1. Growth of the Resource Guide (Year I)
Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness:
Bridging Communities & Knowledge Domains
Paolina Taglienti¹, Constance Malpas¹, Pamela Sternfels²
The New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY
For more information contact:
Constance Malpas
Manager, Digital Initiatives
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029
Tel: Fax:
Introduction and Objectives
In July 2002, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) awarded the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) a two-year contract to develop a web-based Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness. The Guide will provide a single point of access to essential information resources in public health and disaster preparedness, selected by information specialists and reviewed by subject experts from a wide range of disciplines.
The specific aims of the Resource Guide project are to:
Assess the health information needs of public health professionals with regard to disaster preparedness and bio-terrorist threats;
Streamline access to relevant documents and guidelines by creating and distributing a regularly updated Internet resource guide that directly links users to accurate and reliable sources of health-related preparedness information; and
Leverage existing information and outreach resources, including the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, to increase the scope and maximize the benefit of project goals.
Data Model
The elaboration of a community-specific metadata model was a key challenge in the early months of the project.
The Project Director and Project Librarian, working with NYAM IT Director P. Clancy and XML specialist T. Catapano, developed the original data model in an MS Access database. The desktop application is a convenient tool for managing data and generating reports but does not offer the stability or scalability needed for a robust web application.
MySQL and PHP were selected as the technology platform for a prototype web application developed by consultant R.K. Thunga. T. Catapano developed scripts for rendering output in XML and HTML.
Collaboration: Conformance with information standards and non-proprietary data formats will facilitate exchange between the Resource Guide and other information systems. Outside technical consultants help to ensure implementation of best practices from the academic and business communities.
Current Status
Since June, attention has shifted to improving the look and feel of the user interface and optimizing information retrieval to improve performance.
Our XML (EAD)-based “finding aid” presents database content in an easy-to-read index that groups resources by audience and event type.
This novel feature is designed to facilitate cross-disciplinary resource discovery.
Project Team
Project Team
Project Intern
interface re-design
Still seeking collaborators!
Methods and Workflow
Content Development: Searching is done in a variety of environments.
General purpose Internet search engines (e.g. Google) are utilized to identify websites, conferences and web-documents of interest.
Relevant NGO (e.g. RAND) and government sites (e.g. CDC) are regularly scanned for relevant reports, testimony, monographs titles.
Specialized databases are searched for articles and interviews (e.g. HazLit, PubMed).
Search terms are varied in scope and source to ensure adequate coverage. Terms are drawn from controlled vocabularies (LCSH, MeSH, etc.) as well as natural language (e.g. Public Health Preparedness, Emergency Response).
Scanned Sources are sites that are regularly reviewed. These include:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Government Accounting Office
National Academies Press
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review
British Medical Journal
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Public Health Grand Rounds series (UNC/CDC)
Collaboration: Content recommendations (suggested sources) are actively sought and harvested from the project website. Topical bibliographies contributed by colleagues in the library science and public health communities are also culled for relevant content.
Content Review: A representative sample of resources was reviewed for relevance by the Research Associate (in collaboration with the Center for Public Health Preparedness) in March and April. 89% were found to be important for inclusion. Broken links accounted for most of the resources that were rejected by reviewers.
Collaboration: Periodic review of content by partners in the public health community ensures that Resource Guide content is both timely and relevant.
Application Development
The search interface for the first database prototype (June 2003) combined advanced search and browse options:
Initial user testing (July, 2003) indicated that a cleaner, more streamlined search interface was needed. An exhaustive interface redesign was subsequently carried out by project intern Ying Zhang (Rutgers University), working in collaboration with NYAM IT staff and project consultant R.K. Thunga.
A new “Google-style” simple search interface was added in October, 2003.
Advanced search and browsing options have been separated from the simple search screen to minimize visual clutter.
Project Partners
Who: C. Malpas, P. Taglienti
What: Project management; content development and description; application development
Who: P. Sternfels, P. Edelson
What: Content evaluation; editorial coordination; project evaluation
Who: C. Selden, NICHSR
What: Content recommendations; guidance; funding
Mapping Needs and Resources
A variety of needs assessment activities in Year 1 of the Resource Guide project have revealed that:
Core preparedness resources are difficult to find without advanced Internet searching skills;
Information services for the public health practice community are scarce and under-funded;
Library professionals are rarely included in preparedness planning or disaster mitigation activities.
Insights from key informant interviews with public health professionals and information specialists are supplemented by feedback from discussion and question/answer sessions at Resource Guide project presentations at regional and national meetings.
Project staff have devoted special effort to leveraging existing information systems and networks in support of the Guide. Outreach efforts have focused on building local and regional partnerships between the members of the
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR
COLLABORATION !
Next Steps
Focused content development of Resource Guide based on growth of field and user search statistics
Iterative evaluation and refinement of web application based on user feedback and focus groups
Addition of structured abstracts for essential titles in the Resource Guide
Production of topical literature reviews on subjects of special significance to public health preparedness (e.g. Implementing Incident Command Systems; Emergency Risk Communication; Mental Health and Mass Casualty Events)
Growth of the Resource Guide (Year I)
and the 33 federally-funded Centers
for Public Health Preparedness
Funding Source
The NYAM Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness project is supported by NLM contract N01-LM
Project Officer: Catherine Selden, NICHSR