SALUS: online co-operation between South Australian health libraries.
The establishment of the South Australian Health Libraries Consortium led to the development of the SALUS project which enabled the online delivery of core health, clinical information and bibliographic databases with full-text resources across South Australian government health services. This was the first venture of Australian health librarians to create an online consortium. This article discusses the policy and management issues surrounding the implementation of the SALUS project and its influence on the evolution of the health Libraries Consortium over several years. Lessons learned during this process included: the necessity to plan well ahead yet to remain flexible in implementing those plans, to avoid procedure becoming more important than improvization during planning, to be willing to take well judged risks on occasions, and to be fully aware of changing circumstances in the project's funding and political environment. The importance of securing influential advocates outside of the participating libraries to support continued project funding is also considered.
Peterson
Mary
M
Library and Educational Information Services, Royal Adelaide Hospital/Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, South Australia. mary.peterson@imvs.sa.gov.au
Harris
Lindsay
L
D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D033181:Information Dissemination; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007993:Libraries, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009862:Online Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D013021:South Australia