We’re well into the second year of the three-year term of e-HLbc and there’s lots of news to report.  The big news is the new online format of e-Wire Magazine. The move to web format will enable you to navigate quickly to e-HLbc news of interest.

We’ll also be able to embed surveys and comment forms, too.  We hope these changes will we encourage you to submit articles and send us your feedback about the newsletter and e-HLbc in general.

After the Spring election of new Management Committee members, the reconstituted Management Committee spent a sunny July day at a retreat, getting to know each other and thinking about the past, present and future of e-HLbc. This invigorating day gave us an opportunity to celebrate the successes we’ve experienced in the first three years of our consortium and to identify future opportunities for growth and success.

Adding new affiliate member organizations to e-HLbc is one of those opportunities. Expanding e-HLbc's membership offers one clear path toward achieving our vision of providing the entire B.C. academic and health care community with province-wide, consistent, high quality, cost-effective, equitable, and easily accessible health library resources.

Already in 2009, e-HLbc has added one full member and three affiliate members:

• Nicola Valley Institute of Technology
• BC Association of Kinesiologists
• Down Syndrome Research Foundation
• Yukon Health and Social Services

e-HLbc members extend across B.C. and beyond! Check out the dynamic map of current consortium members on the e-HLbc website.

The first Management Committee meeting saw some reshuffling of portfolios. I will chair the new Membership Committee, and Grace Makarewicz will take over as chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee. Karen MacDonell now chairs the Evaluation Committee and Ruth Rochlin will continue on as chair of the Training Committee. The Membership, Training, and Marketing and Communications Committees are currently recruiting members, so if you have an interest in any of these areas, contact the e-HLbc Administrative office for details.

Best wishes for a healthy Fall! And if we can’t escape the H1N1 flu, at least we can use the wealth of e-HLbc resources to keep abreast of the latest research on dealing with pandemics.

Cathy Rayment, Provincial Library Leader, Provincial Health Services Authority
e-HLbc Co-Chair