Transforming Medical Library Staff For The Twenty First Century

Transforming Medical Library Staff for the Twenty-First Century focuses on how the medical library can redeploy its staff to support these new services through actively engaging and empowering them in the process. It shares best practices in developing and motivating staff to accept and welcome the changing priorities of medical libraries.

Health Sciences Collection Management for the Twenty-First Century is intended for those with any level of experience in health sciences collection management. This book from the authoritative Medical Library Association starts with the context of health sciences publishing and covers the foundations of selection, budgeting, and management. It won’t tell new librarians what to buy but will give them background and criteria that should go into their selections. However, the focus of this book is not only on best practices but also on the big picture and the deeper changes in the field that affect decision making. Subjects not always covered in many collection development textbooks such marketing or accessibility are included because they are part of the larger collections landscape. Chapter contributors bring their own perspectives to the topics. Stories of different libraries’ experiences bring interesting topics to the forefront in practical, specific, and timely detail. While whole books have been written that go into some of these topics more in depth on their own, the treatment of each topic here focuses on the unique perspective and concerns of the collection manager.

This books presents firsthand experiences and thoughts of librarians on the transformation of health sciences library spaces. They provide insights into planning, budgeting, collecting, and integrating user feedback, collaborating with leadership and architects and thriving in the good times and the tight times.

The Medical Library Association Guide to Developing Consumer Health Collections guides both library graduate school students and seasoned librarians from academic, health sciences, and public libraries, to develop, maintain, nurture, and advertise consumer health collections. This authoritative guide from the respected Medical Library Association covers all that is involved in developing a new consumer health library including: Conducting community needs assessments and forging community partnerships Concerns about physical space, computers, and materials Funding, budgeting, and staffing Privacy and confidentiality concerns Publicity and advertising This book guides both graduate library school students and seasoned librarians from all types of libraries—academic, health center, hospital, public, and school--to develop, maintain and nurture not only consumer health collections, but also community partnerships and outreach programs. Examples of librarians’ innovative and creative consumer health initiatives are included. Chapters include all that is involved in developing a consumer health collection including conducting community needs assessments; concerns about physical space, computers, and materials; budgeting, licensing, and staffing; privacy and confidentiality concerns; and community partnership and outreach.

Discovering what characterizes strong clinical medical librarianship and how those characteristics have been and are supporting clinicians in their delivery of evidence-based medicine can help those in this profession evaluate and strengthen their own programs. Perhaps more importantly, learning about and from leaders in clinical medical librarianship can help not only other librarians but also clinicians and other healthcare professionals strategize to ensure that their programs stay abreast of the rapidly changing healthcare field using methods and approaches that recognize the importance of providing biomedical information and adapting to new technology and research requirements. Beginning with a discussion of the birth of the Clinical Medical Librarian (CML) and continuing with chapters that explore current innovative programs conducted by CMLs, The Clinical Medical Librarians Handbook piques reader’s interest in this exciting professional field through descriptive scenarios. The book moves quickly through the history of librarians accompanying clinicians on medical wards to the realization of librarians partnering with clinicians in the face of a rapidly changing healthcare scene. Success and challenges are discussed by professional CMLs working in urban academic medical centers. The Clinical Medical Librarians Handbook is intended for any library student, practicing librarian or health administrator interested in understanding the variety of roles medical librarians play in the healthcare system of the United States, how medical librarians interact with clinicians and patients, the power of patient-centered care and technology, the importance of information to public health, novel ways to introduce and teach clinical learners to use resources, how clinical medical librarians learn to do the job and tips for managing clinical medical library programs.

A History of Medical Libraries and Librarianship in the United States: From John Shaw Billings to the Digital Era presents a history of the profession from the beginnings of the Army Surgeon General’s Library in 1836 to today’s era of the digital health sciences library. The purpose of this book is not only to make this history available to the profession’s practitioners, but also to provide context as medical librarians and libraries enter a new age in their history as the digital information environment has undercut the medical library’s previous role as the depository of the print based KBI/information base. The book divides the profession’s history is divided into seven eras: 1. The Era of the Library of the Office of the Army Surgeon General and John Shaw Billings – 1836 – 1898 2. The Era of the Gentleman Physician Librarian – 1898 to 1945 3. The Era of the Development of the Clinical Research Infrastructure (NIH), the Rapid Expansion in Funded and Published Clinical Research and the Emergence of Medical Librarianship as a Profession – 1945 – 1962 4. The Era of the Development of the National Library of Medicine, Online digital Subject Searching (Medline) and the Creation of the National Health Science Library Infrastructure– 1962 – 1975 5. The Medline Era – A Golden Age for Medical Libraries – 1975 – 1995 6. The Era of Universal Access to Information and the Transition from Paper to Digitally Based Medical Libraries – 1995 – 2015 7. The Era of the Digital Health Sciences Library – 2015 – Each era is reviewed through discussing the developments in the field and the factors which drove those developments. The book will provide current and future medical librarians and information specialists an understanding of the development of their profession and some insights into its future.

Supporting tomorrow’s doctors involves preparing them for the technologies that will be available to them. 3D printing is one such technology that is becoming more abundant in health care settings and is similarly a technology libraries are embracing as a new service offering for their communities. 3D Printing in Medical Libraries: A Crash Course in Supporting Innovation in Health Care will provide librarians interested in starting or enhancing a 3D printing service an overview of 3D printing, highlight legal concerns, discuss 3D printing in libraries through a literature review, review survey results on 3D printing services in health sciences and medical libraries, and offer case studies of health sciences and medical libraries currently 3D printing. Additionally, resources for finding medically related models for printing and tips of how to search for models online is also provided, along with resources for creating 3D models from DICOM. Common print problems and troubleshooting tips are also highlighted and lastly, marketing and outreach opportunities are discussed. Herron presents the nitty-gritty of 3D printing without getting too technical, and a wealth of recommended resources is provided to support librarians wishing to delve further into 3D printing. Design thinking and the Maker Movement is also discussed to promote a holistic service offering that supports users not only with the service but the skills to best use the service. Readers will finish the book with a better sense of direction for 3D printing in health sciences and medical libraries and have a guide to establishing or enhancing a 3D printing in their library. This book appeals to health sciences libraries and librarians looking to start a 3D printing service or understand the 3D printing space as it relates to medical education, practice, and research. It serves as: a field guide for starting a new library service a primer for meeting the information needs of medical faculty, staff, and students a useful reference for a deep dive into this space by librarians who are already actively carrying out some of the kinds of work described herein

Liaison roles are generally commonplace in medical and health sciences libraries as librarians strive to develop and enhance relationships and collaborations with clinicians and faculty. While the liaison of the past acted primarily as the main contact between respective departments and the library providing a facilitative function (e.g. arranging for instruction sessions, inviting feedback on the collection, providing updates on new programs and services, etc.), today’s liaison activities are more proactive and robust. The Engaged Health Sciences Library Liaison features ten program descriptions that illustrate how the reach and scope of librarians in the medical/healthcare arena has changed dramatically since the inception of liaison services. The program outcomes described: illustrate a direct impact on curriculum development, address new information types with new access and preservation technologies, expand stakeholder groups, create research and teaching collaborations, and enhance functional roles. This authoritative book copublished by the Medical Library Association demonstrates that collaboration and communication, the basic tenets of a liaison program, breed innovative programs and services that are relevant, current, and valuable.