New measures for new roles: defining and measuring the current practices of health sciences librarians. (17/97)

The roles of academic health sciences librarians are continually evolving as librarians initiate new programs and services in response to developments in computer technology and user demands. However, statistics currently collected by libraries do not accurately reflect or measure these new roles. It is essential for librarians to document, measure, and evaluate these new activities to continue to meet the needs of users and to ensure the viability of their professional role. To determine what new measures should be compiled, the authors examined current statistics, user demands, professional literature, and current activities of librarians as reported in abstracts of poster sessions at Medical Library Association annual meetings. Three new categories of services to be measured are proposed. The first, consultation, groups activities such as quality filtering and individual point-of-need instruction. The second, outreach, includes activities such as working as liaisons, participating in grand rounds or morning report, and providing continuing education. The third area, Web authoring, encompasses activities such as designing Web pages, creating online tutorials, and developing new products. Adding these three measures to those already being collected will provide a more accurate and complete depiction of the services offered by academic health sciences librarians.  (+info)

AN INTERNATIONAL SCHEME FOR DUPLICATE MEDICAL LITERATURE. (18/97)

In 1960 the World Health Organization initiated a new scheme for the international exchange of duplicate medical literature. An account is given of its mode of operation and of the results achieved to date.  (+info)

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERLIBRARY LOAN SERVICE IN JAPANESE MEDICAL LIBRARIES. (19/97)

An interlibrary loan system in Japan was established by the Japanese Medical Library Association in 1927. Since then the members of the Association have increased from five to forty-eight-all forty-six medical school libraries and two dental school libraries. The Association's service has been enlarged, particularly since World War II. The number of interlibrary loans among member libraries has increased greatly, especially since 1954, thanks to the development of union lists and photoduplication service. Today, more than 80 percent of the requests are filled with photocopied materials. On the other hand, the growth of medical literature has made interlibrary cooperation very necessary, especially internationally. An agreement was made in 1948 concerning photoduplication service between the Japanese Medical Library Association and the National Library of Medicine.  (+info)

EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARIAN IN GREAT BRITAIN. (20/97)

This paper describes the education of the librarians under whose care the medical libraries of Great Britain have flourished and the way junior assistants now move toward higher qualification. It expresses the hope that the changed Library Association syllabus gives the medical library assistant an earlier chance of using his knowledge of medical library practice in the papers presented; that the inclusion of medical material in the examination will encourage library schools to provide appropriate instruction in this field, thus achieving a system like that in the United States. For its encouragement of continuing education for the senior librarian, our debt is acknowledged to the Medical Section or Group of the Library Association, which through its meetings gives opportunity for cooperation and discussion of suggestions for further improvement.  (+info)

Health sciences librarians' attitudes toward the Academy of Health Information Professionals. (21/97)

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to ascertain health sciences librarians' attitudes toward the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP). SAMPLE: Systematic sampling was used to select 210 names from the list of members of the Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association. METHODS: A questionnaire containing open- and closed-ended questions was used to collect the data. RESULTS: A total of 135 usable questionnaires were returned. Of the respondents, 34.8% are members of the academy and most are at the senior or distinguished member levels. The academy gives them a sense of professionalism and helps them to keep current with new trends. The majority of participants (65.2%) are not members of the academy. Among the various reasons proffered are that neither institutions nor employers require it and that there is no obvious benefit to belonging to the academy. CONCLUSIONS: More research needs to be done with a larger sample size to determine the attitudes of health sciences librarians, nationwide, toward the academy.  (+info)

Imperatives for continuing research education: results of a Medical Library Association survey. (22/97)

This paper reports the results of a survey assessing the interest of Medical Library Association (MLA) members in acquiring or improving research skills through continuing education (CE). It describes respondents' educational preparation for research and selected research activities, reviews MLA's experiences with offering CE courses on research topics, and discusses MLA's role in providing education to prepare members for research. The paper includes recommendations for improving research skills through CE and other professional activities. Topics of greatest interest to MLA members were survey development, problem identification, evaluation and cost studies, survey methodology, and methods of data collection. Many respondents preferred local courses. Academic health sciences librarians, as a group, were found to be more productive publishers than hospital librarians. Many respondents reported the availability of free or subsidized research-support services, but more than half did not. More than 90% of respondents indicated that MLA should actively encourage, require, or offer research education. A comprehensive plan for obtaining research skills through CE, along with individual self-assessment and counseling, is recommended.  (+info)

That vision thing. (23/97)

The 1991 Janet Doe lecturer describes the vision held by the founders of the Medical Library Association of medical information being readily accessible to health professionals no matter how far they were located from major medical centers, and traces the pursuit of this vision to current outreach activities.  (+info)

Findings from the most recent Medical Library Association salary survey. (24/97)

OBJECTIVE: The objective is to provide information on basic issues in library management identified by the Medical Library Association's (MLA's) seventh triennial salary survey. METHODS: The survey was a Web-based questionnaire. A nonrandom sample of persons was obtained by posting messages to MLA's membership and to the MEDLIB-L e-mail discussion list. Employed MLA members and nonmembers employed in medical library settings filled out a Web-based form designed using common gateway interface (CGI) programming. RESULTS: Six hundred forty-five usable responses were analyzed by the Hay Group and presented in the MLA publication, Hay Group/MLA 2001 Compensation and Benefits Survey. Results from the 2001 survey in this article focus on pay and job satisfaction. Salary survey results since 1983 were analyzed to review trends in seniority, diversity, and pay equity. CONCLUSIONS: Given the age progression of respondents from 1983 to 2001, it is clear that succession planning is a core issue for medical libraries. Although efforts to create more diversity in medical libraries in member organizations have started to yield results, pay for white respondents has increased at a higher rate than for other racial categories. The authors found that the pay-for-performance system in the organizations of approximately two-thirds of the respondents is suboptimized and that most of the reasons medical librarians cite for leaving their organization can be addressed and potentially changed by management. Results from the eighth salary survey, slated to be conducted in the fall of 2004, will further track these trends and issues.  (+info)