The Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce: a collaboration to improve and protect the public's health, 1995-2006

The paper provides a complete accounting of the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce (Partners) initiative since its inception in 1997, including antecedent activities since 1995. A descriptive overview is provided that is based on a review of meeting summaries, published reports, Websites, project reports, databases, usage statistics, and personal experiences from offices in the National Library of Medicine (NLM), six organizations that collaborate formally with NLM on the Partners initiative, and one outside funding partner. With ten years of experience, the initiative is an effective and unique public-private collaboration that builds on the strengths and needs of the organizations that are involved and the constituencies that they serve. Partners-supported and sponsored projects include satellite broadcasts or Webcasts, training initiatives, Web resource development, a collection of historical literature, and strategies for workforce enumeration and expansion of public health systems research, which provide excellent examples of the benefits realized from collaboration between the public health community and health sciences libraries. With continued funding, existing and new Partners-sponsored projects will be able to fulfill many public health information needs. This collaboration provides excellent opportunities to strengthen the partnership between library science and public health in the use of health information and tools for purposes of improving and protecting the public's health.