The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #59291

Keith W. Cogdill, PhD¹, Greg Bodin, MLS², Jennifer Marill, MLS, Michael Miller, BA⁴, Jocelyn Rankin, PhD⁵, Catherine R. Selden, MLS⁶, and Marjorie A. Cahn, MA⁶. (1) National Network Office, National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894, (301) 594-7530, cogdilk@mail.nlm.nih.gov, (2) South Central Region, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, 1133 John Freeman Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030, (3) Pacific Southwest Region, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, 12-077 Center for the Health Sciences, Box 951798, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (4) CDC Information Center, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30333, (5) National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR), National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, MS20, Bethesda, MD 20894

This paper introduces the new Partners in Information Access Web site (www.phpartners.org), a site formed as a result of the collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences libraries. The goal of both the Partners project and the Partners site is to provide the public health workforce with timely, convenient access to information resources. This goal is realized through collaborative work on five objectives:

· Increase awareness and use of distributed learning resources among the public health workforce, with an emphasis on the resources available through the National Library of Medicine, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

· Assist the public health workforce in obtaining the hardware and software as well as the Internet connection and satellite reception needed for effective access to information resources;

· Train the public health workforce to use the technology required for effective access to information resources;

· Train the public health workforce to identify and use pertinent information resources and services; and

· Increase health sciences librarians’ awareness of the needs of and resources within the public health workforce.

After reviewing the content of the initial Partners site, which had never been usability tested, this paper highlights changes made to the site as part of a major redesign initiative, completed in the spring of 2003. These changes were based in part on findings from usability tests conducted with six members of the public health workforce.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to:
• * Describe the information available from the Partners Web site; and
• * Understand how Web sites related to public health may be improved through usability testing.

Keywords: World Wide Web, Information Systems

Related Web page: www.phpartners.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.