Access to the medical literature
================================

* Jessie L. McGowan, MLIS
* Patrick Ellis, MLIS
* Peter Tugwell, MD MSc

*   © 2007 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

We fully agree with Brad MacKay1 that nationwide access to the Cochrane Library is a priority, especially because only 10%–15% of Canadians, mostly medical students and academic researchers, currently have access to this resource. However, Canadian physicians, health care professionals and the public need more than access to just the Cochrane Library; they need coordinated access to all electronic health information resources (including databases, journals and books) as well as user training and support.2 The Canadian Health Libraries Association has been championing a National Network of Libraries for Health, the vision of which is to “ensure that all health care providers in Canada will have equal access to the best information for patient care.”3 Canadian health libraries would handle national coordination of access, training and support.

In 2006, Sir Muir Gray was knighted for his work, including the development of the National Library for Health in the United Kingdom. In a *CMAJ* guest editorial published last year, he stated that it has always seemed paradoxical that Canada, a country that is the fount of so much good work in evidence-based medicine and knowledge translation, does not have a national health library.4

## Footnotes

*   **Competing interests:** Jessie McGowan and Patrick Ellis are co-chairs of the National Network of Libraries for Health Task Force.

## REFERENCES

1.  1. MacKay B. Cochrane Library to be available to all Canadians. CMAJ 2007;176(7):917-8.
    
    [FREE Full Text](http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiRlVMTCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6NDoiY21haiI7czo1OiJyZXNpZCI7czo5OiIxNzYvNy85MTciO3M6NDoiYXRvbSI7czoyMjoiL2NtYWovMTc3LzIvMTc2LjIuYXRvbSI7fXM6ODoiZnJhZ21lbnQiO3M6MDoiIjt9) 

2.  2. McGowan J, Straus SE, Tugwell P. Canada urgently needs a national network of libraries to access evidence. Healthc Q 2006;9(1):72-4.
    
    [PubMed](http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/external-ref?access_num=16640136&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fcmaj%2F177%2F2%2F176.2.atom) 

3.  3. National Network of Libraries for Health. *Vision*. Toronto: Canadian Health Libraries Association; 2007. Available: [www.chla-absc.ca/nnlh/vision.html](http://www.chla-absc.ca/nnlh/vision.html) (accessed 2007 May 11).
    
    

4.  4. Gray JAM. Canadian clinicians and patients need clean, clear knowledge [editorial]. CMAJ 2006;175(2):129.
    
    [FREE Full Text](http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiRlVMTCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6NDoiY21haiI7czo1OiJyZXNpZCI7czo5OiIxNzUvMi8xMjkiO3M6NDoiYXRvbSI7czoyMjoiL2NtYWovMTc3LzIvMTc2LjIuYXRvbSI7fXM6ODoiZnJhZ21lbnQiO3M6MDoiIjt9)