Medical Information on the Internet |
A medical librarian is a skilled professional who has a master's degree in library and information sciences. Medical librarians' primary concerns are research—helping other medical professionals, like doctors, nurses and therapists, to find books, articles, and Websites that will help them provide better patient care. Medical librarians also help health consumers and other nonprofessionals find the answers to medical questions. Medical librarians work in many different settings: hospitals, colleges, drug and insurance companies, and public libraries. |
Medical librarians are able to not only find information, but evaluate and organize it as well. Librarians choose most of the books and journals that reside in their libraries; they make sure the items are located in places where they can easily be found. They evaluate and purchase the computer systems that assist in organizing that material. Often, they help to design those computer systems.
Medical librarians are also teachers. They instruct those who come into the library on the use of the library itself: how to use the Internet and computer products that are located in the library. They teach library users on a one-to-one basis or in a classroom setting.
For more information on the job of a medical librarian, you can download brochures (in English and in Spanish; link opens new window) on the profession, published by the Medical Library Association.
