Medical library

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Markham Stouffville Hospital Library MarkhamStouffvilleHospitalLibrary2.JPG
Markham Stouffville Hospital Library

A health or medical library is designed to assist physicians, health professionals, students, patients, consumers, medical researchers, and information specialists in finding health and scientific information to improve, update, assess, or evaluate health care. Medical libraries are typically found in hospitals, medical schools, private industry, and in medical or health associations. A typical health or medical library has access to MEDLINE, a range of electronic resources, print and digital journal collections, and print reference books. The influence of open access (OA) and free searching via Google and PubMed has a major impact on the way medical libraries operate.

Contents

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the largest biomedical library in the world, and collects and provides access to some of the best health information in the world (due to its linkage to the National Institutes of Health). The NLM maintains numerous medical and genomic databases, searchable via its Entrez search system, including MEDLINE (PubMed) and OMIM (a genetic traits database).

The largest medical library in Europe is the German National Library of Medicine (ZB MED), which also has collections in the fields of nutrition, agriculture, and environmental science. ZB MED operates as the official European supplier of full texts in response to searches conducted in the NLM's bibliographic databases such as PubMed, and also operates its own search portals. [1]

Uses

A 2013 survey of health care providers in the United States concluded from its data that professionals in the health care industry perceive access to medical libraries valuable. [2] The same study further concluded that health care professionals feel that information they get from libraries has a positive impact on patient care. [2]

Accreditation

To become accredited, every American and Canadian college of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, or public health is required to have a health or medical library appropriate to the needs of the school, as specified by an accrediting body, such as the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)'s standards. These accreditation standards include having qualified library staff on hand to answer reference questions, and provide training in using electronic resources. Some academic medical libraries are located in the same building as the general undergraduate library but most are located near or in the medical college or faculty.

In support of open access to the journal literature, the U.S. NLM established an online library of digital journal articles, PubMed Central (PMC), which will soon be supplemented by a UK version[ citation needed ]. NLM works with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) to provide regional medical library support in the United States, while its consumer health information service MEDLINEplus offers free access to health information, images, and interactive tutorials. Many countries like Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have well-developed medical libraries, though nothing quite as evolved as the U.S. NLM.

Medical librarians

Book stacks at a medical library MarkhamStouffvilleHospitalLibrary.JPG
Book stacks at a medical library

Medical librarians are skilled professionals who assist with resources and research in the medical professions. The focus of the medical librarian is to emphasize the use of evidence-based research [3] and practice. This can be for both medical research or medical practice. As well the medical librarian is expected be a resource for assisting with publishing and presentation of research. Medical librarians use web based resources to conduct research and help generate evidence based approaches to healthcare. Organizations such as the MLA set standards for what a medical librarian should follow in practice. [4] [5]

Collections

Different medical libraries have different needs and different resources for collection development. Several guides for librarians have been published. [6] The Brandon–Hill title lists were a free collection of suggested books and journals. [7] These lists were created by two librarians at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Al Brandon and Dorothy Hill, and published from 1965 to 2004. [6] [7] Beginning in 2006, the annual Doody's Core Titles in the Health Sciences lists, which includes a separate suggested list for small libraries, have been commonly used for English-language medical books. [6] [7] Both medical librarians and subject-matter experts are involved in compiling the Doody's lists. [7]

Associations

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a Chicago-based advocate for library professionals and health sciences libraries – primarily in the United States. MLA maintains an online list of ALA-accredited library school programs for those who would like to pursue a master's degree in library and information studies in the US and Canada (MLIS). It furthermore administers the US credentialing organization for medical librarians, the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP).

The main network for medical libraries in the United States is the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM).

The Special Libraries Association has a Medical Section of the Biomedical and Life Science Division, which serves as a forum for Division members who are engaged or interested in the exchange of information in the biomedical and health sciences, and the acquisition, organization, dissemination, and use of such information in all formats.

In Canada, health librarians and libraries are represented by the Canadian Health Libraries Association.

