Moving Communities of Practice forward: the challenge for the National electronic Library for Health and its Virtual Branch Libraries

The aim of this evaluation was to examine how specialist portals within the UK's National electronic Library for Health were developing as communities of practice to support continuing professional development. Objectives included a literature review, to inform the development of an appraisal framework for the individual portals, and interviews with portal development teams and stakeholder groups. Appraisals of the websites and the data from the interviews showed that most of the specialist portals had evolved beyond the initial stages of community of practice development. Further planning of outsourcing would require a balance between maintaining a recognizable identity for the portals and not stifling the creativity of the development teams.