An online nursing leadership literature centre at the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries.
BACKGROUND
Decades of hospital restructuring in Canada resulted in significant reductions of nursing leadership positions and altered a nursing infrastructure important for guiding patient care. The importance of acquiring nursing leadership skills to address the negative effects of restructuring is advocated by Canadian nursing bodies.


OBJECTIVE
To describe a service innovation for a nursing community. The librarians of the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Libraries (UMHSL) created an online nursing leadership literature centre to support a leadership programme launched by the Nursing Leadership Council (NLC) of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. The article will contribute to the body of literature about health library services for nurses.


METHODS
The creation of the service is described. A literature search was undertaken to determine what services have been implemented by librarians for nursing leadership programmes, as well as to review the literature with regard to contributions made by librarians for nursing communities.


RESULTS
The literature service, comprised of 19 webliographies based on the NLC's leadership topics, is available on the UMHSL website. A webliography, by definition, is a list of electronic works relating to a particular topic. The NLC created its own website that provides nurses with a means to identify, enhance and evaluate leadership competencies, and which is linked to the UMHSL website.


CONCLUSIONS
The contributions of the UMHSL librarians to this project support the goals of instilling leadership skills in nurses, encouraging evidence-based nursing practice, and transforming a practice environment to meet the ultimate goal of effective patient care.
Barrett
Patricia
P
Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. pbarrett@cc.umanitoba.ca
D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D007999:Library Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D008350:Manitoba; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D024802:Nurse's Role; D048108:Nursing Informatics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014495:Universities / Q000458:organization & administration