Building better connections: the National Library of Medicine and public health.

PURPOSE: The paper describes the expansion of the public health programs and services of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in the 1990s and provides the context in which NLM's public health outreach programs arose and exist today.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Although NLM has always had collections and services relevant to public health, the US public health workforce made relatively little use of the library's information services and programs in the twentieth century. In the 1990s, intensified emphases on outreach to health professionals, building national information infrastructure, and promoting health data standards provided NLM with new opportunities to reach the public health community. A seminal conference cosponsored by NLM in 1995 produced an agenda for improving public health access to and use of advanced information technology and electronic information services. NLM actively pursued this agenda by developing new services and outreach programs and promoting public health informatics initiatives.

METHOD: Historical analysis is presented.

RESULTS/OUTCOME: NLM took advantage of a propitious environment to increase visibility and understanding of public health information challenges and opportunities. The library helped create partnerships that produced new information services, outreach initiatives, informatics innovations, and health data policies that benefit the public health workforce and the diverse populations it serves.