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Did you know many of the ANMF Branches offer library services to members and ANMF staff?

Scientific communication is understood as a set of socially shared dynamic processes and efforts, through which scientific knowledge is created, shared, and used. These processes also offer means and conditions for social interaction among the members of scientific communities, contributing to the production, dissemination, and use of knowledge and, consequently, to the advancement of science. (1) With technological progress, new tools have emerged from communication and information technologies (CIT) to disseminate scientific knowledge. The Virtual Health Library in Nursing (VHL in Nursing) is part of these new scenarios as thematic cooperation network and is an initiative from the region of IberoAmerica, which seeks to promote access to scientific information on nursing and establish alliances to maximize the shared use of CIT and collections of sources of information in Nursing.(2)

Background Health care personnel are expected to be familiar with evidence-based practice (EBP). Asking clinical questions, conducting systematic literature searches and conducting critical appraisal of research findings have been some of the barriers to EBP. To improve undergraduate nurses' research skills, a collaborative library-faculty teaching intervention was established in 2012. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate how the collaborative library-faculty teaching intervention affected the nursing students' research skills when writing their final theses. Design and Setting Both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis were used. The study focused on a final year undergraduate nurse training programme in Norway. Participants 194 theses submitted between 2013 and 2015 were collected and assessed. The students were exposed to the intervention for respectively one, two and three years during this period. Methods Descriptive statistics were used to compare each year's output over the three-year period and to examine the frequency of the use of various databases, types of information and EBP-tools. Qualitative data was used to capture the students' reasoning behind their selection processes in their research. Results The research skills with regard to EBP have clearly improved over the three years. There was an increase in employing most EBP-tools and the justifications were connected to important EBP principles. The grades in the upper half of the grading scale increased from 66.7 to 82.1% over the period 2013 to 2015, and a correlation was found between grades and critical appraisal skills. Conclusions The collaborative library-faculty teaching intervention employed has been successful in the promotion of nursing student research skills as far as the EBP principles are concerned. Writing a thesis in the undergraduate nursing programme is important to develop and practice these research skills.

In this bimonthly series, the author examines how nurse educators can use the Internet and Web-based computer technologies such as search, communication, collaborative writing tools; social networking and social bookmarking sites; virtual worlds; and Web-based teaching and learning programs. This article describes optimizing the use of library technology.

Overview: A worldwide repository of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) could provide worldwide access to the most up-to-date research generated by masters and doctoral students. Until that international repository is established, it is possible to access some of these valuable knowledge resources. Background: ETDs provide a technologically advanced medium with endless multimedia capabilities that far exceed the print and bound copies of theses and dissertations housed traditionally in individual university libraries. Current use: A growing trend exists for universities worldwide to require graduate students to submit theses or dissertations as electronic documents. However, nurse scholars underutilize ETDs, as evidenced by perusing bibliographic citation lists in many of the research journals. Sources: ETDs can be searched for and retrieved through several digital resources such as the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (http://www.ndltd.org), ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (http://www.umi.com), the Australasian Digital Theses Program (http://adt.caul.edu.au/) and through individual university web sites and online catalogues. Benefits: An international repository of ETDs benefits the community of nurse scholars in many ways. The ability to access recent graduate students' research electronically from anywhere in the world is advantageous. For scholars residing in developing countries, access to these ETDs may prove to be even more valuable. Limitations: In some cases, ETDs are not available for worldwide access and can only be accessed through the university library from which the student graduated. Public access to university library ETD collections is not always permitted. Conclusions: Nurse scholars from both developing and developed countries could benefit from ETDs.

Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing in 1859 [1] heralded the beginning of modern nursing. Nurses in the nineteenth century had not yet achieved professional credibility, therefore, many of the early texts were written by physicians. When nurses began to publish books, librarians and nurses did not always recognize their value, and many were discarded. For example, of the historical items mentioned by Allen [2], only one copy of both Makers of Nursing History (1928) by Pennock and Nursing Ethics (1900) by Isabel Hampton Robb can be found in Ohio. It is vital that libraries now recognize and preserve the important works of nurses so that nursing students of the future have them available, both as historical background and as a basis for comparison with current nursing issues. Many books of value to the history of nursing often exist in small nursing collections and should not be discarded without much thought. The significance of many publications can be determined only in retrospect, after their full impact has been appreciated. Meanwhile, it falls to librarians who manage nursing collections to make the best decisions about what to keep, both for current and future users of the collection. On the other hand, shelf space is a problem for many academic libraries, and weeding is necessary to maintain a workable and usable nursing collection that contains up-to-date clinical information. While the collection development policies and space limitations of each library will determine how much historical material librarians will acquire and which books they will withdraw, this article proposes some basic criteria for deciding which history-related materials to keep in nursing collections and what to withdraw and offers a bit of guidance on what to purchase.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the information-seeking practices of nurses before and after access to a library's electronic collection of information resources. This is a pre/post intervention study of nurses at a rural community hospital. The hospital contracted with an academic health sciences library for access to a collection of online knowledge-based resources. Self-report surveys were used to obtain information about nurses' computer use and how they locate and access information to answer questions related to their patient care activities. In 2001, self-report surveys were sent to the hospital's 573 nurses during implementation of access to online resources with a post-implementation survey sent 1 year later. At the initiation of access to the library's electronic resources, nurses turned to colleagues and print textbooks or journals to satisfy their information needs. After 1 year of access, 20% of the nurses had begun to use the library's electronic resources. The study outcome suggests ready access to knowledge-based electronic information resources can lead to changes in behavior among some nurses.

This study examines libraries' nursing collections using the Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing's Essential Nursing Resources' (ENR) 26th edition. An inventory of the online collections of 235 libraries was assembled and compared to free, government, or National Library of Medicine resources and licensed resources from the ENR. The top five resources listed on library websites in descending order were MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. The availability of specialized resources varied, based on factors such as the level of nursing degree at each institution or the libraries' National Network of Libraries of Medicine membership statuses.

Returning to study can be a stressful time for many students. In this article the authors consider ways in which studying at a university may differ from previous study experiences and explore how students can make best use of library and other resources. Studying at home has particular challenges and these are discussed as well as a range of skills that are essential to effective study.

The implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) requires acquisition and use of a complex set of skills, including the ability to locate and critically evaluate clinically relevant research literature. In this article, we discuss information resources and tools that may be of value to educators faced with the task of teaching students to search for and evaluate research-based evidence. In addition, we discuss how health sciences librarians, with the use of new models of information instruction and delivery, can work with nursing faculty in developing curricula for training students in EBP.

Nurses have identified a need for improving their knowledge and skills in providing end-of-life care. Critical care nursing textbooks can serve as an important source of information on end-of-life care for critical care nurses. Hence, an analysis of end-of-life content in 14 critical care nursing textbooks was conducted. Critical care nursing textbooks used for review were published in 1995 or later and identified from the libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brigham Young University. The end-of-life content areas identified by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), under which the AACN end-of-life competencies for undergraduate nursing students can be taught, were used as a framework for assessing the presence or absence of end-of-life content in the textbooks. When end-of-life content was present, two reviewers judged whether the information was helpful. Four additional end-of-life content areas were identified in some textbooks during the study, and reviewers also judged whether these were helpful. None of the textbooks had end-of-life content in all the content areas used for the analysis. Three textbooks did not contain any end-of-life content.

Glasgow Caledonian University has had a Scottish Office pre-registration nursing and midwifery contract since 1996. Nursing studies students seemed dissatisfied with the library service and there were frequent complaints. A major study was undertaken during 2000 consisting of: an initial lis-link enquiry, separate analysis of returns from nursing studies students of the Library's annual general satisfaction survey (conducted every February), separate analysis of returns from nursing studies students of the Library's opening hours planning survey, and four focus groups held in October 2000. These studies showed the concerns of nursing studies students to be similar to other students but more strongly felt. The four main issues were textbook availability, journal availability, opening hours and staff helpfulness. Working conditions, placement requirements, study requirements and domestic circumstances were all found to be important factors. IT skill levels tended to be low but there is a growing appreciation of the need for training in this area. Concluded that: Library's services to nursing studies students have become enmeshed with the problems of delivery and assessment of education for nurses. Greatly extended opening hours are essential including evening opening during vacations. The problem of access to textbooks is so severe that conventional solutions are not going to work. Programmes of core text digitization and the promotion of e-books are needed. Reciprocal access programmes with local hospital libraries is essential.

