1. Bridging the Academic/Practice Divide: Facilitating Collaboration within Public Health
Kathleen Amos, Sewell Librarian Fellow, Public Health Foundation
Background------------ Academic Health Department Learning Community------------------------------------------------------
The 1988 Institute of Medicine report, The
Future of Public Health, highlighted the
division between public health education
A New Community of Practice Community Building Information Management
Launched in January 2011, the AHD Learning Steps in AHD Learning Community development: Skills of information discovery, organization,
and practice. Academic health
Community is a national community focused on  Establishing an advisory workgroup synthesis, and dissemination have proven to be
departments (AHDs) help to bridge this
AHDs. The community is made up of educators,  Exploring published and grey literature applicable far outside the traditional library setting.
gap, bringing public health educators,
researchers, and practitioners from across the  Seeking advice and feedback from experienced Information management has had a central role in
researchers, and practitioners closer
country working together to support the development public health professionals the development of the AHD Learning Community.
together. AHDs are formed by the formal
of AHDs. Community members share experiences  Communicating with community members
affiliation of academic institutions and
and knowledge, learn from each other, and  Investigating online community models Discovery:
health departments. These collaborative
collaborate to identify and create resources for  Holding workgroup and community meetings  Locating AHD literature and resources
partnerships aim to enhance public health
establishing, sustaining, and expanding AHDs.  Promoting the community using traditional and  Identifying online community models
education and training, research, and
social media
service, with an ultimate goal of building
AHD Learning Community activities include:  Creating community spaces online Organization:
healthier communities.
 Meeting to explore AHD topics  Generating an AHD bibliography
 Defining “academic health  Building a collection of partnership agreements
department”
Objectives--------------  Compiling an AHD bibliography Synthesis:
 To build a learning community to  Creating member profiles  Developing an AHD concept paper
facilitate knowledge exchange and  Collecting partnership  Producing promotional materials
collaboration between public health agreements
academia and practice  Hosting a session at the APHA Dissemination:
 To explore the relevance and utility of annual meeting  Creating and maintaining community web pages
“library” skills in nontraditional contexts  Addressing information and resource requests
Conclusions---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enthusiasm for collaboration and learning communities is high in public health. More than 30 public health professionals volunteered to help organize the AHD Learning Community,
and learning community membership has grown steadily without extensive promotion. Information management skills have been highly useful in coordinating the learning community,
demonstrating that such skills remain relevant in nontraditional contexts.
Visit the AHD Learning Community at http://www.phf.org/programs/AHDLC
The Academic Health Department Learning Community is an initiative of the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and staffed by the Public Health Foundation (PHF).