November 2011
The following is a summary of University of Waterloo Library information resources and services in support of the proposed Master of Health Information with a specialization in public health and health systems, prepared by Jackie Stapleton, Liaison Librarian, School of Public Health and Health Systems. This is a course based, distance education Masters program.
Material would be collected to support teaching and learning at the Master’s level for Health Informatics with an emphasis on public health in the following areas:
These areas already receive a high level of library support for existing courses and research in the School of Public Health and Health Systems as well as the Master in Health Informatics, technical health informatics specialization offered through the School of Computer Science.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this program, the decision to purchase Library materials for the MHI program would be the responsibility of the Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems as well as the Liaison Librarian for the School of Computer Science in consultation with the respective Faculty Library Representatives. Materials would be obtained in a variety of ways including firm orders, open orders, approval plans, and subscriptions.
Print Collections
The Library’s print collections that would be of interest to students in the MHI program are housed in the Davis Centre Library. Access to the entire Library collection, as well materials held by UG and WLU, is available through the web accessible search tool, Primo (http://primo.lib.uwaterloo.ca). Faculty, graduate students and staff may borrow most monographs for a term at a time. The Library also delivers to faculty, graduate students and staff copies of print journal articles from any of the uWaterloo library locations, and from the libraries of the affiliated and federated colleges and universities. Faculty, graduate students and staff may also place holds on books from any of these libraries for pickup at any of the libraries’ circulation desks or delivery to off campus locations.
Electronic Resources
The Library obtains resources in electronic format whenever it is possible and practical to do so and due to the nature of this distance education program, the electronic format will be emphasized. Some electronic resources are obtained directly by the University of Waterloo Library and some are obtained through membership in the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. Access to, and use of, electronic resources is generally governed by licence agreements with the publisher or vendor.
The primary tool for accessing electronic resources selected by the Library is its web site (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca). This site organizes and provides access to licensed resources available to only uWaterloo faculty, students and staff, as well as select Internet resources freely available to anyone. The site also provides access to electronic resources hosted by the OCUL Scholars Portal program (http://www.scholarsportal.info/index.html) and available to the uWaterloo community through the Library's participation in consortia purchasing through OCUL.
The Library uses linking technology (SFX) to enable users to link directly from research databases to the Library’s full text electronic journal subscription or to the catalogue record for holdings and call number information. The Library also provides access to bibliographic management software (RefWorks).
uWaterloo faculty, students and staff may access electronic research databases and full text electronic journals from off-campus via the Library’s Proxy Server / Connect from Home feature.
The Library has purchased, or subscribes to, a range of electronic resources including research databases, full text journals, monographs, numeric data, and government publications. In addition, the Library identifies and provides access to select material freely available through the Internet. Such material includes open access journals, catalogues of libraries around the world, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and style guides. The following are some of the electronic resources of particular interest to Health Informatics:
The UW Library, along with the libraries of the University of Guelph (UG) and Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU), form the Tri-University Group of Libraries (TUG) consortium. Collections from the UG and WLU enhance the depth and breadth of local materials available in subject areas of interest to scholars involved in the Health Informatics program.
Statistics and Numeric Data
Also available to members of the UW academic community are the data holdings of the TriUniversity Group Data Resources (TDR) (http://nesstar.tdr.uoguelph.ca/webview/index.jsp) and <odesi> (http://search2.odesi.ca/), which provide Web access to resources such as the Statistics Canada surveys, including the Canadian Census. Access is also available to the data holdings of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/).
Resources from Institutions other than TUG
The Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery (ILL) service provides faculty, students and staff with books, copies of journal articles, theses, and government documents from libraries within Canada and elsewhere. The Library uses OCUL’s RACER Web based interlibrary loan system (http://racer.scholarsportal.info/vdx/index.html) to facilitate ILL access and service for users. With minor exceptions, the cost for this service is absorbed by the Library.