Objectives To inform oncology nurses about the electronic knowledge resources offered by the Sigma Theta Tau International Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library. Data Sources Published articles and research studies. Conclusions Clinical nursing research dissemination has been seriously affected by publication bias. The Virginia Henderson International Nursing Library has introduced both a new publishing paradigm for research and a new knowledge indexing strategy for improving electronic access to research knowledge (findings). Implications for Nursing Practice The ability of oncology nursing to evolve, as an evidence-based practice, is largely dependent on access to research findings.

Nurses are required to undertake professional updating, PREP (UKCC, 1994), and are increasingly under pressure to ensure that they provide evidence-based healthcare (DoH, 1996). Proliferation of the literature, the move from printed to electronic sources of information and shortage of time may all be seen as barriers to nurses who wish to gain access to information to support these activities. Libraries are important gateways to this information and this article is a brief guide to making the most of library resources.

Information literacy skills, which include the ability to evaluate electronic healthcare sites, are critical to the decision-making responsibilities of students and professionals. The authors describe the experiences of nursing and library services faculty in the development and implementation of a Web-delivered module for the evaluation of healthcare Web resources. A range of electronic tools was used for both the collaborative creation of the module as well as the instructional delivery of the content. Evaluation of the module revealed its usefulness to the students and the potential of the collaborative development model for other content areas.

Radical changes in nurse education, accompanied by advances in library and information services (LIS), setagainst a background of ever-expanding nursing literature and information, have favoured the development of good practices in curriculum development and student-centred learning. This paper discusses the experience at Keele University of enhanced collaborative effort between curriculum planners and LIS staff, and aims to show how LIS can facilitate student learning and contribute to curriculum planning and delivery, quality resource provision, evaluation processes and life-long learning.

A survey of 5% of trained nursing staff inthe Plymouth area provided indications of the impact of changes in post-registration education and practice on the library service of the Tor & South West College of Health in Plymouth. The survey comprised, first, a structured interview to obtain details of professional development plans and preferences, number of courses attended recently, learning styles, use made of ward/unit resources (particularly journals) and optimum periods for library opening. The second part of the survey was a vignette information problem. The responses (written by the participants) provided an indication of information-seeking skills and perceptions of various information sources, both formal (publications) and informal (colleagues and organizations). Analysis indicated that the most popular method of learning was attending a study day, and the most popular combination of learning styles was study day combined with further reading. Reading of journals was selective. Most staff would have to rely on a library for journal literature, particularly the new journals. One third of the sample appeared lacking in information-seeking skills. One third appeared confident in information-seeking skills, and this group was associated with the use of more than two sources of information and use of a library. No single library in Plymouth would be adequate for the sources of information required, indicating the need for better networking and/or integration.

A sample of 543 members of Midwest Alliance in Nursing and Midwest Nursing Research Society were surveyed to identify factors encouraging and discouraging research utilization. Lack of time was the factor that most discouraged research utilization. A library containing research journals was available to most service (82 percent) and educator nurses (86 percent). Computer services were more available to educators (85 percent) than service nurses (68 percent). A research newsletter was ranked as more helpful than continuing education or computer networks for keeping abreast of research findings.

Electronic networks can provide access to other nurses locally and around the world via electronic mail and on-line interactions. Networks can give nurses access to information and to the data that are processed and stored in computers in their own facility and in computers at remote sites. The major international networks, Internet, FidoNet, and BITNET each offer these opportunities. In addition, Internet, the network most useful to nurses, allows access to Sigma Theta Tau's International Nursing Library, E.T. Net, and the MEDLARS family of bibliographic data bases. Taking advantage of the services and resources networks offer can facilitate nursing practice, education, and research.

Although secondary data are generally neglected by nurses, they are useful for nurse researchers, practitioners, educators, administrators, and policy makers. Major sources of data on health-related subjects are medical records, administrative records, the census, vital statistics, surveys of the National Center for Health Statistics, social science archives, and nursing archives, each with its specific uses and limitations.

