The Online Presence of Physical Consumer Health Information Collections in Multisite Toronto Hospitals

Abstract

This study investigates the online presence of physical (on-site) consumer health information collections (CHICs) on the public Web sites of three multisite hospitals in the City of Toronto. All three are affiliated with the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine. They are located in downtown Toronto, north Toronto, and northwest Toronto, respectively. The Web pages of multisite hospital-based CHICs contain basic information about hours of operation, phone number, e-mail address, and location. Most provide information about collections (print and digital), lending policies, and information services. Although staffing is mentioned in the context of profession, as librarians, patient educators, or volunteers, staff names and qualifications are not mentioned. The CHIC Web pages of two of three multisite hospitals have online public access catalogs (OPACs) to search their collections. As well, both provide multilingual information resources to better serve the linguistic diversity of Toronto residents. Unique features include access to consumer health and medical online databases through the Web page for its consumer health information collections at one multisite hospital, Humber River Hospital, and information about health-related mobile apps, access to e-books, and customized newsletters in PDF file format for individual consumer health information collections at another multisite hospital, University Health Network.