Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2012

Abstract

Medical librarianship is changing in healthcare environments. Since 1996, by which time the standards that determine how hospitals acquire accreditation changed, many hospitals are acquiring accreditation without a qualified medical librarian on site. For that reason, it has become even more important that healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses and other clinicians, learn to access and evaluate quality information as an integral part of their academic training. Because of this, medical clinicians must begin their careers with strong research skills. These skills must be attained during their academic matriculation and studies in the field of librarianship have shown that departmental outreach hours are an extremely effective way to promote library services to university students, as well as faculty. Other methods, such as technology applications, are useful, but have their limitations. This paper reviews current literature on the vital importance of inperson outreach to future healthcare professionals, and illustrates these insights with a discussion of my personal experiences as a health sciences librarian at Georgia State University.

Comments

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article submitted for consideration in Public Services Quarterly, copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC; Public Services Quarterly is available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15228959.2011.562110.

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