The Idaho Health Sciences Library (IHSL) proposes to establish a digital library network for health care professionals affiliated with ten information-poor hospitals in Idaho. Through the use of electronic distribution of information, rural health professionals will have convenient desktop or bedside access to full-text digitized resources to support clinical information needs in practicing evidence-based medicine. The IHSL will use Web-based visualization tools to organize and provide access to information resources for primary health care providers in southeast Idaho. Database management software will be purchased to manage Web-based functions and to allow each site to have location-specific resource Web pages. The IHSL will provide training to health care practitioners in the use of electronic knowledge-based resources, emphasizing products of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) such as MEDLINE@/PubMed(r), TOXNET@, Loansome Doc(r), Clinical Trials.gov, MEDLINEplus(r), and PubMed CentraF M. The use of email, videoconferencing, and Web-based clinical discussion groups will be included in this training as needed. Favorable outcomes of this project will be used to influence continuing support from the Idaho Board of Education. Under the umbrella of the university library, the IHSL is a component of Idaho State University (ISU), the state-assigned lead health-care education institution in Idaho. The mission of the IHSL is to advance health education, research, and patient care by providing publication-based information to the University community, Idaho health care professional, and consumers. The IHSL is one of the on-campus partners in the Telehealth Idaho project at the Idaho State University Institute of Rural Health. The IHSL's role in this project is to participate in the establishment of a statewide telehealth resource center. Nine of the ten participating hospitals are off-campus, community partners in the Telehealth Idaho project.