Both information literacy and evidence-based practice (EBP) require nursing educators to rethink their curricula and consider how these skills can be integrated throughout their programs. They also require nursing educators to examine their own abilities to find and utilize nursing research that is relevant to their practice, research interests, teaching pursuits, and students' practical needs. Collaboration amongst those involved in education is vital to producing future nurses who are information literate and are able to apply this literacy in their daily practice. Skiba calls for nursing educators to look at information literacy as librarians do and begin to see that without it, EBP cannot flourish [1]. The National League for Nursing (NLN) calls for “dramatic change” to “create and shape the future of nursing practice” [2]. Their statement calls for all those involved in educating nurses of the future to collaborate in order to be truly innovative and have a positive impact on nursing practice. The NLN statement came just prior to the much cited Pravikoff, Tanner, and Pierce study that showed current nurses did not appreciate research and lacked the skills necessary to find research [3]. Producing an evidence-based nursing workforce must begin prior to licensure as registered nurses. Librarians are natural partners for this education and have key skills that can help both nursing educators and students become information literate and appreciate the role of research in daily practice [4]. Though the library literature qualitatively describes collaborations with nursing faculty that have been positive experiences [5–7], studies examining how librarians perceive working with faculty in general paint a grimmer picture [8,9]. Few quantitative data exist regarding faculty perceptions of collaborating with librarians. Of the studies that report faculty openness to collaboration with librarians [10–13], none investigate what faculty perceive collaboration with a librarian means. As noted in Leckie and Fullerton's study, “Perhaps faculty and librarians have quite different interpretations of what it means to deliver information literacy in a collaborative fashion” [12]. The purpose of this small pilot study in two states was to investigate how a small group of nursing faculty defined and perceived collaboration with a librarian in order to quantify anecdotal evidence of their perceptions and gain improved understanding of how librarians can approach future collaborations with nursing faculty.

The goal of the study was to evaluate the quality of the services provided by the library at the Nursing School of the University of São Paulo. A questionnaire evaluating users' satisfaction with the service was employed, covering five quality components: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The Satisfaction Rate was calculated through the degree of importance in relation to satisfaction. The analysis of the open-ended answers was quanti-qualitative. For Reliability and Empathy, the users showed dissatisfaction with the training for bibliographic research and the librarian's willingness to meet the clients' information needs, respectively. Responsiveness did not fully satisfy the users, disagreeing with the providers. However, both agreed that the archives are outdated. Among the tangible aspects, equipment and noise were criticized most often. The results show that the library offers good service quality to its users. El estudio tuvo por objetivo evaluar la calidad de la atención en la biblioteca de la Escuela de Enfermería de la Universidad de São Paulo. Se utilizó un cuestionario que evalúa la satisfacción del usuario a través de cinco componentes de calidad: tangible, confiable, receptivo, seguridad y empatía. La Tasa de Satisfacción se calculó mediante la razón entre el grado de importancia y satisfacción. El análisis de las preguntas abiertas fue cuanti-cualitativo. En Confiabilidad y Empatía, los usuarios se mostraron insatisfechos con los entrenamientos para búsqueda bibliográfica y sobre el empeño del empleado para atender las necesidades de los clientes. Los usuarios no estuvieron plenamente satisfechos con la receptividad, sin embargo ambos concordaron que la bibliografía estaba desactualizada. Dentro de los aspectos tangibles, los equipos y el ruido fueron los más criticados. Los resultados demostraron que la biblioteca ofrece servicio de calidad a sus usuarios. O estudo teve por objetivo avaliar a qualidade do atendimento da biblioteca da Escola de Enfermagem da Universidade de São Paulo. Utilizou-se questionário que avalia a satisfação do usuário com o serviço através de cinco componentes da qualidade: tangibilidade, confiabilidade, receptividade, segurança e empatia. A taxa de satisfação foi calculada pela razão entre grau de importância e de satisfação. A análise das perguntas abertas foi quanti-qualitativa. Em confiabilidade e empatia, os usuários mostraram-se insatisfeitos quanto aos treinamentos de busca bibliográfica e ao empenho do funcionário da biblioteca em atender as necessidades de informação dos clientes, respectivamente. A receptividade não satisfez os usuários plenamente, discordando dos prestadores, porém, ambos concordam que o acervo está desatualizado. Equipamentos e ruídos foram, dentre os aspectos tangíveis, os mais criticados. Os resultados evidenciaram que a biblioteca oferece serviço de qualidade aos seus usuários.

