RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
Foreword
Since its foundation in 1977, Healthlink Worldwide (formerly AHRTAG) has
supported primary health care as a means of achieving health for all, regardless
of class, gender and race. Access to appropriate, relevant and up-to-date
information about health and development issues plays a vital role in enabling
health workers, managers and policy makers to make informed choices and
improve their skills and knowledge.
One of Healthlink Worldwide’s key strategies has been to develop a resource
centre and a range of information services focusing on the practical aspects of
implementing primary health care programmes, and to provide technical
support to resource centres. Healthlink Worldwide has supported the
development of resource centres in a number of countries, primarily in Africa,
Asia and the Middle East.
Over the years, Healthlink Worldwide has received many requests from
organisations working in primary health care and related fields for support in
setting up resource centres, such as: What issues should we consider when
setting up a resource centre? What classification scheme should we use? Should
we set up a resource centre, although we don’t have funds for a computer?
What software would you advise us to use? How can we get people to use our
resource centre? What ideas do you have to help us raise funds?
This manual provides the answers to these and many more questions. It
contains practical information on all aspects of setting up and managing a
resource centre, from planning, fundraising and finding a suitable location, to
collecting and organising materials, developing information services, and
monitoring and evaluating the work of the resource centre. It assumes that
most readers will use manual systems for organising information, but also
explains how computers can be used in resource centres, including e-mail,
Internet and databases. It describes how to select database software, and
contains a detailed review of three leading database programs. It includes a list
of organisations and publications that can provide further information.
The content includes practical information, checklists, tips, examples and
illustrations, which can be used for reference or training. Any pages may be
photocopied to use as handouts or adapted for other materials, provided it is
for educational purposes and the source is acknowledged.
This manual will be of use to people who are involved in setting up a resource
centre, whatever its size. Some of the procedures described are more applicable
to large resource centres containing several thousand materials – for example, a
resource centre supporting a health service training institution – but much of
the information also applies to smaller collections. The list of recommended
reading in the Further Reading section includes publications that are relevant to
different sizes of resource centre.