Internet resources: First Canadian Virtual Health Library developed in Canada

The National Research Council's Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI) has announced that the Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are moving forward with the development of the Canadian Virtual Health Library (CVHL)-a first for Canada.

The CVHL is designed to improve Canadian healthcare by making high-quality health information and evidence easily accessible to all health care professionals, wherever they are in Canada, so that they can make informed decisions about patient care and education, and policy and program development.

The CVHL, which is funded by CIHR through its Knowledge Synthesis and Exchange Branch for $800,000 over 3 years, will provide all Canadian health professionals-administrators, policy and program planners, researchers and public health workers as well as clinicians, such as doctors and nurses-easy access to current, authoritative information and expert support from the network of libraries contributing to CVHL. The CVHL will be rolled out over a 3-year period beginning in 2010.