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Professional Activities

2010

Presentation to the 8th Annual Canadian Cochrane Symposium
At the 2010 Canadian Cochrane Symposium, OPHLA members gave a presentation which described the key learnings from their experience creating an evidence tool to support local policy implementation and development. Click here to view the presentation on the Canadian Cochrane Centre website.

2009

Workshop for the 2009 Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) Conference
OPHLA members led a workshop for public health practitioners in Ontario to explain why a set of live literature searches were developed to support implementation of the requirements in the Ontario Public Health Standards. The workshop included a live demonstration and tutorial to help practitioners get the most out of this tool. Click here to view the presentation on the 2009 OPHA Conference website.

Membership with the Ontario Council on Community Health Accreditation (OCCHA)
In 2009, OPHLA became an organizational member of the OCCHA. OPHLA is represented on the OCCHA board of directors and is proud to assist the OCCHA in promoting accountability and excellence in public health programs and services. OPHLA will provide input on community health accreditation standards in order to support continuous quality improvement in public health units. Click here to read more about the OCCHA.

Ontario Public Health Standards Literature Searches
Ontario Public Health Standards Literature Searches developed by OPHLA went live as part of the support manual that accompanied the release of the Ontario Public Health Standards. The searches are designed to support practitioners in planning, delivering, managing and evaluating public health programs by providing current scientific evidence to inform their policy decisions. The search results are refreshed every time a user clicks on the search link. Click here to access the live literature searches.

2008

Designation as a Constituent Society of the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA)
In 2008, OPHLA officially became a constituent society of the OPHA. The OPHA provides leadership on issues affecting the public's health in Ontario. OPHLA is committed to assist OPHA achieve their mission through expertise development, network building, advocacy, and collaborative projects. Click here to learn more about the OPHA and its constituent societies.

Presentation to the 2008 Ontario Public Health Association Conference
OPHLA's presentation describes of the development of an online module by OPHLA for the Public Health Agency of Canada to empower public health professionals to become more efficient information users and increase information management capacity in Ontario's public health organizations. Click here to view the presentation on the 2008 OPHA Conference website.

Poster for the 2008 Canadian Health Libraries Association Conference
This poster describes the innovative professional collaboration tools and methods that were used by a geographically dispersed OPHLA working group to efficiently and cost-effectively develop a continuing education module for public health practitioners. Click here to view the poster.

2007

Teaching Module on Literature Searching in Public Health
In the summer of 2007, OPHLA developed a teaching module entitled Introduction to Literature Searching for the Public Health Agency of Canada's Skills Enhancement for Public Health program. The module is currently being piloted and once approved will be made available to public health practitioners across Canada. Click here to find out more about the skills enhancement program.

Partnerships Presentation to the 2007 CHLA Conference
In the spring of 2007, OPHLA members gave a talk at the annual Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA) Conference on the unique OPHLA partnership and the benefits that it affords. Click here to view the presentation on the CHLA website.

Knowledge Transfer Presentation at the 2007 Cochrane Symposium
In early 2007, several OPHLA members presented a poster on public health knowledge transfer strategies at the 5th Canadian Cochrane Symposium. Click here to view the presentation.

Submission to Ontario Public Health Standards Technical Review Committee
Upon release of the first revised draft of the Ontario Public Health Standards, OPHLA members reviewed these standards and submitted a formal response which advocated for the value of library services to public health programming. Click here to view our letter to the committee.

2006

Summer Workshop on Literature Searching for Staff at the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health
Members of OPHLA developed and facilitated a full-day workshop on literature searching and retrieval in the summer of 2006 for staff from the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health affiliated with the Public Health Agency of Canada. The workshop consisted of an instructional session followed by a practical group exercise in information searching. Click here to View our presentation slides from this workshop.

Design of Website Structure for PublicHealthOntario.ca
In early 2006, OPHLA members were asked to create a taxonomy to organize the information resources stored on the Public Health Ontario web portal at www.publichealthontario.ca. Click here to view the hierarchy developed by OPHLA.

2005

Poster Presentation for the CHLA Conference
OPHLA members presented their library colleagues with an overview of the role of librarians in public health practice in Ontario with their poster “Ontario Public Health Libraries Association (OPHLA): advocating on behalf of the public’s health” which they presented at The World around the Corner: the Canadian Health Libraries Association 2005 Conference. Click here to view the poster on the 2005 CHLA Conference website.

Presentation to the OPHA/alPHa Joint Conference
OPHLA members gave a presentation entitled “Tools and vehicles for knowledge transfer: the role of information professionals.” Click here to view the presentation on the 2005 OPHA/alPHa Conference website.

Funding Proposal for Scientific Public Health Information Resources
The association identified a need for access to quality health information among public health practitioners in Ontario, and in response to this gap developed a proposal to fund the purchase of and facilitate access to 3 full-text databases. This proposal was accepted and resulted in the creation of the Virtual Library for public health staff available via the Public Health Ontario web portal at www.publichealthontario.ca. The Virtual Library is available to all public health unit staff in Ontario and is password protected.

Submission to the Capacity Review Committee
When the Capacity Review Committee solicited conducted a survey of the capacity of local public health units in preparation for their final report, OPHLA submitted a document for their consideration which outlined the essential role of public health librarians in the Ontario public health system.

2004

Submission to the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control
In 2004, OPHLA members submitted their input to the Walker Report by developing a position paper advocating for the role of information professionals in public health. The paper was submitted to the expert panel and OPHLA’s comments were incorporated into the panel’s final report. OPHLA’s position paper can be viewed here. Click here to read The Walker Report on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.