This article describes innovative educational strategies used by one organization to simultaneously develop leadership skills and evidence-based practice. The methods were theory-driven and designed to positively affect the nursing culture at the individual, unit, and organizational levels. Case studies, outcomes, and lessons learned are also included.

Students returning to school to earn advanced degrees frequently experience difficulty accessing and retrieving information necessary to complete assignments. The authors describe the need, the development process, and the outcome of the partnership between nursing faculty and librarians to provide a customized library tutorial for online registered nurse to bachelor of science in nursing students.

In the inaugural EBP column, Levin and Feldman (2006) cited an article by Pravikoff, Tanner, and Pierce (2005) that listed nurses' perceptions of the five top-ranked barriers to using an EBP approach to practice (after not having sufficient time) as follows: * Not valuing the contribution that research can make to practice * Lack of understanding of how to use electronic databases * Difficulty in obtaining evidence (information) * Lack of computer skills * Difficulty understanding research articles A recent editorial in Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing poses the following question: "Should we invest time in teaching critical appraisal skills to nurses? Or, should we simply provide nurses with pre-appraised research evidence?" (Bucknall & Hutchinson, 2006, p. 137). The authors of this editorial reiterate the findings above about nurses' perceptions of being overwhelmed by the tasks associated with finding, retrieving, appraising, and synthesizing evidence for best practices. Another critical question then becomes this: If we teach nurses all the skills they need to use an evidence-based approach to practice, what infrastructure do clinical agencies provide for helping to access and obtain the latest and best evidence on a clinical problem? I would like to share recent experiences I have had working with agencies to facilitate EBP integration in an attempt to flesh out the issues and challenges involved in accessing and retrieving information (i.e., the best available evidence). First, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York is in the forefront of implementing an evidence-based approach to nursing practice. Examples of these initiatives demonstrate the agency's commitment to this effort: * Partnering with Pace University to conduct a pilot study to test the effectiveness of introducing an EBP mentoring model on nurse, system, and patient outcomes * Supporting an EBP education day for nurses in the Quality Management Department * Hiring a visiting faculty member half time who is an expert (this author) in EBP in the Department of Education and Clinical Development * Developing a mentoring program for selected nurse managers to help them learn and implement EBP in their respective divisions 1 * Integration of EBP into the internship curriculum for new baccalaureate degree nursing graduates who wish to work in a home health care setting as a first nursing position As described in the literature, a major challenge the agency is now facing is difficulty in accessing the needed evidence on which to make evidence-based clinical decisions. Although the Quality Management Department has included a subscription to EBSCOhost 2 in the current year's budget, nurses are finding that access to needed information is still a problem. Access to full-text articles is limited, and no mechanisms are in place for interlibrary loan access or for health sciences librarian services to assist with searching for and negotiating retrieval of evidence. This has become particularly challenging because as nurses are adopting an EBP approach to practice, they are sharing their difficulties in accessing the needed information for the EBP projects they wish to pursue. Second, during the pilot study mentioned above (Levin, Vetter, Fineout-Overholt, Melnyk, & Barnes, 2007) funded through a grant to Pace University Lienhard School of Nursing by the Hugoton Foundation, an EBP mentor (this author) engaged nurses in learning about the EBP process and implementing it by developing an innovative practice based on the best available evidence. The project director, a Pace University professor who also served as the EBP mentor, was able to arrange for access by study participants to the university's electronic library. The library administrator agreed to provide a special identification number and password to study participants but not access to interlibrary loan. …

Researchers and theorists working in the field of knowledge translation point to the importance of organizational context in influencing research utilization. The study purpose was to compare research utilization in two different healthcare contexts--Canadian civilian and United States (US) Army settings. Contrary to the investigators' expectations, research utilization scores were lower in US Army settings, after controlling for potential predictors. In-service attendance, library access, belief suspension, gender, and years of experience interacted significantly with the setting (military or civilian) for research utilization. Predictors of research utilization common to both settings were attitude and belief suspension. Predictors in the US Army setting were trust and years of experience, and in the Canadian civilian setting were in-service attendance, time (organizational), research champion, and library access. While context is of central importance, individual and organizational predictors interact with context in important although not well-understood ways, and should not be ignored.

