Table of Contents
Paul-Dominique POMART
The development of new information and communication technologies on the one hand and the appearance of an information economy and society on the other have profoundly modified information and research material strategies and the operation of resource centres. Access to increasingly numerous distant information sources (databases, telematic services, Internet, etc.) has fragmented both the traditional information chain and the very concept of the resource centre. Formerly the caretaker of stocks of research material, information officers have become information flow moderators at the service of increasingly demanding users.
Séverine MATHIEU
DEVELOPING INFORMATION ON DRUG ADDICTION : BRIEF THOUGHTS ON THE TERM "MONITORING"
In medicine, the term "monitoring" refers to the measurement of fundamental constants. It is therefore a precise system of information, made up of clearly defined and identifiable variables. Yet in the field of drug addiction, information is shared by a whole range of groups: individuals, politicians, doctors, institutional workers, psychologists, etc. Moreover, drug addiction, a "social problem", is the subject of many articles in the general press. In other words, on the question of drug addiction, professionals and lay persons do not necessarily agree. Therefore, in this context, positions and information sources may appear to diverge. Information is so widely dispersed that it is difficult to refer to "monitoring" as a kind of centralising information authority ready to pass on its data. It is hard to find the specific term able to convey this seeming confusion. In this respect, all the existing attempts to refocus information could certainly allow French-style "monitoring" to be organised. The lack of a French translation of the term is, in this perspective, certainly symptomatic of the state of information on drug addiction in France.
MANAGEMENT AND ELECTRONIC BROADCAST OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AT THE INSERM (FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESEARCH) : PRODUCTION OF THEMATIC PLATFORMS
To succeed in improving the management and supply of knowledge produced by the INSERM scientific community, the Department of Information and Scientific Communication (DICDOC Network) has, with the appearance of new information technologies, turned to establishing thematic "co-operatives". Working from an information science skills network and an IT centre located in Strasbourg, we have developed specific "made to measure" tools answering the targeted needs of our partners in the scientific community who wish to share and exchange data immediately accessible on the Web.
Success in managing ever larger and more varied information flows (bibliographies, thematic files, complete theses, congresses, Internet sites, etc.) can no longer be limited to simple storage but requires memorisation of a collective work of enrichment, validation, reading and commenting to enable a knowledge extraction process. The high profile of this work via Internet must be used to the full: hypertext potential, statistical processing and cartographic imaging.
We will illustrate this approach using currently operational examples of co-operative platforms on different themes: prions, breast cancer, topoisomerases and bioethics.
DRUGS AND INFORMATION : A CARE PROFESSIONALS POINT OF VIEW
Whether in terms of prevention or in the context of the mass media, information supply always presents the same type of problem : what information, for whom, for what purpose ?
However, what we know as scientific information is differentiated from media-type information by the fact that its target audience is supposed to be informed.
Despite this, we see that scientific information is subjected to censorship and taboos. We will look at some examples.
As for prevention, we are at the crossroads of an information which should be as scientific as possible, but aimed at the widest audience.
We will try to define the different strategies needed to try and solve this squaring of the circle.
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE DRUG INFORMATION CENTER
- Documentation and awareness function of the National Institute of Public Health comprises :
Collection and storage of information, creation of information materials, steady improvement of these materials, ensuring access to this information and its spread, co-operation with other documentation centres, incl. centres abroad, unification of applied cataloguing method used, provision of documentation, translation into Czech, education and training, etc.
Investigated data :
All information pertaining to drugs and drug dependence, incl. information from abroad : publications, journals, articles, annual reports, reviews of materials from abroad, methods, forms of questionnaires, other information materials, etc.
- Technical co-operation comprises :
Technical aspects of collection, storage, processing and exchange of information, access to different existing databases, organisation of exchange of data and information, creation of www pages, creation of the Virtual library, etc.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES AT CAN - THE SWEDISH COUNCIL FOR INFORMATION ON ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS
CAN has been established in Sweden since 1901 and acts as an umbrella organisation for 48 non-governmental organisations. Besides running a public library since 1976, arranging courses and conferences, it produces annual reports on the alcohol and drug situation in Sweden and publishes a periodical which goes back as far as 1907.
CAN is the initiator and co-ordinator of ESPAD - the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs - which in 1995 was conducted in 26 countries and had a target group of students born in 1979. The study will be repeated in 1999 and will comprise 25-30 countries.
Two nation-wide case-finding studies concerning the number of addicts in Sweden were carried out in 1979 and 1992. In 1998 CAN was commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs to undertake an additional study on Drug addiction in marginalized groups (the MAX project).
