What are medical libraries to do? From the Countway at Harvard…

From JDD:  My last post had to do with the future of hospital libraries and librarians and Connie Schardt outlined what the MLA is doing.  This, from Harvard, addresses what libraries in medical schools need to prepare themselves to do. (If we/they are not already!)

Posted by Isaac (“Zak”) Kohane August 26, 2009 HERE in Countway’s blog…

This is not an abstract question about the future of libraries, although that is also an interesting question. It is a question about what the medical school accrediting organizations have determined. “The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree in U.S. and Canadian medical schools. The LCME is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association.” and this is what they had to say (the bold face is mine for emphasis):

D.        Information Resources and Library Services

ER-11 The medical school must have access to well-maintained library and information facilities, sufficient in size, breadth of holdings, and information technology to support its education and other missions.

There should be physical or electronic access to leading biomedical, clinical, and other relevant periodicals, the current numbers of which should be readily available. The library and other learning resource centers must be equipped to allow students to access information electronically, as well as to use self-instructional materials.

ER-12 The library and information services staff must be responsive to the needs of the faculty, residents and students of the medical school.

A professional staff should supervise the library and information services, and provide training in information management skills. The library and information services staff should be familiar with current regional and national information resources and data systems, and with contemporary information technology.

[Revised annotation approved by the LCME in October 2007 and effective immediately.]

Both school officials and library/information services staff should facilitate access of faculty, residents, and medical students to information resources, addressing their needs for information during extended hours and at dispersed sites.

(This is taken from: http://www.lcme.org/functions2008jun.pdf found at:http://www.lcme.org/standard.htm
Hat tip David Osterbur.)

These are important recommendations and ones which foreshadow trends from the very near future. We have embraced this educational mission from access of electronic resources to teaching biomedical researchers how to perform bioinformatics-enabled research (see the bioinformatics nanocourses offered to all by Reddy Galli— details here ). The central question is whether librarian training will embrace the information technology that will be required to keep libraries current and relevant to their patrons. The answer to that question will determine where the future librarians are trained and that will in turn determine how central libraries remain to the academic mission.

MY question about all of us is will we librarians (and students and recent grads) embrace the idea of acquiring and advancing these new skills, and is the answer related to where we are in our career development?  Are we willing to take the time to learn this new stuff, and are we willing to wait for salaries to catch up that reflect a new breed of librarian??  Will acquiring new skills make us more employable or help protect our jobs and our libraries? I used to think YES, but am not so sure these days…

Read the blog at http://hmscountway.blogspot.com/

From the Medical Library Association on the survival of hospital libraries

by Connie Schardt, MLA President

…The world of academic medical libraries is also rapidly changing and positions are being lost, space is being challenged and budgets reduced. MLA has a strong program of advocacy and tries to provide all health science librarians with the skills, knowledge, and networking needed to successfully manage access to quality health information:

• We are reviewing our continuing education program to make sure that the courses needed to maintain basic competencies are readily available to members. http://www.mlanet.org/education/policy/index.html
• The Benchmarking project provides members with comparable data about the services and resources of hospital libraries. (The 2007 survey data is based on the records of 375 hospital libraries.) http://www.mlanet.org/members/benchmark/index.html
• The Research Section through a survey of MLA Leadership identified priority topics for research. The top question is — “In what ways do library services improve or benefit health care education and patient care?” Here’s an opportunity for Sections and Chapters to collaborate and develop a research proposal or project to address this vital question. http://www.mlanet.org/research/agenda_2008.html
• The Vital Pathways was charged “to review existing data and trends in the status of hospital librarians, collect data on the links between libraries and quality and financial outcomes, and develop an action plan for MLA to use this information to influence hospital decision-makers and key leaders in the health care field.” The groundwork has been done.Many of the reports and resources are available at http://www.mlanet.org/resources/vital/
• MLA tracks changes in hospital library status and offers to send letters of support to appropriate hospital administrators.http://www.mlanet.org/resources/vital/status_form.html
• MLA provides a large, geographically-dispersed network of colleagues who will support and mentor individuals in planning their future career moves, whether that is within health science librarianship or out in the broader library realm. http://www.mlanet.org/mentor/
• The NN/LM has developed a ROI calculator to help quantify the value of library resources and service. http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/roi.html
• MLA maintains an Allied Representative to the JCAHO and monitors the evolution of library and information standards within other appropriate organizations.http://www.mlanet.org/resources/

We all have to factor in personal responsibility for the sustainability of our professional positions. But, especially in these tough economic times, it’s essential to recognize that there will be circumstances where even the most consistently high performing librarian may find themselves red-lined out of a job.

What else can we be doing to help you?  Please share your ideas and suggestions with the MLA Board, Section Chairs, and Chapter leadership.

See more at http://connections.mlanet.org/ and about MLA at:  http://www.mlanet.org/

MLGSCA Scholarships Announced

Three scholarships of $1000 are awarded annually to excellent library/information science students!

Who is eligible?

• Any individual who is enrolled in or entering an ALA-accredited masters program in library and information science who shows evidence of interest (through their application) in health sciences librarianship
• Priority will be given to applicants enrolled in a library school located in Southern California or Arizona
• How to apply?
  • For additional information on eligibility and application materials go to: http://www.mlgsca.mlanet.org/students.htm

Professor Tom Wilding will be our guest Thursday, August 27!

With your votes in, I have decided to host Tom here on Thursday, the 27th.  Please come any time after 5-5:30, which is when Tom plans to  arrive.  I will have light refreshments but would appreciate your bringing something to share. If anyone would like to do a quick dinner afterwards at the Arizona Center, I am game for that! Thanks. See you all in a couple of weeks!   We are a the  corner of    5th St and Van Buren. If it is D-Backs game night, tell the attendant that you are coming to the library, which is is Bldgt1. JDD

Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy three years….from Mark Funk, MA, AHIP

From Doody’s Core Titles:  At the recent Medical Library Association annual meeting, the main concern I heard from almost everyone was about his or her budget situation. I’ve been in collection development since 1980, and while we faced budget problems in the 80s and 90s, this current downturn is far deeper, and according to some economists, will last much longer. Some say we should expect no relief before 2012. That’s a long time in the publishing and library world, and we should expect some changes. How might our environment change in the next few years?

Many libraries now purchase journal packages through consortia. While they have saved us some money, even price caps won’t help much with a budget lower than last year’s. The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) released a statement in January on the global economic crisis and its impact on consortial licenses. The Coalition predicts significant, widespread budget cuts for libraries and consortia, and expects these cuts to be prolonged. The statement asks publishers to be flexible in their pricing, and to seek creative solutions that allow libraries to keep their licenses without a major loss of access. Both the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries and the Medical Library Association endorsed this statement. The Association of Research Libraries also released a statement this year, reinforcing the ICOLC statement. Both statements called for price reductions and encouraged publishers to be open to midterm negotiations of contracts. It will be…Read entire post here.