VHL News Network

WHO defines the framework for the Global Health Library

Radically increasing access to information and scientific evidence on health, particularly in developing regions, is the main reason that led the WHO promote the creation of the Global Health Library (GHL), which is part of its strategy of knowledge management in global public health. Aiming at its implementation, the WHO, through the Knowledge Management and Sharing Area - KMS, prepared a framework in a collective and participatory process, involving representatives of all its Regional Offices. Up to the end of 2007, the regular operation of the GHL is forecast, with a business model and a long-term plan of action (2008 to 2012). Based on the VHL model, the BIREME/PAHO/WHO will be responsible for developing a technological platform, which will involve interoperability of local, national, regional and global agencies at the GHL space
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BIREME analyzes and discusses advances and strengthening of the VHL

BIREME/PAHO/WHO held a meeting on December 22, 2006, to assess the advances, strategies and lines of action to strengthen the VHL, which is a reference space in Latin America and the Caribbean for organization, publication, interaction and access to updated and relevant scientific and technical information on health. In a meeting with all the technical team and the Director of BIREME, Abel L. Packer, the current status of the VHL, SciELO and ScienTI Networks was discussed, as well as the main events and priority lines of action for their continued strengthening and advances in 2007 and future years. At the end of 2006, the VHL develops as a network and covers most countries, in addition to the region. Its main sources of information are available in open access for all countries, with interfaces and contents in Spanish, English and Portuguese
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"Knowledge and Health: Social Challenge of the Millennium" is the theme of the CRICS8

The Organizing Committee defined "Knowledge and Health: Social Challenges of the Millennium" as the main theme of the CRICS8. The scientific program of the congress will be based on the topic and address the state-of-the-art, the successful and innovative experiences, as well as the challenges faced by the contemporary theories and movements related to information and communication. Moreover, information and communication policies, programs, networks, systems, products, processes, services and technologies that contribute to expedite and strengthen the relation between knowledge and health development will be addressed. The CRICS8 and the previous meetings - VHL5 and ScienTI6 - will be held at Cartagena de Indias, in Colombia, from August 12 to 17, 2007
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SciELO Chile exceeds 60 titles online

Launched in 1998, SciELO Chile was the second collection to integrate the SciELO Network, and has gradually been successful in gaining visibility to the best scientific journals of the country. In November 2006, the SciELO Chile collection exceeded 60 titles of selected journals, with 921 issues and 10273 articles published; in that, four titles are indexed in the ISI database and three titles in the MEDLINE. The SciELO network of qualified scientific journal collections covers all Iberian-American countries and has been driven by the advance of the SciELO Chile collection, which has achieved over one million accesses monthly to articles
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Dominican Republic opens Center of Information Technology Training for the VHL

In a ceremony held at the Room Julio Ravelo de la Fuente, at the Library of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), the Center of Information Technology Training for the Virtual Health Library (VHL) of the Dominican Republic was opened. The procedure was conducted by José Rafael Vargas, State Secretary and President of the Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), Miguel Escala, Principal of the INTEC, Ana Cristina Nogueira, Representative of the PAHO in the Dominican Republic, and Lucero Arboleda, Executive Director of the INTEC Library. The initiative is aligned with the actions to consolidate the VHL and strengthen the production and access to scientific and technical information and knowledge on health in Dominican Republic, with a special focus on training of professionals, who are also producers and users of information
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The 1.6 Version of the LILDBI-Web application is available for the VHL network

As from December 1st, 2006, the new version of the LILDBI Web is available for the VHL Network. It is an application developed by the BIREME/PAHO/WHO that helps information professionals to create a bibliographic record in the LILACS standard. The 1.6 version of the application is available for download at the BIREME Regional Portal, and presents a series of new implementations, such as the creation of 20 additional metadata fields for materials, such as videos, image files, photographs, iconography, audio files, etc. The actions to promote and strengthen bibliographic control in the region, through the VHL, are supported by a network of more than 300 cooperating centers that are responsible for maintaining and feeding the LILACS database, using the LILDBI-Web
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