Building a Bioinformatics Building a Bioinformatics Community of Practice Community of Practice

Through Through Library Education ProgramsLibrary Education Programs

Barrie E. Hayes, Systems Development LibrarianK.T.L. Vaughan, Education Services LibrarianMargaret E. Moore, Director of PlanningHealth Sciences LibraryUniversity of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Community of PracticeCommunity of Practice A New Term for an Old A New Term for an Old

ActivityActivity “Groups of people who share a concern, a

set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their understanding of this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.”

- Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William Snyder, Cultivating Communities of Practice : A Guide to Managing Knowledge, 2002

An Old ActivityAn Old Activity

Knowledge-based social structures

CoP examples

A New ApproachA New Approach

Intentional cultivation

How can libraries help their parent organizations build and integrate communities of practice? – Oct 2003 QuintEssential Conference

An Exciting OpportunityAn Exciting Opportunityfor the Libraryfor the Library

Demonstrate expertise Share and build a common knowledge-baseSupport and facilitate collaboration Partner with domain expertsExplore viability of new roles in

communities

An Exciting Opportunity An Exciting Opportunity for the Bioinformatics for the Bioinformatics

CommunityCommunityShare expertise and knowledge

Expand the collegial network

Develop new partnerships

Create new knowledge

Enhance database discovery

UNC-Chapel Hill SettingUNC-Chapel Hill SettingLarge state university5 Health Affairs schools: Dentistry, Medicine,

Nursing, Pharmacy and Public HealthLevel 4 research & teaching hospitals

complexBiomedical research facilitiesCampus-wide bioinformatics initiativesSchools of Arts & Sciences, Information &

Library Science

Genome Research at UNCGenome Research at UNC

Carolina Center for Genome Sciences (CCGS)

$245 million over 10 years$5 million grant to support development of

a clinical genetics databaseResearch facilities and faculty/staff supportOther centers and curricular programs

Bioinformatics and the Bioinformatics and the Health Sciences LibraryHealth Sciences Library

2001-02 bioinformatics fellow

Planning paper (College & Research Libraries)

Early activities

Bioinformatics Program Bioinformatics Program Service ActivitiesService Activities

Face to face instruction

Internet-based communication tools

Educational partnerships

Face to Face InstructionFace to Face Instruction

Forums

Course-integrated lectures

Individual consultations

Open library classes

Internet-Based Internet-Based Communication ToolsCommunication Tools

Listserv

Online educational materialsWeb site (http://www.hsl.unc.edu/

bioinformatics/)

Future tools: blog, online chat, web-

based conferencing tools

Educational PartnershipsEducational Partnerships

Carolina Center for Genome SciencesUNC Center for BioinformaticsBioinformatics & Computational Biology

CurriculumSchool of Information and Library ScienceNC Center for Public Health & GenomicsAcademic Affairs Libraries

Results to DateResults to Date

Forums Course-integrated lectures Consultations Website usage statistics Listserv membership & traffic SILS student project – database of UNC

campus resources for molecular biology & bioinformatics

Semi-structured interviews with key faculty

The Library’s RoleThe Library’s RoleProvide information resources and

services

Provide support of further community development

We’re Just Getting GoingWe’re Just Getting Going

Beginning to lay a foundation

Still in our comfort zone

Next stages– Build / expand partnerships with

bioinformatics community – Figure out appropriate roles and abilities

Questions?Questions?

Follow-upFollow-up

Barrie Hayes – barrie_hayes@unc.edu

K.T. Vaughan - ktlv@email.unc.edu

Margaret Moore - Margaret_Moore@unc.edu

Website

http://www.hsl.unc.edu/bioinformatics/

Presentation slideshttp://www.hsl.unc.edu/present/Bioinformatics/MLA2004-BioCoP.ppt