Achieving information access through WHO WPRO Library Services and the Global Health Library initiatives

Presented during the 2nd National Congress of the Association of Special Libraries in the Philippines, Inc. (ASLP) with the theme, Achieving a Balanced Scorecard: Best Practices in Philippine Special Libraries, August 2, 2012

Presentation Outline A. Introduction to WHO and its Libraries B. WHO WPRO Library (Services, Projects) C. The Global Health Library D. The Balanced Scorecard Concept (BSC) in evaluating library services and initiatives E. Best Practices

A. Introduction to WHO and its Regional Libraries

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations System.

The World Health Organization (WHO) have 6 Regional Libraries and 1 Headquarters Library

1 WHO HQ Library
HQ Library in Geneva, Switzerland

6 Regional Libraries
AFRO (African Region) Brazzaville, Congo AMRO/PAHO (Americas) Washington, DC, USA EMRO (Middle East) Cairo, Egypt EURO (European Region) Copenhagen, Denmark SEARO (Southeast Asia) New Delhi, India WPRO (Western Pacific) Manila, Philippines

The WHO Library and Information Networks for Knowledge (LNK) provides comprehensive library and information services on WHO-produced recorded information in print and other media. In addition, library services give access to worldwide health, medical and development information resources to WHO headquarters, regions and country offices, ministries of health and other government offices, health workers in Member States, other UN and international agencies, diplomatic missions, and intergovernmental agencies. The WHO library programmes help regions and developing countries achieve self-sufficiency in providing information services to the health sector (www.who.int/library)

The WHO library web site offers world-wide on-line access to WHOLIS the WHO library database which includes more than 70,000 bibliographic records and 30,000 links to full text documents.
(http://dosei.who.int/)

WHO Library Databases WHOLIS IRIS WHO Regional Databases WHO Initiatives Global Health Library (GHL) HINARI Blue Trunk Libraries

WHO AMRO Library www.paho.org/english/DD/IKM/LI/library

WHO HQ Library www.who.int/library

WHO AFRO Library http://www.afro.who.int/en/afro-library-services

WHO EMRO Library

www.emro.who.int/information-resources/library-services/library-services

WHO EURO Library http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-publish/library-resources

WHO WPRO Library www.wpro.who.int/publications/library_services/about/en/

B. The WHO WPRO Library

The WHO WPRO Library collects, organizes and disseminates medical and health related literature to respond to the information requirements of the Regional Office and field staff, United Nations agencies staff and international organizations as well as researchers from Member States of the WHO Western Pacific Region.
http://www.wpro.who.int/publications/library_services/en/

Library Services 1. Selection and acquisition of library materials 2. Cataloguing and classification of library materials 3. Bibliographic services 4. Circulation services 5. Interlibrary loan arrangements

6. Current awareness services 7. Literature search services 8. Reference services 9. Photocopy services

Types of external researchers 1. Professional 2. Post graduate 3. Undergraduate students

Databases managed by the Library OPAC (On Line Library Catalog) Serial Holdings WHOLIS WPRIM Other Databases (Internal)

OPAC (WPRO Library Catalog)

Serial Holdings Catalog

Global Information Full Text (GIFT)

WHOLIS (Library & Information Networks for Knowledge Database

WPRIM Database

Library initiatives GHL and WPRIM APAMED Central (Full Text Database) IRIS (Institutional Repository for Information Sharing) HINARI Social networks (IBP, Facebook)

Global Health Library (GHL) www.global health library.net

Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM) www.wprim.org

APAMed Central (Full Text Journals Database)

APAMed Central
Open

access to 8 journals (as of July 2012)

Full text in xml and pdf format Link to CrossRef/DOI

WHO Institutional Repository for Information Sharing (IRIS)

HINARI (Research4Life)

C. The Global Health Library Initiative

What is the Global Health Library or GHL?

Access to reliable health information for those who need it Access to health information is an integral part of all health systems because it can improve people's health. GHL will provide first step access to reliable health information in paper form, electronic form, and any other media to those who need it. GHL will offer an opportunity to provide a virtual platform that assembles multiple resources and points to content in all available formats that will be targeted according to the needs of specific user groups.
www.who.int/ghl

Objectives of GHL
The GHL aims to: point to reliable information collections and systems, in which different users and user groups (ministries of health, policy makers, health workers, information providers, patients and their families, general public) can focus on the knowledge that best meets their health information needs; act as a facilitator enabling access to information contents produced by numerous key providers - be they commercial companies, government institutions, civil society, not-for-profit organizations, and regional or international bodies; and strive for universality, with focus on developing countries, and will act as a resource locator for print materials essential to areas that do not have access to electronic content.

