The Education and Training of Health Sciences Librarians is a
Shared Responsibility
The NLM Planning Panel on the Education
and Training of Health Sciences Librarians, of which Neil Rambo
was a member, submitted its report to the NLM Board of Regents on
September 28. The Panel called for health sciences librarians,
professional organizations (such as MLA), schools of library and
information science, and NLM to all take responsibilities to
assure that "society benefits from the skills of health sciences
librarians," and "that persons who choose health sciences
librarianship will be properly educated and trained and that they
have opportunity to engage in the most important work concerning
information and health care." The panel developed a series of
goals:
- Prepare for the new forms of information, new users, and
new practice patterns that may be required for health sciences
librarianship.
- Match the capabilities of health sciences librarians to the
needs of employers.
- Update and enhance the curricula of Schools of Library and
Information Science.
- Explore new approaches and degree programs for preparation
of health sciences librarians to assume new roles.
- Foster educational programs enabling health sciences
librarians already in the workplace to update and extend their
professional education and training.
- Experiment with alternative methods for adult
learning.
- Attract the best and brightest candidates the current
market can provide.
- Achieve greater cultural and ethnic diversity in the
profession.
The report recommends that NLM establish a program of
"challenge grants" to support planning for the implementation of
goals outlined by the panel. Key organizations and institutions
that are prepared to share responsibility for this problem would
be identified by this grant program. Further, the challenge
grants would foster the formation of alliances and collaborative
work toward achieving common goals. A final version of the panel
report is in preparation.
Supplement, November-December 1994 -- Vol. 25, Number 6
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