Introduction
The provision of Nutrition Information Service is an integral part of the functions and activities of CFNI. This function is carried out through the library, which has been named after Dr. Derrick B. Jelliffe, a pioneer of health in the Caribbean and the first Director of the CFNI. The library serves as the main information dissemination centre for the Institute with an important focus on the provision of nutrition information to support nutrition programmes throughout the member countries of the Caribbean region.
A key collection of nutrition informational materials is maintained as a branch library on the St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago.
Facilities and Services
The library's official opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Facilities and services of the library are opened to the general public. The use of the physical facility is allowed for studying and conducting research. The services offered include:
- Reference
- Current awareness
- Loan
- Interlibrary loan
- Internet access for research
- Photocopying
Resources
The DBJL holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of materials in food and nutrition with a Caribbean focus and a wide coverage of subject areas within the field of nutrition and public health. The subject coverage includes nutrition-related diseases, food preparation and safety, child nutrition and development and nutrition promotion.
The resources at the DBJL comprise a variety of materials including a core collection of items from Dr. Jelliffe's personal library, periodicals, books, pamphlets, slides, newspaper clippings, posters and charts, audiovisual and reference materials and informational materials on CD ROMs. Chief among the print resources in the library are technical documents and reports. Other important resources are traditional card and automated catalogues (WINISIS), electronic indexes to the Institute's two major publications: CAJANUS (Cajindex) and Nyam News, and databases, publications for sale and for free distribution.
The Virtual Health Library (VHL)
The CFNI Library is a part of the PAHO/BIREME Virtual Health Library (VHL) initiative.
The VHL is the evolution and heritage of over three decades of cooperative work to expand and strengthen the flow of scientific and technical health information in Latin America and the Caribbean, under the leadership of PAHO through BIREME. In the VHL, technical information is translated into a dynamic network of information resources.
From its inception, this cooperative work has continually been renewed in accordance with new models of management, organization and treatment of information. Within the region, the VHL has been established as the PAHO strategy for technical cooperation in scientific and technical health information.
The VHL follows the Internet paradigm for information and communication, which is applicable to all areas of knowledge and to all countries in different stages of social and economic development. It is an integral part of the flow of scientific and technical health information from countries of the Latin American region, the Caribbean and Spain.
The VHL is national and Caribbean-wide. CFNI's role in the VHL is the centralization of nutrition resources.
Information resources available from CFNI are also accessible through the VHL. In Jamaica the VHL was launched in 2002.
The VHL may be accessed at: http://www.bireme.org
