Finding, Organizing, and Using Health Information: A Training Manual for Students, Researchers and Health Workers in Africa

Developed by the Network of Africa Medical Librarians and Deans, this information literacy training manual is designed to help librarians/information professionals, students, researchers, and health care providers in Africa to find, manage, and use health information. The manual is the result of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) commitment to expanding the leadership of African librarians who have received training as NLM Associate Fellows, and is intended to guide facilitators to develop a related training course.

According to the authors, the objective was to develop a course that would be adopted at their respective universities as a permanent part of the medical schools' curricula. The seven librarians who created this course are from Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe and now compose the NLM Network of African Medical Librarians and Deans. Participants engaged in a lively discussion regarding strategies for expanding the course to encompass basic computer literacy training and the writing of papers for journal publication, thereby strengthening medical journals, and finally for how the course might best be integrated into the curricula. Based on the enthusiasm generated at this meeting, the librarians collaborated online to produce the seven modules for the course.
The seven modules are as follows:

• Module 1 - Information sources: This module is expected to deepen knowledge of sources of information in print, non-print, and electronic formats. It presents the definition, originators/producers, types, formats, and categories of information sources. The module also shows where information sources could be found - e.g., archives, libraries, and the internet
• Module 2 - Searching tools: This module provides content, examples, and practical exercises for identifying searching tools.
• Module 3 - Electronic Information searching techniques: This module provides the process of developing a search strategy, outlines the various search techniques, and provides examples on how to use the search techniques when searching for information through search tools such as bibliographic databases.
• Module 4 - Intellectual property rights: This module discusses some key Intellectual Property Rights concepts, uses, and benefits.
• Module 5 - Management of information: This module discusses tools and techniques for collecting, storing, organising, and using information.
• Module 6 - Evaluation of electronic resources: This module discusses the criteria and process of evaluation of online information.
• Module 7 - Scholarly communication skills: Scholarly communication is the creation, transformation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge related to teaching and research. It is also the system scholars and researchers employ to create, distribute, use, and preserve their work.