The availability of the Internet among healthcare professionals in the UK in recent years has made online professional communities a viable vehicle for their professional communication, an information source for their everyday needs and an easy way of disseminating and sharing information. Busy healthcare professionals around the country can take advantage of online communities, which are becoming very popular and powerful alternatives to traditional personal ones. This paper discusses and defines the role of the NeLCD (National electronic Library for Communicable Disease, http://www.nelcd.co.uk/) in developing online communities of practice related specifically to communicable disease. The benefits of developing communities of practice, with reference to knowledge capture and transfer, the importance of identifying and meeting user needs, and their role in promoting evidence-based practice are discussed. Finally a strategy for developing and sustaining community building is outlined
