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1999, Canada became the first country in the world to have all its
public libraries and schools connected to the Internet. Public
libraries have always been leaders at providing information to
Canadians. To librarians the Internet is just another form of information
and culture, along with books, videos, CDs, microfilm and magazines.
So it's natural that they wanted to make the Internet available to
Canadians.
What does this have to do with CHN (the Canadian Health Network)?
Plenty. The aim of CHN is to help everyone find reliable Canadian
health information. The decision at CHN was to provide health information
only via the Internet to begin with. This would be a problem if
not all Canadians were connected! But by 1999, when the CHN was
up and running, many people in Canada now had access to the Internet
through their public library.
Since public libraries have begun providing Internet access to
the public, access is more equal for Canadians. It doesn't matter
if you can't afford a home computer, you can always use one at the
library. At first it was true that the more money and education
you had, the more likely you were to be an Internet searcher. But
new numbers show that more than 70% of all Canadians have now used
the Internet. That's because there are more computers out there
available for people to use at work, school and the library.
Public libraries have always been a good resource for people who
are looking for information on health issues, because in general,
librarians help people to find reliable information and use it effectively.
They know about scholarly and public information sources, and they
follow trends related to publishing, computers, and the media so
that they can select and organize library materials.
Librarians
also develop training programs to assist people to become more independent
in finding the information they need .That's why as part of its
activities to promote the website to Canadians, CHN is helping to
train public librarians to find and evaluate health information
on the Web (highlighting the CHN, of course!). CHN is making contact
with public libraries across Canada, and many public libraries now
have links to the CHN on their websites. CHN visits libraries to
train librarians so that they can then show the public how to make
the best use of the Internet for finding health information, sending
copies of a training kit when a visit is not possible.
If you can't find the information you want on the CHN website,
you can send your question to CHN by email. CHN respects your privacy,
while providing you with the information you need. That's like the
public library too, except the CHN is like a virtual library.
If you want to read more about librarians and consumer health information,
please visit this web page at the Medical Library Association's
Consumer and Patient Health Information Section to read their statement
on the Librarian's
Role in the Provision of Consumer Health Information and Patient
Education. Also, the Canadian
Health Libraries Association's mission is to improve health
and health care by promoting excellence in access to information.
And visit your local library.
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This article was prepared by the Vancouver Public Library. 
