The Medical Library Association (MLA), an association of health information professionals, enjoyed its 100th annual meeting in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 4-11, 2000. With the Canadian Health Libraries Association/Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada (CHLA/ABSC) under the theme of "Demystifying the Dragon: Strategies for 2000 Plus," MLA presented 74 papers and 34 continuing education courses to a record crowd of 2432 attendees and 800 continuing education registrants.
Keynote addresses focused on the changing relationship in an Internet-based information-rich environment of healthcare providers and consumers. Dr. Tom Ferguson spoke of advances in consumer health informatics and "digital doctoring." Dr. David Suzuki warned of the urgency for environmental concern, especially regarding global warning and air and water pollution.
Strong themes throughout the meeting were: consumer health, evidence-based healthcare, alternative/complementary medicine, advocacy, and leadership. The consumer initiatives of the National Library of Medicine are remarkable--see MEDLINEPlus [http://medlineplus.gov]. Efforts to make quality information for health professionals are also on the upswing, with Gold Standard Multimedia as a fine example . Initatives to control the "grey literature" are on the rise; the New York Academy of Medicine's Grey Literature Report is notable.
Betty Warner co-taught a day-long continuing education course called "Allied Health Professionals: Information Issues, Information Resources." She also delivered a paper co-authored with Dr. Mary Bowen of Jefferson's College of Health Professions Department of Nursing entitled "A Web-based Graduate Course in Health Policy: Fostering Lifelong Advocacy, Ethical Consideration, and Legal Awareness." Slides from that presentation may be viewed at http://jeffline.tju.edu/Education/aisr/course/index.htm.
For more information on the meeting, go to MLANET and visit the website listed below.
Related Links:
