Did you know that in the next 20 years, the proportion of North Carolina's population over the age of 65 will double? That only seven states have a faster growing population of older adults than North Carolina, and that only two states are ranked higher as retirement destinations?

People are living longer, explains Florence Soltys, clinical associate professor of social work and medicine. "It's not unusual to be 100 these days," she said. "But with that comes the need to take care of a whole generation of people who are more prone to chronic diseases and, often, dependent on others to care for them."

As the baby boomer generation ages, researchers in many disciplines will find themselves needing to address issues related to aging, not only in terms of health care but in how to improve quality of life. The UNC Institute on Aging's Information Center can help provide the resources these researchers need.

Housed at Carolina, the information center was established in February 2000 as both a physical and cyber place for faculty members, students and health-care professionals looking for information and resources on aging.

"Our collection supplements what's already available in other libraries on campus," said Danielle Borasky, the center's librarian. "A lot of what we have is unique and in addition to what people can get from the Health Sciences Library or Davis Library."

Sources available at the center include journals, monographs, theses and dissertations completed by students from North Carolina colleges, and government reports and documents. All of these can be searched online through AGELIB (www.aging.unc.edu/infocenter/agelib/index.html), the center's web-based database of aging resources. Collection topics include North Carolina aging, rural aging, health care, demographics, gender issues, social issues, work issues and family relationships.

"But even if we don't have information on a topic someone is interested in, we can still find resources for them," Borasky said.

For instance, one researcher wanted to find out about alternative medicines and how they affect prescription medications in the elderly. "While we didn't have a specific source on the topic, I was able to help the researcher find articles through online resources such as AgeLine, which is very similar to MedLine," Borasky said. "Many faculty and students don't even know this database exists, so I've been trying to get the word out on campus."

In addition to AgeLine, the center's web page has links to organizations and data sets related to aging. The center also puts together an electronic newsletter of events and news from around the state and emails it to anyone who wants to subscribe.

For faculty members who would like to incorporate information on the demographics of aging into their curriculums, the center has slide presentations available on their web site. Victor Marshall, director of the Institute on Aging, explains that the presentations are meant to be interdisciplinary and appeal to many departments--economics, political science, social work, information and library science, English. "For example," Marshall said, "someone in political science could use them to discuss the controversy that surfaced in Florida about how to design a ballot that's easy for seniors to use. The idea is to open students' eyes to the possible career opportunities in the aging field whether through social work, nursing, occupational therapy, medicine."

While the Institute on Aging provides some small exploratory grants of its own, another service its information center offers is helping researchers search for funding opportunities from government agencies such as the National Institute on Aging, as well as from private foundations. If researchers agree to house their projects at the Institute on Aging, the staff will also aid with the grant proposal process. "We try to make life easy for the principal investigator," Marshall said. "We'll help with the development of the grant, the mechanics of putting the grant together, and getting it approved by the Office of Research Services."

He thinks of the institute as a hub for people interested in the field of aging. "Not only do we have concrete resources, but we provide a place for people in different departments and schools to work collaboratively on aging projects."

More information about the Institute on Aging's Information Center can be found online at www.aging.unc.edu/infocenter/ or by e-mailing aginginfo@unc.edu The Institute on Aging is located at 720 Airport Road.