Australia have the Health Libraries Australia Group of the Australian Library and Information Association and the Victorian state based Health Libraries Inc. In 2013, HLA introduced a PD Specialisation in 2013 leading to Association post nominals on demonstration of ongoing professional development in the field of health librarianship. A list of health libraries in Australia may by found on the website of the National Library of Australia. In 2015, Australia is undertaking a census of health libraries and librarianship aiming to identify the full industry, locations, organisations, roles, and staff employed. The first specialist "Health Librarianship Essentials" tertiary training commenced in April 2015 at the Queensland University of Technology supported by HLA.

In the United Kingdom, medical (or health) librarians are represented by the Health Libraries Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. CILIP. Health Libraries Group.

The medical and health libraries of the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria and Switzerland are represented by the Medical Libraries Association Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer Medizinisches Bibliothekswesen (AGMB) e.V..

There are similar, if smaller, national groups in many European countries and these groups and individual health librarians and libraries are represented by the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) since 1987.

For those librarians who work in very specialised subject areas, there are associations and networks which focus on their subject areas, and an example of such an organisation is Elisad, the European Association of Libraries and Information Services on Addictions. Elisad

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has a Health and Biosciences Libraries Section. The last International Congress on Medical Librarianship (ICML) was in Brisbane in 2009.

See also

Related Research Articles

MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care. MEDLINE also covers much of the literature in biology and biochemistry, as well as fields such as molecular evolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Librarian</span> Profession

A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health informatics</span> Computational approaches to health care

Health informatics is the study and implementation of computer structures and algorithms to improve communication, understanding, and management of medical information. It can be viewed as branch of engineering and applied science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States National Library of Medicine</span> Worlds largest medical library.

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library.

PubMed is a free database including primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez system of information retrieval.

MedlinePlus is an online information service produced by the United States National Library of Medicine. The service provides curated consumer health information in English and Spanish with select content in additional languages. The site brings together information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other U.S. government agencies, and health-related organizations. There is also a site optimized for display on mobile devices, in both English and Spanish. In 2015, about 400 million people from around the world used MedlinePlus. The service is funded by the NLM and is free to users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical Library Association</span> Nonprofit, educational organization of health-sciences information professionals

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a nonprofit educational organization with more than 3,400 health-sciences information professional members.

An informationist provides research and knowledge management services in the context of clinical care or biomedical research.

PubMed Central (PMC) is a free digital repository that archives open access full-text scholarly articles that have been published in biomedical and life sciences journals. As one of the major research databases developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), PubMed Central is more than a document repository. Submissions to PMC are indexed and formatted for enhanced metadata, medical ontology, and unique identifiers which enrich the XML structured data for each article. Content within PMC can be linked to other NCBI databases and accessed via Entrez search and retrieval systems, further enhancing the public's ability to discover, read and build upon its biomedical knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine</span> Medical school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is a medical school of the University of Pittsburgh, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The School of Medicine, also known as Pitt Med, encompasses both a medical program, offering the doctor of medicine, and graduate programs, offering doctor of philosophy and master's degrees in several areas of biomedical science, clinical research, medical education, and medical informatics.

The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), also referred to as the Master of Library and Information Studies, is the master's degree that is required for most professional librarian positions in the United States. The MLIS is a relatively recent degree; an older and still common degree designation for librarians to acquire is the Master of Library Science (MLS), or Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) degree. According to the American Library Association (ALA), "The master’s degree in library and information studies is frequently referred to as the MLS; however, ALA-accredited degrees have various names such as Master of Information Studies, Master of Arts, Master of Librarianship, Master of Library and Information Studies, or Master of Science. The degree name is determined by the program. The [ALA] Committee for Accreditation evaluates programs based on their adherence to the Standards for Accreditation of Master's Programs in Library and Information Studies, not based on the name of the degree."

The Vancouver system, also known as Vancouver reference style or the author–number system, is a citation style that uses numbers within the text that refer to numbered entries in the reference list. It is popular in the physical sciences and is one of two referencing systems normally used in medicine, the other being the author–date, or "Harvard", system. Vancouver style is used by MEDLINE and PubMed.

