OBJECTIVE: The needs of permanent education for the health professionals have not been regulated. Taking into account the fact that libraries must assume a relevant role in this area, two of the libraries in the Extremadura’s Health Area decided to start some initiatives which meant the joint of all the formative activities by supplying ideas, work and resources.
MATERIALS AND METHOD: The “decreto 189/2004”, on 14th december, which regulates the organic structure of the health areas in the region of Extremadura, establishes a unique management for each of those areas which will assume all the duties and will organise all the resources for each one. The development of those duties involves that services such as the library will be then called Area Library. Its economic management is centralised and its users are all the professionals belonging to that particular area.
Taking advantage of the possibilities given by this structure, two libraries put forward the necessity of spreading all the information and materials produced by the professionals of both areas, as a result of the scientific and teaching activity. Therefore, they suggested their location in a specific space of the library web page, being both libraries responsible for their organization.
RESULT: Since this project was started, there has been an increase in participacion of all the professionals. Their work is useful for other professionals and they feel that it is valued. The material, that would be lost otherwise, is compiled.
CONCLUSIONS: In spite of being just the beginning of a project which has a long way to go, the experience is being quite positive. The libraries have become necessary points of reference for all the professionals and librarians who assume the new role of managing and organizing the information produced in our centres
