257776 A Solution in Sight: A Global Partnership to Improve Access to Ophthalmic Information in Developing Countries

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 12:50 PM - 1:10 PM

Pamela Sieving, MA, MS, AHIP , NIH Library, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Suzanne Gilbert, PhD, MPH , Center for Innovation in Eye Care, Seva Foundation, Berkeley, CA
Bette Anton, MLS , Fong Optometry & Health Sciences Library, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Katherine Judson, BA , Center for Innovation in Eye Care, Seva Foundation, Berkeley, CA
     
VISION2020: The Right to Sight is a well-established international effort to conquer curable and preventable blindness by the year 2020" A Solution in Sight" is a unique 3-year project designed to increase developing country eye hospitals' access to and contribution to the world's ophthalmic literature. This project is a partnership among librarians at eight eye hospitals in Nepal, India, Egypt, Guatemala and Tanzania; experienced librarian mentors in well-supported libraries (members of the Association of Vision Science Librarians, AVSL); an experienced global health organization with expertise building sustainable programs in underserved communities around the globe, the Seva Foundation; and funding from the charitable arm of a major for-profit publisher, the Elsevier Foundation, supporting innovative libraries in developing countries. The project builds on 40+ years of resource sharing and collaboration by AVSL members.

This presentation describes the initial steps of the project to: assess resources and needs; determine capacity for improved internet connectivity, establish mentorships for each library; identify and implement highest-priority training for the librarians; and develop a collegial network. The participants collaboratively determine topics for trainings which are held virtually as well as face to face. This project is a model of south-south as well as south-north cooperation, and demonstrates the role information professionals can play in improving clinical education, care and research. The benefits of this project will reach far beyond the participants through their development of online tools.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Other professions or practice related to public health
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe a unique partnership between vision librarians in developing and developed countries, supported by for-profit and nonprofit resources, to support the VISION2020: The Right to Sight objectives. Explain the initial steps to put this 3-year project into effect, beginning in January 2012 with a needs assessment and creation of action plans for each of the eight resource centers and their mentor institutions.

Keywords: Information Personnel, Vision Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an experienced and certified (AHIP) biomedical librarian, with more than 25 years' experience in the vision librarianship field; I am a co-submitter of the grant proposal for the project described in this presentation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4250.0: The Right to Sight: A Global Perspective