RESUMEN
Outreach is now a prevailing activity in health sciences libraries. As an introduction to a series of papers on current library outreach to rural communities, this paper traces the evolution of such activities by proponents in health sciences libraries from 1924 to 1992. Definitions of rural and outreach are followed by a consideration of the expanding audience groups. The evolution in approaches covers the package library and enhancements in extension service, library development, circuit librarianship, and self-service arrangements made possible by such programs as the Georgia Interactive Network (GaIN) and Grateful Med.
Asunto(s)
Hospitales Rurales , Almacenamiento y Recuperación de la Información , Bibliotecas Médicas , Servicios de Biblioteca , Servicios de Salud Rural , Redes de Comunicación de Computadores , Grateful Med , Historia del Siglo XX , Almacenamiento y Recuperación de la Información/historia , Internet , Bibliotecas de Hospitales , Bibliotecas Médicas/historia , Asociaciones de Bibliotecas/historia , MEDLARS , National Library of Medicine (U.S.) , Consulta Remota , Servicios de Salud Rural/historia , Población Rural , Telecomunicaciones , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The Medical Library Association Oral History Program uses accepted oral history techniques to collect and preserve interviews with members. The original taped interviews and transcripts are kept in the Medical Library Association archives and made available for research purposes; edited copies of the interviews are distributed through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and members are encouraged to borrow and read the histories. Summaries of forty-three interviews provide personal views on health sciences librarianship and the Medical Library Association.
Asunto(s)
Entrevistas como Asunto , Bibliotecólogos/historia , Bibliotecas Médicas/historia , Asociaciones de Bibliotecas/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The Medical Library Association Oral History Program uses accepted oral history techniques to collect and preserve interviews with members. The original taped interviews and transcripts are kept in the Medical Library Association archives and made available for research purposes; edited copies of the interviews are distributed through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and members are encouraged to borrow and read the histories. Summaries of forty-three interviews provide personal views on health sciences librarianship and the Medical Library Association.
Asunto(s)
Archivos , Historiografía , Bibliotecas Médicas , Bibliotecología , Sociedades , Humanos , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
The Medical Library Association Oral History Program uses accepted oral history techniques to collect and preserve interviews with members. The original taped interviews and transcripts are kept in the Medical Library Association archives and made available for research purposes; edited copies of the interviews are distributed through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and members are encouraged to borrow and read the histories. Summaries of forty-three interviews provide personal views on health sciences librarianship and the Medical Library Association.
Asunto(s)
Entrevistas como Asunto , Bibliotecólogos/historia , Bibliotecas Médicas/historia , Asociaciones de Bibliotecas/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Grabación en Cinta , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
In the past two decades, consumer health libraries have proliferated in response to the changing health care environment and consumer demand. While this growth of consumer health resources and services has been extensively described in the literature, there is little documentation about the impact and value of providing consumer health information. This paper explores the issues of impact and value as examined in a retrospective study of consumers who received health information from the Delaware Academy of Medicine's Consumer Health Library during 1995. In this study, 270 adults were mailed a questionnaire that focused on whether the information influenced decisions, actions, anxiety levels, and patient-provider communication. The questionnaire also addressed the value of such library service in terms of likelihood of repeat use, recommendation to others, and willingness to pay. The results, based on a return rate of 86.7%, identified effects of library-supplied consumer health information that extend beyond the anticipated acquisition of knowledge to specific actions and effects on anxiety. The value of consumer health library information service was shown by the extremely high percentage of probable repeat use and recommendation to others, the willingness of 83.8% of the respondents to pay for such service, and the copious comments volunteered by the respondents.
Asunto(s)
Educación en Salud/estadística & datos numéricos , Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en Salud , Bibliotecas Médicas/estadística & datos numéricos , Servicios de Biblioteca/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Anciano , Comportamiento del Consumidor , Delaware , Escolaridad , Femenino , Humanos , Servicios de Biblioteca/normas , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Vigilancia de la Población , Encuestas y CuestionariosRESUMEN
To explore the information needs of rural health professionals, a retrospective study was undertaken of 1,224 document delivery requests made during the course of three outreach projects in west and central Illinois. The 547 unique journals from which the articles were requested were analyzed for frequency of request, subject content, and inclusion on core lists. These rural health professionals were found to request current information on a wide range of topics in clinical medicine, nursing, health administration, allied health, social sciences, and basic sciences. While 10% of the titles filled 37% of the requests, 58% of the titles were requested once and filled 26% of the requests. A high correlation with Abridged Index Medicus and Brandon/Hill list titles was found, but titles from either of these lists could fill no more than 30% of the total requests. Besides demonstrating the complex information needs of rural health professionals and depicting the difficulty of building a collection to support them, the study exemplifies a method for need-based journal collection development and begins to identify titles commonly requested in a rural health setting.
Asunto(s)
Bibliotecas Médicas/estadística & datos numéricos , Desarrollo de la Colección de Bibliotecas/estadística & datos numéricos , Servicios de Salud Rural/estadística & datos numéricos , Publicaciones Seriadas/estadística & datos numéricos , Relaciones Comunidad-Institución , Grateful Med/estadística & datos numéricos , Illinois , MEDLINE/estadística & datos numéricos , National Library of Medicine (U.S.) , Estudios Retrospectivos , Descriptores , Estados UnidosRESUMEN
An outreach project which juxtaposed technology (Grateful Med) and a human intermediary (a circuit librarian) to serve health professionals in a rural area of Illinois is described. The five goals of the project were: promote Grateful Med as a clinical tool; introduce circuit librarianship to Illinois; heighten the awareness of health professionals to the value of timely information services; increase the visibility of the resource library; and evaluate the impact of the two components, Grateful Med and circuit librarianship. While the project was well-received and enjoyed short-term success, sustaining the same level of information activity post-project has not been achieved. Insuring utilization of health information by remote health professionals may be characterized as a Sisyphean task.
Asunto(s)
Capacitación de Usuario de Computador , Grateful Med , Servicios de Información/provisión & distribución , Bibliotecas Médicas/organización & administración , Recolección de Datos , Educación Continua , Illinois , Área sin Atención Médica , Evaluación de Programas y Proyectos de Salud , Población RuralRESUMEN
The twentieth anniversary of circuit librarianship is a fitting occasion to reflect on its history and success. The tradition of circuit riders is traced and the hallmarks and achievements of circuit librarian programs are described. Providing information services to remote health professionals has been a longstanding concern of medical librarianship, and it is presently a major focus of the National Library of Medicine. It is suggested that widespread adoption of circuit librarianship would not only satisfy the information needs of unserved health professionals but could enhance the image of the profession given the centrality of the librarian, not the library, in this model.