3 February 2005

Major launch of international co-operative virtual reference service in health

The Chasing the Sun virtual reference service was officially launched at the Sydney ALIA Information Online 2005 conference on 2 February.

Chasing the Sun is a collaborative project of the South Australian Health Libraries Consortium and the UK National Health Service libraries in the South West of England.

International project co-ordinator Mary Peterson said Chasing the Sun won Best Information or Knowledge Team in the Public Sector at the 2004 International Information Industry Awards in London.

'Chasing the Sun is an after-business hours online reference service for urgent clinical questions relating to patient care,' Ms Peterson says.

'It uses OCLC's QuestionPoint software to provide a chat reference service for clinicians. The award recognises the innovative approach to the use of technology to solve a problem and provide an extended service as well as the international collaborative effort.'

Ms Peterson, a librarian from the Royal Adelaide Hospital/IMVS, and Sue Rockliff from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital have co-ordinated the project from South Australia.

Ms Rockliff says the project enables clinicians to have access to experienced, professional assistance using electronic library and information resources after hours.

'It allows them to make better use of the clinical decision support tools available to them to help them in their decision making and will lead to improved quality in health care,' Ms Rockliff says.

Chasing the Sun was officially launched at the same time in the UK.

'The original idea was put forward during a visit by an NHS Librarian to Australia in late 2001,' says Stuart Benjamin, Knowledge Resources Development Manager, Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority and UK Chasing the Sun administrator.

Mr Benjamin says 'The information industry award represents international recognition for the work achieved by two teams of librarians across two continents.'

This is the second award won by the project. In May 2004, the Swets Australia Professional Envoy Award enabled Sue Rockliff to give a paper on Chasing the Sun at the Canadian Medical Librarians' Conference in St Johns.

'We hope that other countries such as Canada will join the project,' said Sue Rockliff. 'It will enable us to offer around the clock service during the working week.'

Mary Peterson and Sue Rockliff are presenting a paper on the Chasing the Sun service at the Sydney Information Online 2005 conference on Thursday 3 February.