A survey examined the degree to which community information systems provide consumer health information in the United Kingdom. Discusses the extent and nature of this information versus government requirements; operational details; non-healthcare information; management and decision making; procedures for updating information; health information…

Describes the HELOS project in Denmark, which is using information technology to facilitate library development, increase levels of library and information services, and increase levels of technological qualifications of library staff among four rural libraries. The discussion highlights library and information services offered, hardware and…

Discusses the relationship between scientific and technical information (STI), technology transfer, and local economic development, and reports the results of a feasibility study conducted in Syracuse, New York. A switching station design for information transfer is recommended. Service, staffing, administration, and critical success factors for…

Discusses the goals of public libraries in the 1990s: (1) to provide recreational reading materials, and (2) to provide information. Presents a model that divides library services into community resource centers, which focus on community education based on community needs, and local information centers where information can be accessed…

Examines adolescents' health-care needs and the barriers that keep young people from receiving services. Explores the role of school-based health services in adolescents' health care and discusses access to care, adolescent demographics and health-risk factors, services and program philosophy, service utilization, and the continuum of care. (RJM)

Health education is subject to evolutionary waves of change. The paper describes three past waves (program development, evaluation, and maintenance) and discusses a fourth, program ownership, which has yet to become a significant force. Implications for future waves are highlighted. (SM)

Describes the Entry-Level Skills Portfolio (ELSP) as a repository to enable students to document and develop their employability skills and to foster their awareness of the occupational relevance of the guidelines developed by the National Task Force on the Preparation and Practice of Health Educators. (SM)

This study examined the relationship between community needs for information about wife assault and the information response offered through social service networks. Interviews were conducted with a random selection of 543 women and with 179 agencies and professionals identified by the women as likely sources of help. (17 references) (MES)

Describes a county library system's experience with a computerized information and referral system and highlights strengths and weaknesses of the systems. Strengths included the library maintaining control, with other agencies participating; using existing programs and databases where possible; and establishing copyright. Problems included not…

To meet the health-care needs of a growing Hispanic population in Dallas, a nursing school used two strategies: short-term cultural immersion (language and cultural experiences in Mexico) and a nurse exchange program with a Mexican hospital. The importance of cultural-competence training for health-care personnel was affirmed. (SK)

East Tennessee State University has reshaped its education of medical, nursing, and allied health students to create a rural primary-care track curriculum that meets the needs of two medically underserved rural counties. The community-based experiential program shows students the realities of community public health and provides much-needed…

Describes an institute designed to train librarians to use the Buffalo Free-Net, an open-access community computer system. The objectives were to help librarians become comfortable with networked information and to teach them how to exploit the potential of the network to serve the information needs of their communities. (Author/LRW)

A survey of 23 rural and small-town community economic development groups in British Columbia examined types of information used, frequency of information use, community information sources, access and barriers to information, use of computer-based and electronic information technologies, and perceived organizational benefits of using such…

Interviews with Native American mental health and social workers discuss how Native mental health problems are related to historical trauma and chronically inadequate mental health services. Elements of culturally relevant mental health services include locally delivered workshops, kinship foster care, tribal elders, spirituality, and Native care…

Purpose: The Dementia Care Networks' Study examined the effectiveness of four community-based, not-for-profit dementia networks. The study involved assessing the relationship between the types of administrative and service-delivery exchanges that occurred among the networked agencies and the network members' perception of the effectiveness of…