Information Center Bulletin
Volume 3, No. 2

Message from the Director, Bernard S. Arons, M.D.

The Information Center continues to expand its outreach to Americans seeking information on mental health and mental illness through its web site and other channels of communication. More than 1,000 people contact the Information Center daily via phone, fax, e-mail, and the web site.

The Information Center recently received a Bronze medal for “Best Site Structure and Navigation” in the World Wide Web Health Awards Competition. The most visited sections on the Information Center's site include Mental Health Information, Links, Publications, Databases, and Mental Health: The Cornerstone of Health.

It has been gratifying, and sometimes surprising, to watch the web site grow:

• More than half a million people have used the Information Center's web site as a source of mental health services information and resources since it became operational in March 1996.
• On its single most active day, the Information Center site was contacted 20,169 times.
• During one single month, the Information Center logged 172 inquiries from Australia, 48 from Japan, and 26 from Saudi Arabia.
• About 30 percent of users access the Information Center's web site during work hours, while close to 70 percent of hits are logged during evening hours.
• On average, more than 50 new links, many of them reciprocal, are added each month.

In addition to the web site, the Information Center currently offers 240 publications on diverse aspects of mental health and mental illness. Nearly 600,000 publications have been distributed since the Information Center's inception in September 1995, and nearly 300,000 publications were distributed during this past year alone.

Most Information Center publications are developed in response to inquiries received via phone, fax, e-mail, and the web site. On an ongoing basis, the Information Center seeks to identify gaps in its published resources and develop new publications to meet those needs. If you have ideas for publications, the Information Center would like to hear from you. You can e-mail suggestions to the Information Center at nmhic-info@samhsa.hhs.gov, or fax them to 240-747-5470.

Information Center Bulletin
Volume 3, No. 2
SMA01-3512