A GENERAL PUBLIC MEDIA AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR INFORMATION AND PREVENTION : TELEPHONE HELPLINES
The consumption of drugs is an individual act largely determined by the social environment and the relations which the individual maintains with his environment. The environment must be taken in the broad sense : family history, interindividual relations, sociological school, work, city, data on employment, collective values, law, etc.. In this context, information available to the individuals to know and to understand their environment is an essential element of their freedom and their responsibility. Information makes it possible to understand. Understanding makes it possible to act. Action makes it possible to engage its responsibility.
In the context of a public telephone helpline, the mission of information is at the articulation between the will of the public authorities and the need of the individuals. Public authorities have to inform the greatest number on the risks. Individuals want their personal history being taken into account by those which can help them to understand the risks with which they are confronted. Information must be subordinated to the needs of the individuals. In other words, if information must be the same one for all, each one needs information personalized which enables him to understand and act, according to its history and of its own forces, its own perception of the dangers and its capacity to require the assistance he needs.
THE STRATEGY OF A MEDICAL NGO IN TERMS OF INFORMATION MATERIAL ON DRUGS AND THEIR USES : THE MEDECINS DU MONDE (DOCTORS OF THE WORLD) PARMENTIER RESOURCE CENTRE
Since 1995, a resource centre specialising in Drug Addiction / Aids / Harm Reduction has been steadily built up on the premises of Médecins du Mondes Paris missions.
The centres creation was clearly an initiative of the MDMs activist action department in the context of the reduction of harm linked to drugs use.
At the time, information material related to the policy known as "harm reduction" was fairly rare in France, given the fact that this was a public health policy as yet rarely implemented in our country.
Our aim was therefore to encourage the internal and external supply of information material specifically "targeted" on this set of problems, coming from the English and French-speaking countries already experimenting with this type of policy (mainly Switzerland and Belgium) and added to the "standard" information material supply related to drugs and their use.
Subsequently, this tool evolved to suit the internal needs of MDM, both in France and abroad, in order to help strengthen MDMs "expertise" in this field.
TELLING AND SELLING DRUG STORIES
The drug control story, and the role of the United Nations as an international organ of control, not a simple story to tell and to sell. The prevailing image of drug control work : « Miami Vice », high-speed chases, gun shots, bricks of illegal drugs and suitcases full of dollars. Reality of drug control as silent, quiet, day-to-day hard work mainly in alternative development and demand abuse education programmes. The information age as an element of profound change in the way we communicate. Internet, personal computers, faxes, cellular phones create a new universal system for the exchange of information. The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) as an historic point in the field of drug control. The next ten years as crucial element in drug control. The need for a concerted, effective and far reaching information campaign to defeat the mood of « the war on drugs is already lost ». There was no war and it certainly was not lost.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF MONITORING INFORMATION
This presentation will provide an overview of the Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists (SALIS), the principal professional association serving North America. It will also reference information dissemination and monitoring through USA Federal Government systems and agencies, e.g., Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resources (RADAR) Network, National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
NATIONAL MONITORING SYSTEMS ; PROPOSED CHANGES AND ADJUSTMENTS
In its 1997 progress report on drug policy in the Netherlands, the ministry of Health, Welfare & Sports announced plans to establish a coherent national monitoring system covering research and registration on drug problems and new initiatives. The increasing need for sound and comparable information on the effects of drug policy measures as well as on developments in use and care induced the ministry to enhance existing monitoring systems.
A working group initially consisting of representatives from the ministry of Justice, the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and the Trimbos Institute elaborated the outline of the National Drugmonitor, the ministry of Health, Welfare & Sports participating in the meetings as an observer. At the end of 1997 the working group was enlarged to involve the interests of local and regional policy, registration activities and institutions and centres for addiction care and cure.
The general objective of the National Drugmonitor as outlined by the ministry is to improve existing and divergent monitoring practices by creating a harmonising and coordinating mechanism. This would enable policy makers and researches to better compare data coming from various sources and based different methodologies for data assembly and interpretation. Originally the national monitor was aimed at illicit drugs exclusively. The working group in its final report advises government to include alcohol, smoking and other addictive substances. To extend the insight in drug use and addiction it will be necessary to include legal drugs. Prevention and harm reduction would have to be covered by the national monitor as well. The national monitor eventually will have to refer to aspects of law and order (criminal justice system). Although its main purpose is to yield data comparable at national level, local and regional information relevant to national policy should be considered as well.
The value added of the national drugmonitor lies primarily in the fact that it will : provide means to assemble data collected from various sources in an integrated national report ; improve quality control ; create a coordinating mechanism in compliance with the needs of researchers, registration mechanisms and the care and cure institutions ; enhance the data collecting for international policy purposes ; facilitate efficiency and effectiveness of data assembly and interpretation ; create all necessary conditions for standardising methods for collecting data.
