences Library to extend resources of the University to the citizens of North Carolina and their institutions, enhancing the quality of life of all people in the state.
If you know of local health Web sites that you think the NC Health Info project should include, contact NC Health Info at http://www.nchealthinfo.org, or write to Health Sciences Library, CB #7585, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC 27599-7585.
The complete Summer 2002 issue of News & Views (PDF version) is available online from the UNC Health Sciences Library.
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