"What does crack cocaine smell Like?" "How do I find out about the new Mental Health Act?" "I'm developing a substance abuse program for HIV positive women. What kind of materials does the Library have?" "I'm trying to get a copy of a dissertation by someone in Finland" "Can you help me with my Medline search on needle exchange programs and safer injecting sites?" These are just a few examples of CAMH Library users' questions. The CAMH Library has one of the most extensive substance abuse/mental health library collections in the world, composed of the resources of the former Addiction Research Foundation Library, the Farrar Library and the Queen Street Health Sciences Library. Services are provided through a main library at the Russell Street Site and a satellite library the Queen Street Site. The CAMH Library's mission is to support the Centre's multidisciplinary research activity in the areas of substance use/abuse and mental health, and also includes providing resources to the professionals and public of Ontario for informed decision making in substance abuse and mental health related issues. CAMH Library users include university and high school students, recovering addicts and mental health consumers, family members, and health professionals from other institute, and, of course CAMH staff members. The library receives emails, phone calls and letters from all over the world, sometimes even from South Africa! The CAMH Library issues approximately 360 new library cards to non-CAMH staff every year, and answers close to 3,000 reference/research requests. The CAMH library also offers staff members such services as desktop access to Current Contents (ISI), and the Library Catalogue. Staff members also have access to MEDLINE (National Library of Medicine) and PSYCLIT/PSYCINFO (American Psychological Association) through Ovid Technologies' web based services. The CAMH Collection Scope is international and historical in core areas, with an emphasis on Ontario and Canadian materials. The CAMH Library collections consist of a wide variety of materials--there are more than 700 periodicals including all of the addictions journals, core psychiatry and psychology journals, and core journals in areas such as health promotion, public health, pharmacology and medicine, to name a few. There is also an extensive book collection which includes research and government documents acquired from organizations around the world. The CAMH Library also has approximately 1,000 mental health/substance abuse audio-visual materials, and a historical temperance collection. CAMH Library has twelve staff members, which includes four professional librarians (MLS or MIS). CAMH Librarians provide information services ranging from research assistance and document delivery to end-user training for desktop information access. CAMH Librarians also prepare bibliographies, information packages, and web guides and give presentations on how to research substance abuse/mental health issues. CAMH Librarians also have access to commercial online database vendors such as Dialog and are also skilled at accessing web-based databases and other resources including the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Science Database (NIAAA). Networking, both locally and globally, is an ongoing activity for resource sharing. The CAMH Library is a member of the Health Science Consortium of Toronto, made up of the University of Toronto Library and health libraries affiliated with the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine. The CAMH Library also supports the Substance Abuse Network of Ontario; SANO makes a wide range of information related to substance use available online and provides a forum for communication. The CAMH Library is also a member of the substance use consortium of the Canadian Health Network. CAMH Librarians also play an active role in SALIS, Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists, an international organization that has members from key research, policy and government organizations in North America, Europe and Australia. |
|||
|