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ABOUT HLA
History of HLA
Health Libraries Australia (HLA) has evolved from the former Library Association of Australia National Medical Librarians’ Section established in 1981 to become the national professional organisation representing librarians and information professionals working in all health sectors including: hospitals and other clinical facilities, research institutes, regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government departments, regional health services, professional colleges, universities, cooperative research centres, not-for-profit and community organisations, and parts of public library services. The vision of Health Libraries Australia is that all Australians benefit from health library and information professionals' expertise that is integral to evidence-based health care.
The archives
Early in 2017 Veronica Delafosse completed compiling the print archives of about 40 years of our profession prior to 2001. Veronica read through thousands of pages of files containing correspondence, minutes, annual general meetings, newsletters, conferences, and professional development activities. She created 23 major themes and sorted and scanned relevant papers. She also digitised and made discoverable the contents of earlier newsletters for the publicly available READ ALIA website.
This HLA wiki provides access to these digitised documents as well as content lists and descriptions of the print records held in the physical archives. The wiki also preserves and provides access to any other digitised documents produced since 2001 that are significant to HLA's history and are to be permanently retained, for public access, according to HLA's archiving policy.
This wiki chronologically records major documents that helped shape the evolution of health librarianship in Australia. This release of historical evidence shows not only the development of major themes that have shaped the way health libraries provided health information but also the librarians behind them. It is hoped that being online will encourage further research and improve archival access. It is also anticipated that this documentary evidence will demonstrate to future health librarians the importance of working together for professional goals and keeping accessible records (print/digital).
Health Libraries Australia (HLA) Executive Terms of Reference
For details of HLA Executive Terms of Reference as at 2018, see: File:HLA Executive Terms of Reference 2018.pdf
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