Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness:

1
Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness
Bridging Communities Knowledge Domains Paolina
Taglienti¹, Constance Malpas¹, Pamela
Sternfels² The New York Academy of Medicine, New
York, NY Mailman School of Public Health,
Columbia University, New York, NY
For more information contact Constance
Malpas Manager, Digital Initiatives The New York
Academy of Medicine 1216 Fifth Avenue New York,
NY 10029 Tel [phone] Fax
212-423-0272 cmalpas_at_nyam.org

• Introduction and Objectives
• In July 2002, the National Library of Medicine
  (NLM) awarded the New York Academy of Medicine
  (NYAM) a two-year contract to develop a web-based
  Resource Guide for Public Health Preparedness.
  The Guide will provide a single point of access
  to essential information resources in public
  health and disaster preparedness, selected by
  information specialists and reviewed by subject
  experts from a wide range of disciplines.
• The specific aims of the Resource Guide project
  are to
• Assess the health information needs of public
  health professionals with regard to disaster
  preparedness and bio-terrorist threats
• Streamline access to relevant documents and
  guidelines by creating and distributing a
  regularly updated Internet resource guide that
  directly links users to accurate and reliable
  sources of health-related preparedness
  information and
• Leverage existing information and outreach
  resources, including the National Network of
  Libraries of Medicine, to increase the scope and
  maximize the benefit of project goals.

• Data Model
• The elaboration of a community-specific metadata
  model was a key challenge in the early months of
  the project.
• The Project Director and Project Librarian,
  working with NYAM IT Director P. Clancy and XML
  specialist T. Catapano, developed the original
  data model in an MS Access database. The desktop
  application is a convenient tool for managing
  data and generating reports but does not offer
  the stability or scalability needed for a robust
  web application.
• MySQL and PHP were selected as the technology
  platform for a prototype web application
  developed by consultant R.K. Thunga. T. Catapano
  developed scripts for rendering output in XML and
  HTML.
• Collaboration Conformance with information
  standards and non-proprietary data formats will
  facilitate exchange between the Resource Guide
  and other information systems. Outside technical
  consultants help to ensure implementation of best
  practices from the academic and business
  communities.

Current Status Since June, attention has shifted
to improving the look and feel of the user
interface and optimizing information retrieval to
improve performance. Our XML
(EAD)-based finding aid presents database
content in an easy-to-read index that groups
resources by audience and event type.
This novel feature is designed to facilitate
cross-disciplinary resource discovery.
Project Team
Project Team
Project Intern interface re-design
Still seeking collaborators!

• Methods and Workflow
• Content Development Searching is done in a
  variety of environments.
• General purpose Internet search engines (e.g.
  Google) are utilized to identify websites,
  conferences and web-documents of interest.
• Relevant NGO (e.g. RAND) and government sites
  (e.g. CDC) are regularly scanned for relevant
  reports, testimony, monographs titles.
• Specialized databases are searched for articles
  and interviews (e.g. HazLit, PubMed).
• Search terms are varied in scope and source to
  ensure adequate coverage. Terms are drawn from
  controlled vocabularies (LCSH, MeSH, etc.) as
  well as natural language (e.g. Public Health
  Preparedness, Emergency Response).
• Scanned Sources are sites that are regularly
  reviewed. These include
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Government Accounting Office
• National Academies Press
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review
• British Medical Journal
• Canadian Medical Association Journal
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Public Health Grand Rounds series (UNC/CDC)
• Collaboration Content recommendations
  (suggested sources) are actively sought and
  harvested from the project website. Topical
  bibliographies contributed by colleagues in the
  library science and public health communities are
  also culled for relevant content.
• Content Review A representative sample of
  resources was reviewed for relevance by the
  Research Associate (in collaboration with the
  Center for Public Health Preparedness) in March
  and April. 89 were found to be important for
  inclusion. Broken links accounted for most of the
  resources that were rejected by reviewers.
• Collaboration Periodic review of content by
  partners in the public health community ensures
  that Resource Guide content is both timely and
  relevant.

Application Development The search interface for
the first database prototype (June 2003) combined
advanced search and browse options In
itial user testing (July, 2003) indicated that a
cleaner, more streamlined search interface was
needed. An exhaustive interface redesign was
subsequently carried out by project intern Ying
Zhang (Rutgers University), working in
collaboration with NYAM IT staff and project
consultant R.K. Thunga. A new Google-style
simple search interface was added in October,
2003. Advanced search and browsing
options have been separated from the simple
search screen to minimize visual clutter.

• Mapping Needs and Resources
• A variety of needs assessment activities in Year
  1 of the Resource Guide project have revealed
  that
• Core preparedness resources are difficult to
  find without advanced Internet searching skills
• Information services for the public health
  practice community are scarce and under-funded
• Library professionals are rarely included in
  preparedness planning or disaster mitigation
  activities.
• Insights from key informant interviews with
  public health professionals and information
  specialists are supplemented by feedback from
  discussion and question/answer sessions at
  Resource Guide project presentations at regional
  and national meetings.
• Project staff have devoted special effort to
  leveraging existing information systems and
  networks in support of the Guide. Outreach
  efforts have focused on building local and
  regional partnerships between the 4000 members
  of the

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION !

• Next Steps
• Focused content development of Resource Guide
  based on growth of field and user search
  statistics
• Iterative evaluation and refinement of web
  application based on user feedback and focus
  groups
• Addition of structured abstracts for essential
  titles in the Resource Guide
• Production of topical literature reviews on
  subjects of special significance to public health
  preparedness (e.g. Implementing Incident Command
  Systems Emergency Risk Communication Mental
  Health and Mass Casualty Events)

Growth of the Resource Guide (Year I)
www.phpreparedness.info
and the 33 federally-funded Centers for Public
Health Preparedness
Funding Source The NYAM Resource Guide for Public
Health Preparedness project is supported by NLM
contract N01-LM-2-3505. Project Officer
Catherine Selden, NICHSR