Problem/Objective: In the spring of 2006 the California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section and the FSU, Center for Information, Training, and Evaluation Services (CITES) sponsored a national conference on Web-based tobacco control information management efforts. The conference provided attendees with the knowledge needed to successfully design and implement Web-based systems that facilitate information management, collaboration, and program evaluation. One of the outcomes of the conference was a need to continue the ongoing dialogue and analysis of other systems in order to advance the use of technology and information knowledge management to advance tobacco control efforts.

Methods: The California Tobacco Control Program and the CITES developed the Tobacco Control eSystems Virtual Resource Center as a tool for the post conference exploration and communication of promising practices, current trends, future developments, and practical applications.

Results: The Tobacco Control eSystems Virtual Resource Center is a one-stop shop to connect people and agencies in the tobacco control community who are interested in pursuing or revising web-based systems with each other and experts who can provide knowledge and information related to web-based system design and development.

Conclusions: Creating a Web site that promotes a continuous dialogue about tobacco control information systems facilitates the sharing of knowledge and resources. Developing Web-based portals and systems can be expensive and time consuming and having a resource to conduct the research on what other states have created will save time and energy. An overview of the Tobacco Control eSystems Virtual Resource Center that includes Eforums, state developed systems, conferences, and resources will be discussed.