The library of the Andalusian School of Public Health joins the Andalusian IDEA network

the Library of Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP)institution Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairsmerged its funds into Al-Andalus Specialized Network for Information and Documentation (red idea), depends on Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports.

This will facilitate consultations for all professionals, whether from the Andalusian health system or not, and for citizens interested in carrying out searches related to public health, health management and health research.

In the words of EASP Library Coordinator Camila Higueras, “The EASP Library had to take this step to improve the accessibility of its collections, which in addition to their specialization are characterized by the large number of documents belonging to gray literature, such as technical documents or master’s thesis.

“In this process, the role of the General Directorate of Documentary and Bibliographic Heritage, Innovation and Cultural Promotion of the Government of Andalusia, and technical bodies such as the Information Technology Service, the Library Service and the Library of Andalusia. Decisive (Granada) has been defined,” according to the latter's director, Javier Álvarez.

The technical process was carried out in coordination between the EASP ICT team, IT staff of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports and technicians of Baratz.

As a result, more than 68,000 copies or documentary units have been integrated from the EASP Library, which has been added to those of 200 other libraries belonging to this IDEA network, with the EASP Library being one of the largest in the network.

Libraries of other centers of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, such as the libraries of the hospitals of Alto Guadalquivir, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Virgen de la Victoria or Torrecardenas, have been integrated into the IDEA network, forming with EASP a sub-network of health libraries.

The EASP Library serves teaching and research

EASP Library staff, in addition to preserving and maintaining its collections, work closely with research groups on tasks related to access to scientific information, a topic that is also addressed incidentally in various EASP training activities. EASP.

From this standpoint, in 2023, the Library coordinated two training courses on searching for scientific information in the field of research and systematic reviews, in which 679 health workers in Andalusia were trained.

The EASP Library is also part of the network of virtual library centers of the Andalusian Public Health System that is currently developing an institutional repository (RISalud-ANDALUCIA), where intellectual and scientific production is produced by specialists of the Andalusian Public Health System.