It was indeed invaluable knowledge exchanged and learnt from our special guests all the way from Spain. We were honored to receive delegates from the Virtual Library of Andalucia Public Health System, Spain to Medical/Science Library on 31 March 2009. They were Mr Pablo Rivero Corte, the Director-General of Quality, Agency of National Health Service, Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs; Mrs. Verónica Juan Quilis, Director of the Virtual Library Andalucia Public Health System (and wife of the Minister of Health and Consume); Mr. José María Carrión Pérez, Consultant & Documentalist (Electronic Resources), and Miss Teresa Matamoros Casas, I.T. and Computer Engineer. They shared with us their success story which they were justificably proud of. Though the delegates are high position officers, their warm personalities, their willingness and ever readiness to share their experience really amazed me. The pleasant exchange gave me a feeling like having met up with long awaited soul mates.
The success story began with the support of the State Government for the Virtual Library of Andalucia Public Health System. Offering one-stop information resources to all Andalusian health service professionals (approximately 92,000 health service professionals), it aims to assist in Knowledge Management Development, establish strategic alliances with organizations and coordinate resources among Andalusian Health Information Centres. Currently, the services rendered include:
• Electronic Resources (Medical & Scientific Technical resources)
• Reference Services
• Document Delivery Services
• Inter-library loan
• Alert services
and many more.
The national initiative has proven to be tremendously successful not only in the area of Andalusian Healthcare Services and Research but also as a role model many of us can learn from.
Footnote: Andalusia (Spanish: Andalucía) is located in southern Spain. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen autonomous communities of the Kingdom of Spain. Its capital and largest city is Seville.
