About Us
The Health Libraries Group of CILIP have published a number of editions of a directory of library services, the last one entitled 'A Directory of Health Library and Information Services in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland' was compiled and published in 2001. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) also independently produced an online directory of nursing library services.
A centralised directory of library services is a valuable resource for the
health library community and library users. It will allow libraries to maintain
their own data and will provide services which allow libraries to embed the
directory in their own portals and to allow NLH to offer service discovery
options within NLH personalisation.
The HLG, RCN and National Library for Health (NLH) have agreed to collaborate
on building a new, single, online directory of library services, capable of
being updated by individual libraries or library networks on an ongoing basis.
The Service
- will provide a browseable and searchable directory of library service
points
- will be open to the WWW
- will provide services to enable the directory to be used from within
other library portals, including NLH, as well as other health service gateways
- will provide "back office" functionality to allow remote
editing of contents by regional library networks: local library networks
will be able to maintain their own data.
- will include links to local library service web site
- will provide "print on demand": users or editors can print
sections of the directory based on region or other selection for local
circulation - probably formatted as PDF documents
Scope
The coverage of the directory will be that of the current HLG book. That is,
all UK, including Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and Eire. The Directory
includes health library and information services in all sectors, not just NHS.
Project Management
A Project Board for this development has been formed, from members of HLG, RCN and NLH. NLH will support the technical development of the system, hosting and work to provide the initial population of the directory.