The National Drugmonitor will be formally created before January 1999.
ETOH AND THE VIRTUAL CLEARINGHOUSE
Globalization and technology are changing the roles of librarians and information specialists. Ten years ago, our role was to seek information for our patrons, using the catalogs of our collections or bibliographic database searches, which were very costly. Today, free and accessible WEB resources offer search possibilities which continue to grow exponentially.
Given this growth, and accessibility to all, our roles become more the trainer of and guide to the resources, rather than always retrieving needed information. In this new role, we must be knowledgeable and critical, working together as a professional team to insure the development and maintenance of those 'best' and better sources.
This presentation will provide updates on two major resources which offer reliable access to vast amounts of research and government information. 1) ETOH: the Alcohol Science database of the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is the most comprehensive alcohol database in the world, covering the research literature of both the biomedical and the social sciences. ETOH provides abstracts and indexes of virtually all of the English language AOD specific journals as well as the non-English journals which provide English abstracts. In addition, alcohol articles from the major biomedical and social science journals are included, along with chapters from edited works, books, government documents and some fugitive or grey literature. The focus here will be on the European information contained in ETOH, search strategies for efficient retrieval, strengths and weaknesses. 2) The Virtual Clearinghouse, coordinated and guided by the Canadian Clearinghouse on Substance Abuse, continues to seek partners for the project. Currently involving organizations from six countries, new alliances and developments are underway which will soon make this one of the first choices when seeking ATOD information on the Net. Find out how you can contribute to this project and highlight your own site.
FROM LOCAL DYNAMICS TO NATIONAL NETWORK DYNAMICS : AVAILABILITY AND THE SEARCH FOR EFFICACY IN ADAPTING INFORMATION SERVICES TO A VARIETY OF AUDIENCES. THE EXPERIENCE OF SMALL UNITS : THE ASSOCIATED CENTRES OF STRASBOURG AND REIMS
Although they belong to the Toxibase National Information Network, financed by the French Ministry of Health and Social Action, the TOXIBASE Information Centres are managed by local associations. The tasks of the information officers there are dichotomic: working in and for the "Network" and creating local information dynamics, adapted to the variety of audiences concerned by drug addiction. The task is stimulating but complex when it is necessary to organise and promote awareness and recognition of the unit, ensuring routine management on the one hand and remaining detached enough to study and work on the development of tools that are currently available or that we wish to create.
This report is intended to illustrate the logistical contributions of the network which have enabled and continue to enable this development, and show how, mutually, local initiatives and investment are complementary, fuelling group dynamics which do not remain purely national, but are also situated on an international partnership level.
THE PROS AND THE CONS OF PUBLISHING ON THE INTERNET
In this presentation I will tell something about the pros and the cons of publishing scientific information on the Internet.
I shall illustrate this in showing some examples from existing practice. I will also pay attention to the way you should evaluate information on drugs on the Internet. I will conclude in presenting my experiences in keeping aware of the new developments and in consulting persons or information sources.
All information requires selection of facts, presentation of the analysis of reported information and choice of communication methods. Analysis of the discussions of a prevention guide editorial committee will act as a connecting theme for study.
The selection of reported facts is carried out by clarifying the respective positions and roles of primary prevention and harm reduction.
Information analysis and the presentation of viewpoints show the effect of the specialists choices and references. The importance placed on products, methods of use and user motives differentiates complementary points of view.
The choice of communication methods raises questions about the desired distance in relation to the target population and on the nature of the relationship which springs up between the informer and the subject of the prevention initiative. All this would simply be cold analysis if it were not for the appearance of the "drug-object" which leaves each editorial member convinced, persuasive, absorbing or absorbed...
Prevention can have several aims either direct action on a phenomenon in the specific case of psychoactive substance use behaviour, or action on an influencing factor related to this behaviour with two possible strategies :
- either intensifying the operation of protection factors,
- or acting on vulnerability factors.
But prevention can also aim to develop subjects abilities so that they can choose health-friendly behaviour patterns and eliminate potentially harmful behaviour. Prevention has two prerequisites: on the one hand, complete knowledge of the phenomenon in all its dimensions, as well as analysis of its development over time, and on the other, full awareness of the representations, attitudes, needs and expectations of the population in question.
The implementation of prevention requires general and specific goals to be defined, clarification of the operation of the prevention mechanism used and the selection of appropriate methods.