Partnership and Networking

Global Index Medicus or GIM Western Pacific Region Index Medicus or WPRIM The APAMed Central Database Institutional Repository for Information Sharing or IRIS Mobile Libraries, also known as the Blue Trunk Library

Mobile Libraries (Blue Trunk Library)

www.who.int/ghl/mobile_libraries/bluetrunk

Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM) www.wprim.org

 473 journal titles 412,652 available article abstracts

15 Participating Countries
Australia Brunei Darussalam Cambodia China Fiji Japan Lao PDR Malaysia Mongolia New Zealand Papua New Guinea Philippines Republic of Korea Singapore Viet Nam

Collaborative Partners Librarians Editors Association of editors Information Technology (IT) specialists Government (Ministry of Health) Academic Institutions WHO Collaborating Centres

D. The Balanced Scorecard Concept (BSC) in evaluating library services and initiatives

Balanced Scorecards tell you the knowledge, skills and systems that your employees will need (learning and growth) to innovate and build the right strategic capabilities and efficiencies (internal processes) that deliver specific value to the market (customer) which will eventually lead to higher shareholder value (financial).
Kaplan, Robert S; Norton, David P. (1992) Having trouble with your strategy? Then map it. Harvard Business Review v70(1), pages 71-79.

According to the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, there are four barriers to strategic implementation: 1. Vision Barrier No one in the organization understands the strategies of the organization. 2. People Barrier Most people have objectives that are not linked to the strategy of the organization. 3. Resource Barrier Time, energy, and money are not allocated to those things that are critical to the organization. (Budgets are not linked to strategy, resulting in wasted resources). 4. Management Barrier Management spends too little time on strategy and too much time on short-term tactical decision-making.
Source: Evans, Matt H. Excellence in Financial Management, Course 11: The Balanced Scorecard. Available at http://www.exinfm.com/training/pdfiles/course11r.pdf. Accessed May 31, 2012.

The Balanced Scorecard is therefore considered as a new way of communicating strategy to the end-user. BSC helps everyone understand strategy in a language best understand especially in terms of measurements and targets. This leads to a much better execution of the strategy.
Source: Evans, Matt H. Excellence in Financial Management, Course 11: The Balanced Scorecard. Available at http://www.exinfm.com/training/pdfiles/course11r.pdf. Accessed May 31, 2012.

How BSC can help solve the following issues in a library: 1. Alignment of long term and short term goals 2. Clear vision and definite strategy; 3. Availability of feedbacks; 4. Communication gaps; 5. Financial measures.

BSC can help solve the following issues in a library: 1. Alignment of long term and short term goals. Long term (e.g. increase and improve access to world health information) Short term (e.g. increase collection and offer new services)

BSC can help solve the following issues in a library: 2. Clear vision and definite strategy. Focus on what the library hopes to achieve and have a doable strategy a. Who the library serves? How to serve? b. What are the plan activities of the library? c. How to evaluate services? d. Is there a need to conduct periodic review of existing policies?

BSC can help solve the following issues in a library: 3. Availability of feedbacks. Feedbacks good or bad can help improve library services Online survey Emails Printed forms Social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Community pages)

BSC can help solve the following issues in a library: 4. Communication gaps. Encourage continuous internal and external communication among researchers, partners, stakeholders and the management. How? Through documented meetings, informal consultations, forums, reports, brown bags, video and telephone conferences, trainings, etc.

Example: Development of the Global Health Library Project Communication is encouraged by Emails Telephone and video conferences Online meetings/trainings (Gotomeeting, Elluminate) Listserve (electronic mailing list) Community pages (IBP sites, HIFA page)

BSC can help solve the following issues in a library: 5. Financial measures. Financial planning is a key aspect of managing library operations a. Budget should be link to the strategy. b. Check the statistics in relation to acquisitions, training and project management.

E. Best Practices
Acknowledging contribution of partners, sponsors and researchers. Continue to conduct training and development programs. Organize forums, brown bag sessions, symposiums to introduce new products and services. Assess programs once/twice a year through feedbacks, statistics, report, etc. Standardize procedures and practices (cataloguing, indexing, etc.)

References
Global Health Library. Available at www.globalhealthlibrary.net Kantor, Paul B and Saracevic Tefko, Valuing special libraries and information services, 1998. Available at http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kantor/SLA/PBKAug19.PDF. Kaplan, Robert S; Norton, David P. (1992) Having trouble with your strategy? Then map it. Harvard Business Review v70(1), pages 71-79. Western Pacific Region Index Medicus. Available at www.wprim.org World Health Organization. Available at www.who.int World Health Organization African Region. Available at www.afro.who.int World Health Organization PAHO American Region. Available at www.paho.org World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region. Available at www.emro.who.int World Health Organization Southeast Asia Region. Available at www.searo.who.int. World Health Organization Western Pacific Region. Available at www.wpro.who.int

Thank you
Alma Degala-Prosperoso
Assistant, Library
prosperosoa@wpro.who.int

WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific

Copyright 2012