NEWS AND NOTES / NOUVELLES ET NOTES

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Canadian Virtual Health Library
Bibliothèque virtuelle canadienne de la santé

Since the last report (Nov 2012–Jan 2013), a number of events have transpired in the life of the CVHL/BVCS. The CVHL/BVCS Board will continue to exist until the future of CVHL/BVCS is finally determined – a decision that should be made within the next three months.

Thank you

Penny Logan completed her two-year term as a CHLA/ABSC representative on the CVHL/BVCS Board, and the Board and I are very thankful for her great contribution to CVHL/BVCS. We look forward to welcoming the new CHLA/ABSC representative to the Board, once CHLA/ABSC has determined who that will be.

Invitation to renew CIHR directed grant

In early March, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant co-investigators requested an extension to the grant period, which was to have come to an end on 31 March 2013. Without an extension, the Stakeholder Forum would have been unfeasible and the remaining grant funds would have had to be returned. On 11 March 2013, we were notified that we had received an extension. While CVHL/BVCS funds were depleted by the end of May 2013, this extension enables CVHL/BVCS to complete the CIHR Final Report and to get the fiscal books in order after the Forum.

At the end of March, the three CIHR co-investigators received another important piece of news from CIHR's, Senior Advisor, Knowledge Translation, Jacqueline Tetroe. Her email states in part: "it is our intention to present the current suite of directed grants to our Subcommittee on Planning and Priorities (SPP) for review. As part of this presentation, we would like to provide them with an overview of the success of your directed grant, and a brief

proposal as to what activities would be included in a renewal (if this is in keeping with your plans). Of note, a proposal for a renewal would need to demonstrate the importance of the activities as well as why they could not be achieved by another group or supported through an existing CIHR funding mechanism." Our proposal was submitted on 16 April 2013. It is unclear how much funding might be renewed and by when, but the news is hopeful.

Stakeholder Forum

A successful Stakeholder Forum was held in Ottawa on Tuesday, 30 April 2013. The Forum was intended to be both a celebration and a call to action. It was well attended, with approximately 42 people in the room and a smaller number dialing in by teleconference. Invitees included representatives of CVHL/BVCS Network Subscribers and those organizations which had or have supported CVHL/ BVCS through letters of support or in-kind resources. Librarians from across the country, professionals, associa- tions, and government were well represented, among them the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tasks (NCCMT), the National Research Council – Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, CIHR, and organi- zations such as the Canadian Research Knowledge Net- work. A full list of organizations represented at the Forum can be found on Slide 3 of the Forum's *Panel Discussion* slide set available at http://cvhl.ca/sites/cvhl.openconcept.ca/files/panel_discussion.pdf. Participants were asked to read in advance a CVHL/BVCS "Background" document and the draft CIHR Final Report.

The Forum began in the morning with a "Welcome and Introductions" and a review of the Forum "Objectives". For an hour preceding the lunch break, a panel of six speakers, including the co-investigators and CVHL/BVCS
staff, reviewed progress through the CIHR grant period, highlighting what had been achieved and lessons learned. George Beckett gave a particularly moving presentation on the content strategy – what worked, what didn’t, and why it was still a good idea. The Virtual Library sub-site of the CVHL/BVCS website was mentioned frequently; it became clear that the Google Custom Search Engine would be a very valuable enhancement. The URL for the English CVHL Google Custom Search Engine can be found at http://tinyurl.com/adryehd and the French at http://tinyurl.com/aartlty.

After a networking lunch, participants were presented with a renewed Value Proposition and a proposed new Business Plan (a slightly revised version of the 2012 Business Plan). See the *Closing the Gap* slide set at http://cvhl.ca/sites/cvhl.openconcept.ca/files/business_model.pdf for details of the presentation. A representative of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) was asked to speak to the value that CVHL/BVCS has already been able to provide. The afternoon session was more challenging, although there was good constructive criticism – it was recommended that we run pilots, using CPAC (or perhaps PHAC or NCCMT) as an example, to try to get more specificity on the revised membership model and approach.

## Discussions with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) and CHLA/ABSC

As CVHL/BVCS was nearing the end of its CIHR grant monies, a number of scenarios were contemplated. The most realistic was to go into a period of “hiatus”, while retaining CVHL/BVCS incorporation (to honour signed content license contracts) but, it was hoped, certain activities (e.g., maintenance of the website) would continue with the support of a “friendly partner”. To that end, discussions began with CHLA/ABSC and CPAC, both of whom had expressed interest in partnering in some fashion. Jeff Mason confirmed CHLA/ABSC’s interest in

hosting and maintaining the website and working with the CVHL/BVCS Free Content Cataloguing Group to maintain the resources of the Virtual Library. Further discussions with CHLA/ABSC will be had to confirm details.

CPAC expressed interest and asked if, as a trial for potential further partnership activities, CVHL/BVCS could act as a “broker” to the Network Subscribers. CPAC is eager to obtain access to licensed content, potential future Literature Search Services, and cost-effective document delivery. To that end, Jennifer Bayne (CVHL/BVCS’s Acting Executive Director) approached three Network Subscribers: Health Knowledge Network (HKN), the Electronic Health Library of British Columbia (e-HLBC), and the Health Science Information Consortium of Toronto (HSICT). All three expressed interest in having CPAC join them as a member and in having them participate in licensed content considerations. While discussions are still ongoing, the potential of working actively with CPAC to continue operations seems hopeful. The value that CVHL/BVCS has as a broker was made clear in exchanges with CPAC, who stated that they were very pleased both with the timeliness and ease of negotiations and with the extensive knowledge CVHL/BVCS and its staff brought to the discussion. Should the CPAC relationship develop as hoped, the model could be extended to others who have expressed a similar interest.

### Rebecca Raworth, MLIS

Island Medical Program Librarian and Information Services

Librarian (Health Information Science, Neuroscience)

University of Victoria Libraries

PO Box 1800 STN CSC

Victoria, BC V8W 3H5

E-mail: raworthr@uvic.ca

### Jennifer Bayne

90 Edgewood Avenue, Unit 126

Toronto M4L 3H1

E-mail: jennifer.bayne@knowledge-able.com