The provision of a high quality information service to healthcare professionals is a basic task of a pharmacovigilance centre and a major instrument in the stimulation of reporting. For this purpose and for the assessment of case reports the centre should have access to a comprehensive and up-to-date literature information database (a list of relevant literature references may be obtained from the Uppsala Monitoring Centre).

Location of the centre in a large hospital usually has the advantage of a library within reach. National pharmacovigilance centres can have on-line access to the database of the UMC and be on the mailing lists of adverse drug reaction and drug bulletins produced by the World Health Organization and many national or regional centres throughout the world (ask the UMC for addresses or see WHO contacts on page 24).