Reference Service in

Health Science Libraries

April Younglove

Anna Huber

LI813XO Emporia State University

What is a “Health Science” Library?

Specialty medical library Hospital library Academic library associated with a

teaching hospital or medical college Community health library Public library Rural library

What community does a Health Science Library serve? Doctors: GP’s, PCP’s, Specialists, Surgeons, Residents,

Interns Nurses Physician’s Assistants Medical Assistants/Aids Faculty Students Patients Community Members Volunteers

Reference Issues in Health Science Libraries Privacy: HIPAA Safety/Legal: Errors may have fatal

consequences Paraprofessionals: Academic vs. Hospital Time Technology: PDA’s

Trends in Health Science Libraries

Evidence based MedicineDefined as: practicing medicine from the

perspective of applying current best evidence from clinical research

Increased need for literature reviews and primary sources

Trends in Health Science Libraries

Clinical Medical Librarianship (Informatics) Introduced in 1974 by G. LambLibrarian functions as part of the medical

teamLibrarian has training in both information

science and medical science