For MHLA the past year has been one of transition and introspection. The twelve regional health authorities in Manitoba are negotiating the centralized provision of health information services with the University of Manitoba Libraries. The vast majority of Manitoba's health librarians and library technicians now work for the University. Given this transformed environment, it was perhaps inevitable that the importance of MHLA should have diminished in the eyes of many. This year there was no President-Elect on the Executive, membership dropped, and MHLA business suffered accordingly. There were no general meetings of the membership in 1999-2000, and aside from the member listserv, MHLA business has been largely confined to work on the Union List and the production of the MHLA News, under the editorship of Diana Stojanovic-Lewis.

However, much good work was being done. Some examples: Librarians at the Health Sciences Library, University of Manitoba, were heavily involved in expanding electronic resources and extending services to the regional health authorities. The Victoria General Hospital Library became the third Winnipeg hospital library to join the University of Manitoba in order to better serve the needs of hospital staff. The Consumer Health Information Working Group, a collaboration of MHLA members and health workers, held numerous meetings. New Internet resources were evaluated and promoted, formal and informal in-service training continued, DOCLINE transactions increased, and MHLA libraries cooperated as before. MHLA members have also been active in planning for the Manitoba Library Associations joint conference in May 2000. There will be three sessions devoted to health library topics.

The MHLA Union List has been an important project for many years. However, there is much less work involved in its production since serial holdings were entered into the SERHOLD database. The MHLA Executive decided that it was no longer necessary to publish the union list in paper format. The latest text file from CISTI was therefore distributed electronically to all institutional members. Plans to combine the health sciences serial holdings of the University of Manitoba Libraries with the MHLA database were put on hold.

2000 will be a decisive year for MHLA. With the University of Manitoba Libraries becoming the chief provider of health information to the twelve regional health authorities in the province, the original purpose of MHLA is called into question and its role is greatly diminished. It will be up to the MHLA membership to decide upon the future course of the organization.

Mark Rabnett
MHLA President