This case study describes the assignment of an academic health sciences librarian to another academic unit for a period of two years. This arrangement enabled the librarian to focus on work with an interdisciplinary team to assess the information needs and uses of public health workers in Washington State and to develop online resources to address those needs.
The assessment process employed semi‐structured discussions and interviews with segments of the workforce. “Information toolkits” – practitioner‐oriented and highly focused web pages that provided an overview of select notifiable diseases – were developed based on what was learned from the assessment.
This experience would not have been possible within the normal work environment and provided the librarian with knowledge, contacts, and opportunities not available otherwise.
An outcome of the assignment was increased knowledge of public health information needs among the community of health sciences librarians.