Aim This study investigates student nurses’ perceptions of the process of undergoing a programme of education leading to registration as a children’s nurse. Method Three groups of students (n=14, 12 and eight) were invited to participate in a focus group using the nominal group technique to address the following questions: What has helped you in the process of becoming a children’s nurse? What has hindered you in the process of becoming a children’s nurse? Results The factors which helped students most in their quest to become children’s nurses included: the delivery of specialist lectures from child branch nurse lecturers, having good clinical placements with mentors who want to support students, and having the support of friends and family. An important factor was the desire to become a good children’s nurse and wanting to work with children. Factors which hindered students included: having unsupportive mentors who misjudge student abilities, lack of academic resources including library reading materials, too many students in each clinical area and …

"The PDA as a Reference Tool: The Libraries' Role in Enhancing Nursing Education" is a pilot project funded by the University of Massachusetts President's Office Information Technology Council through their Professional Development Grant program in 2004. The project's goal is to offer faculty and students in nursing programs at two University of Massachusetts campuses access to an array of medical reference information, such as handbooks, dictionaries, calculators, and diagnostic tools, on small handheld computers called personal digital assistants. Through exposure to the variety of information resources in this digital format, participants can discover and explore these resources at no personal financial cost. Participants borrow handhelds from the University Library's circulation desks. The libraries provide support in routine resynchronizing of handhelds to update information. This report will discuss how the projects were administered, what we learned about what did and did not work, the problems and solutions, and where we hope to go from here.

This article describes the development of a digital library as a resource for clinicians and researchers working with women with HIV infection. We wanted to find a new way of communicating the findings from the 114 studies that we used as the method case. The development of the SandBar Digital Library (http://sonweb.unc.edu/sandbar), a product of a 5-year project to develop the analytic techniques for qualitative metasynthesis, is described from its inception, including analyses of the potential users and how they might use such a resource. The Digital Library evolved over a 3-year period, with continuous feedback from a group of researchers and clinicians who are also experts in the care of HIV-positive people. It provides a concise and comprehensive compilation of findings in two major areas of concern for the seropositive women who were the participants in the studies: motherhood and stigma.

This research was conducted to provide new insights on clinical nurses' and nursing students' current use of health resources and libraries and deterrents to their retrieval of electronic clinical information, exploring implications from these findings for health sciences librarians.Questionnaires, interviews, and observations were used to collect data from twenty-five nursing students and twenty-five clinical nurses.Nursing students and clinical nurses were most likely to rely on colleagues and books for medical information, while other resources they frequently cited included personal digital assistants, electronic journals and books, and drug representatives. Significantly more nursing students than clinical nurses used online databases, including CINAHL and PubMed, to locate health information, and nursing students were more likely than clinical nurses to report performing a database search at least one to five times a week.Nursing students made more use of all available resources and were better trained than clinical nurses, but both groups lacked database-searching skills. Participants were eager for more patient care information, more database training, and better computer skills; therefore, health sciences librarians have the opportunity to meet the nurses' information needs and improve nurses' clinical information-seeking behavior.

Nurses are increasingly in need of access to nursing libraries following changes to nurse education, increasing emphasis on the use of research to support practice, and the UKCC Post-Registration Education and Practice (PREP) requirements. A survey was, therefore, carried out among 255 libraries to determine whether nurses had sufficient access to nursing libraries. Eighty per cent of libraries said nursing were not denied access but only a third of university sites allowed full access and borrowing facilities. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Systematic reviews help nurses to manage the overwhelming volume of available information by synthesizing valid data from primary studies and summarizing the results of interventions. One reliable source of systematic reviews of healthcare interventions is the Cochrane Library. This paper briefly describes the Cochrane Collaboration and the Cochrane Library. It also encourages nurse clinicians and nurse administrators to use the Cochrane Library and encourages nurse researchers to contribute to the Cochrane Library by conducting systematic reviews in the field of nursing care effectiveness.

Nursing education accreditation visits are similar to JCAHO accreditation visits. Both types of accreditation are offered to ensure quality programs and services. The author, a librarian, describes the role of the nursing library in helping the Hampton University School of Nursing to achieve full accreditation from the two national nursing accreditation bodies. This article describes the process and outcomes of accreditation visits.