HOLLYWOOD UNDER THE INFLUENCE : THE TRIVIA AND THE TRUTH
A quiz about Hollywood movies and entertainers and their substance abuse will encourage the audience to consider messages about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs in the lives and work of « Hollywood » and the entertainment industry overall and ask how entertainment may influence audience attitudes and decisions about the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. Original slides of Hollywood landmarks and from the authors personal collection of entertainment memorabilia will illustrate the answers to the quiz. A ten-page Hollywood Under the Influence Resource List will be given to all participants, along with prizes to those who come up with the most correct answers to the trivia quiz. This session introduces basic concepts of media literacy through popular interest in movies, television, pop music and the celebrities who create and appear in them. An additional handout is « What Everyone Should Know About Media : Five Core Concepts of Media Literacy », and « Three Steps to Success : How to Organize an Effective Media Literacy Program ». Also, the American Film Institutes controversial list of « 100 Greatest Films » is provided and discussed.
SETHS (European Drug Addiction, Hepatitis and AIDS Society) : A NEW FRENCH-LANGUAGE QUARTERLY
Drug dependencies (narcotics, psychotropic drugs, alcohol, tobacco) present many serious public health problems which have been widely overlooked until now. Their management raises complex problems requiring a multidisciplinary and multiprofessional approach. They display common features which justify a common policy. It is in these fields and in the treatment of the complications linked to these dependencies that networks have demonstrated their efficacy. The limits in investment of different professionals correspond to a near total lack of initial training in France. The information needed for suitable management is provided in many often-obscure specialised journals, most of which are not published in French. The creation of THS "La revue" represents an effort to fill this gap and allow a wide audience to gain access to the information which is needed if they are to invest themselves in these difficult areas. It will look at the problems related to products, somatic complications, new health and social practices and the problems of society. It will primarily target general practitioners and specialists outside their field. It will be backed by an editorial committee consisting of specialists with the responsibility of planning the programming of articles. These will be clarifying articles on precise subjects dealt with in a practical way. The journals publication is jointly financed by institutions and industry. It will be a quarterly with an initial run of 15,000 copies and a target of 80,000.
PRESENTATION OF « INFODROGHE », THE NEW WEB SERVICE OF GRUPPO ABELE
INFODROGHE is a newly-born service on Internet that connects a network of Documentation, Study and Research Centres (both Italian and foreign) taht collects information, data and materials on drug addiction, drug market and drug trafficking, prevention and rehabiliattion efforts, and projects of international co-operation. This network aims at representing and effective aid for social professionals and those who - for whatever reason - need information on addictions. In addition to in-depth information on each Centre, it is possible to connect directly to the web sites of those Centres that already have one..
THE LINDESMITH CENTRE WEB SITE: A UNIQUE ONLINE LIBRARY AND CATALOG ON THE INTERNET
At the Lindesmith Centre, an organizatin focusing on drug policy reform, a decision was made in 1995 to create on its web site an online library representing in full text the best thinking and writing in the field, with all the documents posted in compliance with copyright laws. This ambitious project is in sharp contrast to the web sites of the majority of non-profit s which only include the organizations own publications. Thus the Lindesmth Centre sponsors a huge web site of hundreds of documents, representing thousands of pages. The documents are organized by subject, including four focal points on timely topics of special interest. All of the electronic documents are listed in the web versino of the Center library catalog, which was created with Inmagic software and is included on the site. There is a link from the catalog right to each electronic document.The catalog also includes the collection of several thousand documents from the Centres traditional library in New York City.
This paper will discuss the creation and continued growth of the Lindesmith Centre web site, as well as plans for the future such as live broadcast of seminars. The processes of obtaining copyright permissions and of preparing documents for the site will also be covered. Examples of documents that are posted on the site and on the focal points will be shown. Use of the catalog will be demonstrated, including how to limit a search fo full-text documents that are immediately accessible on the web.
INTERNET SITES, ALCOHOL DOCUMENTATION CENTRE AND ALCOHOL RESEARCH
Since 1981, the Alcohol Documentation Centre (ADC) has been building a database of bibliographic description of international scientific publications relating to alcohol use, in particular ists biomedical and psychological aspects. The database now contains some 35 000 items. In 1998 we have decided to make the database available through internet. ADCs Internet site is part of the main site of TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute and exists in two levels: one with general information on ADC and another containing the ADC database. Access is free for anyone. Users of the database level have to register themselves. In this presentation I will demonstrate the ADC Internet Site (http://www.voeding.tno.nl/adc-database). In additino to building and maintenanceof the database, ADC contributes to the abstract journal Alcohol Research. I will briefly describe the contents of this journal and demonstrate the Alcohol Research Internet site (http://www.voeding.nl/alcohol-research). The site exists in three levels: one with general information about the journal, one enabling the user to request or download a sample copy, and one allowing subscribeers access to the electronic version of Alcohol Research. Access is free for the first two levels, while only subscribers have accessto the third level.