The 10th Meeting of the Portuguese Associationof Health Information and Documentation – APDIS , on the theme “Health Science Libraries in the age of Digital Literacy” was held on 29 and 30 March last. The event took place at ANF – National Pharmacy Association, in Lisbon, and was attended by several professionals in this field, mainly librarians from various parts of the country, the Azores, Spain, S. Tomé and Príncipe, Brazil, and Uruguay. Other information specialists were also present and they provided an excellent environment for sharing and acquiring new knowledge.

During the two-day event there were six sessions, twenty presentations and seven poster presentations.
In the opening session we had the privilege to have the presence of Professor Pereira Miguel, of the Institute of Preventive Medicine of FMUL, who gave an excellent Opening Lecture entitled “Preventive Medicine, Librarians and Health Literacy”.

FMUL’s Library was represented by five persons: Emília Clamote, Susana Henriques, Lurdes Barata, Sofia Amador and Isabel Santos. Of this participation, the following stand out: the presentation of the poster poster “Information Literacy: User Training in Health Academic Libraries – the Portuguese example”, by Susana Henriques, the presentation ” the concept of Embedded Librarian – a possible reality in the academic concept“, by Sofia Amador and the session “Balanced Scorecard and CAF” presented by Sílvia Lopes, from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon and by Emília Clamote and Susana Henriques from FMUL.

The topic of this 10th Meeting (Health Science Libraries in the age of Digital Literacy) demonstrated to all participants that digital literacy involves more than the mere capacity to use a particular software or operate any digital device. It encompasses a diverse set of complex cognitive, motor, sociological and emotional skills that users need to have to use digital environments effectively.

Given that the meeting was held at ANF, we were offered a guided tour of the Pharmacy Museum by its Director Dr. João Neto, who answered all the questions raised during the visit.

The museum opened in 1996 and attempts to bring together, chronologically, material illustrating the history of the pharmacy. It includes a section that reconstructs, life size, the settings of several pharmaceutical establishments throughout distinct periods, most notably the pharmacy of Macao. The collection consists of over 15 thousand archeological and historical items relating to the practice of pharmacy from distinct times and places – objects from Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Meso-America, China, Macao, and Japan, from antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, until today – in one of the sections it is possible to observe a medical kit used in space by NASA astronauts. The Pharmacy Museum was awarded the prize for Best Portuguese Museum in 96/97/98 (by the Portuguese Museology Association) and for Best Pharmaceutical Project in 99 by the Pharmacy and Distribution Magazine).

Participating in this meeting has provided the opportunity to acquire new knowledge grounded by the excellence of the papers presented and equally by the fruitful exchange of experiences. Once again, the APDIS meeting provided all participants, librarians and other Health Sciences information professionals, an excellent opportunity to share ideas and experiences, and also to deepen the concepts that will certainly contribute to improve good practices in the everyday work of each participant.

Isabel Pereira
Ipereira@fm.ul.pt
Library of the Egas Moniz Study Centre