1. Building a Bioinformatics Community of Practice Through Library Education Programs Barrie E. Hayes, Systems Development Librarian K.T.L. Vaughan, Education Services Librarian Margaret E. Moore, Director of Planning Health Sciences Library University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

2. Community of Practice A New Term for an Old Activity “Groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their understanding of this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” - Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William Snyder, Cultivating Communities of Practice : A Guide to Managing Knowledge, 2002

3. An Old Activity Knowledge-based social structures CoP examples

4. A New Approach Intentional cultivation How can libraries help their parent organizations build and integrate communities of practice? – Oct 2003 QuintEssential Conference

5. An Exciting Opportunity for the Library Demonstrate expertise Share and build a common knowledge-base Support and facilitate collaboration Partner with domain experts Explore viability of new roles in communities

6. An Exciting Opportunity for the Bioinformatics Community Share expertise and knowledge Expand the collegial network Develop new partnerships Create new knowledge Enhance database discovery

7. UNC-Chapel Hill Setting Large state university 5 Health Affairs schools: Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health Level 4 research & teaching hospitals complex Biomedical research facilities Campus-wide bioinformatics initiatives Schools of Arts & Sciences, Information & Library Science

8. Genome Research at UNC Carolina Center for Genome Sciences (CCGS) $245 million over 10 years $5 million grant to support development of a clinical genetics database Research facilities and faculty/staff support Other centers and curricular programs

9. Bioinformatics and the Health Sciences Library 2001-02 bioinformatics fellow Planning paper (College & Research Libraries) Early activities

10. Bioinformatics Program Service Activities Face to face instruction Internet-based communication tools Educational partnerships

11. Face to Face Instruction Forums Course-integrated lectures Individual consultations Open library classes

12. Internet-Based Communication Tools Listserv Online educational materials Web site (http://www.hsl.unc.edu/bioinformatics/)http://www.hsl.unc.edu/bioinformatics/) Future tools: blog, online chat, web- based conferencing tools

13. Educational Partnerships Carolina Center for Genome Sciences UNC Center for Bioinformatics Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Curriculum School of Information and Library Science NC Center for Public Health & Genomics Academic Affairs Libraries

14. Results to Date Forums Course-integrated lectures Consultations Website usage statistics Listserv membership & traffic SILS student project – database of UNC campus resources for molecular biology & bioinformatics Semi-structured interviews with key faculty

15. The Library’s Role Provide information resources and services Provide support of further community development

16. We’re Just Getting Going Beginning to lay a foundation Still in our comfort zone Next stages – Build / expand partnerships with bioinformatics community – Figure out appropriate roles and abilities

17. Questions?

18. Follow-up Barrie Hayes – barrie_hayes@unc.edubarrie_hayes@unc.edu K.T. Vaughan - ktlv@email.unc.eduktlv@email.unc.edu Margaret Moore - Margaret_Moore@unc.eduMargaret_Moore@unc.edu Website http://www.hsl.unc.edu/bioinformatics/ Presentation slides http://www.hsl.unc.edu/present/Bioinformatics/MLA2004-BioCoP.ppt