SILS Playing Key Role in Health Web Site

Working with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and UNC at Chapel Hill's Health Sciences Library, the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) is helping to build an exciting new online resource for North Carolina consumer health information.

Currently in its second phase of development, the web site (nchealthinfo.org) will offer North Carolinians links to programs and services in their communities and provide user-friendly access to a wealth of consumer health information. It will also offer connections to and from the NLM's MEDLINEplus online repository of health and disease information.

SILS Dean Joanne Gard Marshall, HSL Director Carol Jenkins and Diana McDuffee (SILS MSLS 1980), library network director of NC AHEC (Area Health Education Centers), are the principal investigators for this unique collaborative effort funded through a contract by the NLM. The project is staffed by project director Peggy Hull, project coordinator Christie Silbajoris (SILS MSLS 2000) and technical developer Brian Hilligoss (MSIS 2001).

"This is an exciting project that will benefit all citizens of North Carolina," noted Marshall. "As people want to be more involved in making informed health decisions, we need to build systems and services that provide access to reliable and up-to-date resources."

The project is currently soliciting web site recommendations from health professionals, librarians and other individuals from across the state. Those wishing to recommend sites may submit them online at nchealthinfo.org. Organizers plan to unveil the site to the general public later this year. NC Health Info is the first project of its type in the United States and is being designed as a prototype that other states can replicate.

The Health Sciences Library is the primary library for UNC at Chapel Hill's Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health, and UNC Hospitals. It also serves the health information needs of the entire university. The library is open to the public and users have free access to the open collections. The library collections contain over 290,000 volumes, including recent and historical materials, 4,000 current serial titles, and over 8,900 audiovisual and microcomputer software programs.

The National Library of Medicine, on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world's largest medical library. The library collects materials in all areas of biomedicine and health care, as well as works on biomedical aspects of technology, the humanities, and the physical, life and social sciences. The collections stand at 6 million items -- books, journals, technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, photographs and images.