HealthWeb is Discontinuing Operations
HealthWeb is ceasing operations and will deactivate the web site, effective October 31, 2007.
The HealthWeb project was conceived in 1994 to provide a one-stop entry point to evaluated, non-commercial, Internet-accessible resources organized by medical discipline. It has been a collaborative project of over 20 health sciences libraries in the Greater Midwest Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine with contract support from the National Library of Medicine.
The decision to stop operations is based on several factors:
- Internet technology and search behavior has changed over the years. Users want deep linking capabilities (a la Google) and are navigating away from list oriented sites such as HealthWeb.
- Work duties have changed and expanded for many HealthWeb editors. A recent internal HealthWeb survey indicated that most contributors did not feel they could devote sufficient time to keep the project viable.
- HealthWeb's intended audience has been health care professionals. However, the majority of queries have pertained to consumer health issues. Sites such as MedlinePlus and the Medical Library Association Consumer and Patient Health Information Section are better options for these types of information needs.
During the transitional phase, people accessing the HealthWeb URL will receive information about the project's termination and the following suggestions for alternative web sites:
Hardin MD (Hardin Meta Directory): http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/
This high quality site lists a "directory of directories" for health and medicine. The site is maintained by Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa.MedlinePlus : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
A consumer oriented site that brings together authoritative information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations. The site is maintained by the NLM.Google Health Co-op: http://www.google.com/coop/topics/Health
Google Health Co-op is a project which allows subject expert individuals and organizations to establish accounts, and then create annotations with a limited number of categories or limits to links in the Google Health database.
HealthWeb content will be archived on a cd that will be kept at the Regional Medical Library (RML) office for the Greater Midwest Region, located at University of Illinois at Chicago, Library of the Health Sciences (UIC LHS). Questions about HealthWeb can be directed to the following email address that will be maintained until December 31, 2007: healthweb@umich.edu .
HealthWeb Board:
- Allan Barclay University of Wisconsin
- Terry Burton University of Wisconsin
- Frank Davis University of Kentucky
- Ruth Holst University of Illinois at Chicago, NN/LM, Greater Midwest Region
- Diane Hummel Spectrum Health
- Deborah Lauseng University of Michigan
- James Shedlock Northwestern University
- Janet Stith University of Kentucky
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