• Membership in CHLA/ABSC
• Canadian Virtual Health Library (CVHL)
• Invitation to students to contribute in JCHLA
• Landmark JCHLA issues
• Accreditation Canada (formerly CCHSA)
• The Sky’s the Limit - CHLA/ABSC Conference May 30-June 3, 2009
• Health Libraries in the News
• CIHR Open Access Policy and You
• Hospital Library Salary Survey - Calling interested Hospital Librarians
• Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Policy
• How do you define Innovation?

The Board would like to express its thanks to the staff of the University of British Columbia’s Woodward Library for providing us with the excellent space and support for the October Board meeting. The BC Cancer Agency graciously hosted and facilitated our first Vancouver meeting in February. Our previous Toronto meetings were hosted wonderfully by the University of Toronto Health Sciences Library staff in the lovely Gerstein Library. We appreciate the support from all these institutions as we move our meetings around the country to match the make up of our Board.

Membership in CHLA/ABSC

It is that time of year again - time to renew your membership. The first renewal notice has gone out to members.

There are many library associations competing for members. Why join or renew in ours?

Ours is a national association dedicated to facilitating and enabling credible knowledge transfer in health sciences through leading edge technologies and partnerships. Unlike other associations, our professional development and conference programming is geared 100% to advancing the excellence of health librarianship.

Read what our members, like Tom Flemming and Agnès Szczotka, say about their experiences in being CHLA/ABSC members at http://www.chla-absc.ca/?q=en/node/213

This year an introductory membership was introduced. New members can join at any time of the year for 25% off. By joining in November or December, new members will receive a membership for 2009 as well.

Canadian Virtual Health Library (CVHL)

At its October meeting, the Board approved a proposal from the CVHL Transition Team (Patrick Ellis, Jessie McGowan, co-chairs; July Inglis, Susan Powelson and Donna Meaghan) to recruit a project leader for a three-month contract. The contract would involve developing the plans for CVHL implementation (developing the business strategy and plan, engaging stakeholders and obtaining commitments). The three-month contract will be funded from the Canada Health Infoway reimbursement to CHLA/ABSC for its work on the Phase 0 project.

The position will be posted on the NNLH website http://www.chla-absc.ca/nnlh/indexe.htm November 24, with a closing date of December 5. Anyone interested is encouraged to apply or to contact the NNLH co chairs for further information.

Invitation to students to contribute in JCHLA

The Editors of JCHLA invite submissions from all library school students. Manuscripts can be research papers, opinion pieces, review articles or other types of articles. Students are encouraged to contact the editors to discuss ideas for their papers in JCHLA.

Landmark JCHLA issues

JCHLA volume 29, issue 4, Fall 2008 will mark the Journal’s listing in the Depository of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Then, starting with 2009 issues, the Journal’s full text will be available via Ebsco CINAHL and LISTA Fulltext.

Accreditation Canada (formerly CCHSA)

Accreditation Canada has responded with a statement of interest to a recent letter sent to them by Jean Maragno and Dianne Kharouba regarding the need to include library personnel in the new Version 2 standards. We hope this will lead to further consultation and revisions for Version 3.

The Sky’s the Limit - CHLA/ABSC Conference May 30-June 3, 2009

The deadline for paper and poster submissions is December 15, 2008. http://www.chla-absc.ca/?q=en/node/268 Save these dates and plan to share your research and plans for meeting the information challenges that are on and beyond the horizon.

Health Libraries in the News

Have you spotted a news paper article or heard a radio clip? Let us all know and post it on the CHLA/ABSC web site. All members have the ability to post to the forums as well as their own blogs.

CIHR Open Access Policy and You

A new factsheet has been prepared by Lee-Anne Ufholz to help you field questions about the new policy and what it means for your clients who have received CIHR funding after January 2008. http://www.chla-absc.ca/?q=en/node/107

Hospital Library Salary Survey - Calling interested Hospital Librarians

CHLA/ABSC is putting together a small taskforce to develop a salary survey for you. If you are a hospital librarian and interested in working with the taskforce, please email Susan Powelson at past-president@chla-absc.ca

Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Policy

Conflict of interest and disclosure policies are standard practices in associations. There is nothing wrong with a conflict of interest and it does not prevent people with a significant financial or other relationship from serving in official capacities, writing, or presenting. Disclosure of a significant conflict of interest or the appearance of one simply helps ensure objectivity by providing decision-makers and participants with information to form their own judgments.

The Board began to give some thought to the practice last winter and voted to adopt a policy at its October meeting that will apply to members of the Board of Directors, Committee chairs and chair-designates, liaisons to other organizations and authors writing for CHLA/ABSC publications, instructors and presenters at CHLA/ABSC sponsored events.JCHLA authors are covered by the JCHLA author copyright agreement.

The CHLA/ABSC policy and disclosure form is on the web at http://www.chla-absc.ca/?q=en/node/284. Disclosure forms are to be sent to the secretary@chla-absc.ca

How do you define Innovation?

Innovation can be a process or a product. Innovation is usually synonymous with change, newness and creativity. Stay tuned for more news about a new award that the CHLA/ABSC Board will be creating to recognize members for innovative initiatives.

Dianne Kharouba
President
Canadian Health Libraries Association
http://www.chla-absc.ca/