Most Canadian university libraries extend, at no charge, in-person borrowing privileges to faculty, students and staff from across the country. Faculty, students and staff are entitled to borrowing privileges at participating libraries (http://www.coppul.ca/rb/rbindex.html).
Information Literacy: Research Skills, Critical Appraisal, Ethical Use
Drawing from the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents’ Guidelines for University Graduate Degree Level Expectations and the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, the Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems will be pleased to develop information literacy-related activities and materials, in consultation with faculty. These include the development of online modules, research guides and screencasts as well as the seminars and outcomes-based workshops for students in the program.
Additional Information Services
The Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems is available for consultation with individuals or small groups of students. He or she may be contacted directly in person, by phone, and by e-mail. The Librarian also develops and maintains an online subject guide for health resources (http://subjectguides.uwaterloo.ca/health). Also, faculty, students and staff may get reference assistance via e-mail and online chat available through the Ask a Librarian service (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/asklib/index.html).
Faculty, students and staff may keep abreast of new services and developments in the Library by reading news @ your library (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/newsatlib/), an electronic newsletter prepared periodically.
Library support for this program would come from existing allocations for the School of Public Health and Health Systems (formerly Health Studies and Gerontology) and the School of Computer Science as well as from a central Electronic Resources fund which is used to support all programs. During the past seven years, the Computer Science and Health Studies and Gerontology library funds have spent the following on information resources:
Table 1. Summary of Expenditures – Health Studies and Gerontology
Year |
Journal Expenditure |
Book Expenditure |
Approval Plan Support |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2004/2005 |
$39,181.59 |
$12,271.12 |
$3,467.83 |
$54,920.54 |
2005/2006 |
$50,202.79 |
$20,028.43 |
$4,621.75 |
$74,852.97 |
2006/2007 |
$52,302.35 |
$17,394.92 |
$3,134.92 |
$72,832.19 |
2007/2008 |
$44,337.15 |
$16,958.94 |
$5,914.59 |
$67,210.68 |
2008/2009 |
$49,054.46 |
$6,512.29 |
$2,588.09 |
$58,154.84 |
2009/2010 |
$46,158.24 |
$11,482.53 |
$5,375.72 |
$63,016.49 |
2010/2011 |
$40,279.97 |
$16,838.81 |
$1,850.77 |
$58,969.55 |
Total |
$321,516.56 |
$101,487.04 |
$26,953.67 |
$449,957.25 |
Table 2. Summary of Expenditures – Computer Science
Year |
Journal Expenditure |
Book Expenditure |
Approval Plan Support |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2004/2005 |
$6,167.31 |
$47,726.59 |
$5,322.17 |
$59,216.07 |
2005/2006 |
$5,475.99 |
$77,361.35 |
$5,532.48 |
$88,369.82 |
2006/2007 |
$6,341.47 |
$53,087.43 |
$5,202.34 |
$64,631.24 |
2007/2008 |
$5,110.99 |
$46,964.17 |
$6,954.29 |
$59,029.45 |
2008/2009 |
$6,742.18 |
$6,526.66 |
$4,284.24 |
$17,553.08 |
2009/2010 |
$8,962.94 |
$27,225.12 |
$8,619.85 |
$44,807.91 |
2010/2011 |
$11,672.78 |
$19,464.37 |
$5,230.75 |
$36,367.90 |
Total |
$50,473.66 |
$278,355.69 |
$41,146.12 |
$369,975.47 |
I believe that the collections, both print and electronic, that the Library has developed for the research and teaching in the School of Public Health and Health Systems combined with the collections for the School of Computer Science provide a high level of support for the Master of Health Informatics, specialization in public health and health systems. More detailed information, including monograph counts and lists of journals that would support the program are available upon request.
Submitted by Jackie Stapleton, Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems
Reviewed by Susan Routliffe, Associate University Librarian, Information Resources and Services for Mark Haslett, University Librarian.
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