Index Medicus (IM) is a curated subset of MEDLINE, which is a bibliographic database of life science and biomedical science information, principally scientific journal articles. From 1879 to 2004, Index Medicus was a comprehensive bibliographic index of such articles in the form of a print index or its onscreen equivalent. Medical history experts have said of Index Medicus that it is “America's greatest contribution to medical knowledge.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special library</span> Library providing resources on a particular topic or discipline

A special library is a library that provides specialized information resources on a particular subject, serves a specialized and limited clientele, and delivers specialized services to that clientele. Special libraries include corporate libraries, government libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, museum libraries, news libraries. Special libraries also exist within academic institutions. These libraries are included as special libraries because they are often funded separately from the rest of the university and they serve a targeted group of users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Central Florida College of Medicine</span> Medical school of the University of Central Florida

The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is an academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The VP of Health Affairs and dean of the college is Deborah German.

E-Science librarianship refers to a role for librarians in e-Science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald A. B. Lindberg</span> Director of the US National Library of Medicine

Donald Allen Bror Lindberg was the Director of the United States National Library of Medicine from 1984 until his retirement in 2015. He was known for his work in medical computing, especially the development of PubMed. He won the 1997 Morris F. Collen Award from the American College of Medical Informatics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estelle Brodman</span> American medical librarian and historian

Estelle Brodman (1914–2007) was an American medical librarian and medical historian. She held positions at Columbia University, the National Library of Medicine and the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM). Brodman served terms as director of the Special Libraries Association, president of the Medical Library Association, and editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. Under Brodman's leadership, the library at WUSM became known as a leader in the use of computing machines to perform library functions.

Lucretia W. McClure was an American medical librarian. McClure was a director at the Edward G. Miner library, University of Rochester Medical Center. She worked at Boston Medical Library from 1994 to 2011. McClure worked for decades within the Medical Library Association, including serving as President (1990–91). She is the only person to have been interviewed twice for the MLA Oral History Project, first in 1998 and again in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miriam Hawkins Libbey</span> American medical librarian

Miriam Hawkins Libbey was an American medical librarian. She served as the fourth director of the Emory University's A. W. Calhoun Medical Library, now called the Emory University Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, from 1966 to 1984. In 1984, Libbey was named a fellow of the Medical Library Association for her contributions to the association and the profession of medical librarianship. In 1991, a memorial lecture was named after her by the Georgia Health Sciences Library Association.

References

  1. ↑ German National Library of Medicine Partnerships. Archived 2011-12-08 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 Marshall, Joanne Gard; Sollenberger, Julia; Easterby-Gannett, Sharon; Morgan, Lynn Kasner; Klem, Mary Lou; Cavanaugh, Susan K.; Oliver, Kathleen Burr; Thompson, Cheryl A.; Romanosky, Neil; Hunter, Sue (2013). "The value of library and information services in patient care: results of a multisite study". Journal of the Medical Library Association. 101 (1): 38–46. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.101.1.007. ISSN   1536-5050. PMC   3543128 . PMID   23418404.
  3. ↑ "How Medical Librarians Support Improved Patient Care and Clinical Outcomes". HPC International Blog. 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  4. ↑ Roper FW (Jan 2006). "The Medical Library Association's professional development program: a look back at the way ahead". J Med Libr Assoc. 94 (1): 8–18. PMC   1324767 . PMID   16404465.
  5. ↑ "How Medical Librarians Support Improved Patient Care and Clinical Outcomes". 19 November 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Bennett, Denise Beaubien; Modscheidler, Christa (2014-04-26). Guide to Reference in Medicine and Health. American Library Association. pp. 3, 6–7. ISBN   978-0-8389-1983-5.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Sara, Holder (2012-07-31). Library Collection Development for Professional Programs: Trends and Best Practices: Trends and Best Practices. IGI Global. p. 7. ISBN   978-1-4666-1898-5.
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