Increasing access to Latin American social medicine resources: a preliminary report.
OBJECTIVE
This preliminary report describes the development and implementation of a project to improve access to literature in Latin American social medicine (LASM).


METHODS
The University of New Mexico project team collaborated with participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador to identify approximately 400 articles and books in Latin American social medicine. Structured abstracts were prepared, translated into English, Spanish, and Portuguese, assigned Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), and loaded into a Web-based database for public searching. The project has initiated Web-based publication for two LASM journals. Evaluation included measures of use and content.


RESULTS
The LASM Website (http://hsc.unm.edu/lasm) and database create access to formerly little-known literature that addresses problems relevant to current medicine and public health. This Website offers a unique resource for researchers, practitioners, and teachers who seek to understand the links between socioeconomic conditions and health. The project provides a model for collaboration between librarians and health care providers. Challenges included procurement of primary material; preparation of concise abstracts; working with trilingual translations of abstracts, metadata, and indexing; and the work processes of the multidisciplinary team.


CONCLUSIONS
The literature of Latin American social medicine has become more readily available to researchers worldwide. The LASM project serves as a collaborative model for the creation of sustainable solutions for disseminating information that is difficult to access through traditional methods.
Buchanan
Holly Shipp
HS
The University of New Mexico, MSC09 5100, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA. hbuchanan@salud.unm.edu
Waitzkin
Howard
H
Eldredge
Jonathan
J
Davidson
Russ
R
Iriart
Celia
C
Teal
Janis
J
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007843:Latin America; D019303:Multilingualism; D009862:Online Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011643:Publishing / Q000458:organization & administration; D012936:Social Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States