Capstone Portfolio

Wegner Health Science Information Center
Consumer Health Digital Library

ILS 655 Digital Libraries

Southern Connecticut State University

For my final project in ILS 655 Digital Libraries, I have redesigned and added content to the Wegner Health Science Information Center (WHSIC) Consumer Health Digital Library. I created the current WHSIC Consumer Health Web Site in 2001. Since its creation, the consumer health web site has been used extensively by patient educators at Sioux Valley Hospital and the Veteran's Affairs Regional Medical Center, both partner organizations of the WHSIC. However, the patient educators have reported back to me that their patients, primarily senior citizens, found the web site difficult to navigate. The patient educators provided me with information on five components of the web site that patients found ineffective or confusing.

	First was the interactive menu located on the left hand side of the page. The patients were confused by it's function, where the links would take them, and how the drop down menus worked. They would also unintentional exit the consumer health web by using the left hand menu.
	Second, the patients found the font size to be too small.
	Third, the back button located at the bottom of the page was difficult to locate.
	Fourth, the patients wanted links to South Dakota health information.
	And fifth, the patients automatically used the web browsers back button for external web sites to return to the consumer health web s new Consumer Health Digital Library that was requested by the patient educators is an ability to search only the Consumer Health Digital Library. This feature will make using the Consumer Health Digital Library quicker for patient educators, patients, and the general public.

Title:
Wegner Health Science Information Center (WHSIC), Consumer Health Digital Library

Mission Statement:
The mission of the WHSIC Consumer Health Digital Library is to provide the patients of our partner organizations and the general public easy access to current and reliable health information.

Collection Policy:
The WHSIC Consumer Health Digital Library will provide the following information in its collection:

links to current and reliable consumer health websites;

links to health topic pages created by the Wegner Center staff;

links to the Homespun Medical Tips collection;

links to South Dakota health information on the world wide web;

and methods to contact the Wegner Center.

Resource Descriptions:
For each page developed in the WHSIC Consumer Health Digital Library, the following Dublin Core metadata elements have been added to the html code:

title,

creator,

subject,

description,

publisher,

date,

and language.

To view the Dublin Core metadata elements, select View, Source in Internet Explorer or View, Page Source in Netscape Navigator. Also, keywords have been added to the page properties enabling web site search engines to index the Consumer Health Digital Library web pages.

Access and Use:
All of the WHSIC Consumer Health Digital Library pages are browsable. The WHSIC Consumer Health Digital Library is also searchable using Google search.

Service Features:
All the services available to patrons using the WHSIC are also available to patients and general public using the WHSIC Consumer Health Digital Library. Links are provided to reference request forms, interlibrary loan request forms, and e-mail forms.

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Wegner Health Science Information Center
Consumer Health Digital Library