Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library

Abstract

The Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), has steadily grown and evolved since its founding in 1922 by six nurses whose mission was to provide “leadership and scholarship in practice, education and research to enhance the health of all people” [1]. The society's ongoing commitment to providing various knowledge products, such as the revised and relaunched electronic Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library (VHL), is evidence of the organization's vision to “create a global community of nurses employing knowledge and advanced technology to improve the health of the world's people” [1]. The revised and relaunched Website debuted in July 2005, but, to this reviewer, it is evident that the Website is still a work in progress. The Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library began as a repository of nursing knowledge in 1979 after a resolution by the society calling for a “national nursing library resource offering services to nurses and those interested in nursing” [2]. The main content of the database is the “fugitive” literature of nursing—information presented at meetings or conferences, unpublished studies, ongoing studies, and dissertations—that contains a wealth of useful information but that frequently does not find a widely known or accessible data repository. In 1983, as the content and structure of the library evolved and became more distinct, the society published the first Directory of Nurse Researchers in paper format. The publication of the Directory was pivotal in advancing the vision of the library to be “a national clearinghouse for information regarding nurse researchers and nursing research” [2], as voiced by then president-elect of the society, Carol Lindeman. Advances in computer technology and network communications prompted STTI to purchase the library's first computer in 1989, “enabling a critical transformation from a paper-based system to the beginnings of an electronic library” [2]. The creation of the online database provided information about nurse-conducted research as well as information about the researcher. With the inauguration of the Registry of Nursing Research in the 1990s under the guidance of Judith Graves, for the first time researchers and searchers had access to information about research findings supplementing the original data about the study and researcher. Entering the new millennium, the society convened a meeting to “revision” the library. Catching the wave of dramatic technologic developments in computerization and the Web that now allows near universal access to information would support the society's mission to provide global access to nursing research. The enhanced Website continues the society's commitment to “knowledge modeling while supporting nursing practice and research” and dissemination of nursing information. “The aim is to develop a ‘tell and ask’ functional interface for a digital nursing library, where the professional—the nurse— communicates with the knowledge base by making logical assertions (tell) and posing questions (ask) based on her/his professional discourse” [3]. The design process was modular; each page being reviewed for semantic precision, linguistics and terminological correctness, consistency in presentation and navigation, and accuracy in mapping to the knowledge structure. The redesigned Website is friendly and appealing in its opening screen, however, it does not give an immediate and clear description of the unique content of the database. It is only by going to the “About Us” page that one learns in a one-sentence description, “Through the library's complimentary Registry of Nursing Research database, individuals have access to research study abstracts and conference abstracts.” On the home page, links in a list of enhancements generally lead to the advanced search page and not to a description of the enhancements. In light of the main barrier to searching that nurses experience—lack of time—this inattention to clarity costs searchers valuable time in understanding the usefulness of the content. A search box on the upper right of each page allows for a universal keyword search. A Search Abstracts tab leads to a Web page with two forms for searching either conference or research study abstracts. The Advanced Search also leads to two different forms, one for searching conference abstracts and one for searching research study abstracts. Given the scope of the database, providing five search forms is unnecessary and likely to confuse searchers. Conference abstracts may be searched by presentation title, abstract, presenter name, conference sponsor, and year. The basic and advanced search pages are nearly identical. The vast majority of conference abstracts are from meetings of the Africa Honour Society, Eastern Nursing Research Society, International Women's Conference, Midwest Nursing Research Society, Oncology Nursing Society, Sigma Theta Tau International, Southern Nursing Research Society, and the Western Institute of Nursing. Limiting to year is a useful feature because the database includes more than 8,000 conference abstracts from 1970 forward. The research study abstracts basic search form allows users to enter keywords, title words, and researcher names. The advanced form offers a plethora of options for searching, providing “a focused search to ongoing or completed research, dissertations, or other types of nursing publications.” At the time of the writing of this review, the advanced search function was not operational. A call to the VHL was immediately answered and an explanation was offered that the VHL was aware of the nonfunctioning feature and hoped to have the glitch resolved very quickly. In the meantime, searchers can use the basic search form to find descriptions of over 17,000 research studies. A unique feature of the VHL is that researchers may register on the Website to enter information about their own conference presentations, research, or publications. Researchers are able to enter a conference abstract or research study data. Available fields for research studies include title, abstract, research focus, design, study type, framework and description of sample, sample size, number of groups, sampling plan, gender, age, and collection setting. The researcher is asked to qualify the study as quantitative research, qualitative research, or quantitative and qualitative research. Researchers are also asked to complete a “My Profile” data questionnaire that provides contact information to the searcher viewing the abstract who may wish to contact the researcher with additional questions. A review of research study abstracts reveals that most studies include only title, abstract, and contact information. The “Find Resources” tab provides a large array of links to helpful Websites on topics related to research (e.g., evidence-based practice, statistics, grant information, complimentary or open-access full-text journals) that a novice or advanced practitioner would find useful. Unfortunately, the tables of contents for the STTI publications Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, and Reflections on Nursing Leadership are not included in the Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library. The VHL Website provides neither a link nor any guidance on how to locate these well-known publications. Nursing Knowledge International, a not-for-profit STTI subsidiary, has established sales, marketing, and distribution partnerships with a wide range of nursing associations, publishers, continuing education providers, and universities to produce health care books, continuing education, journals, research papers, and teaching aids. However, these STTI knowledge products are not linked to or integrated with the VHL. This unexplained subdivision of product access without a coherent linking structure, in the estimation of this reviewer, produces confusion about the scope and nature of the STTI's brand. For example, on the STTI Website, My Info Search leads to a page to register for access to Doody's book reviews and to a fee-based selective dissemination of information (SDI) service; Nursing Library leads to the VHL Website; and Publications leads to the society's fee-based journals. The VHL appears to be a work in progress. To effectively serve the budding nurse researcher, the Website designers should provide greater explanatory material on the breadth and content of this resource, thus saving the searcher from making an erroneous assessment of the Website's content and value when first visiting the site. The legacy of the society and its commitment to becoming a “premier contributor to nursing knowledge” gives this reviewer confidence that the usability of the Website will improve to meet the needs of present day and next generation nurse researchers.