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The cooperative acquisition and retention of health sciences journals by a group of small and medium-sized Veterans Administration hospital libraries is described. The "holder of record" system emphasizes a contractual agreement that has freed resources for expansion of the group's journal holdings and distributed responsibility for interlibrary loan among the libraries involved.
A satellite communications service used for the continuing education of hospital staff can be successfully managed by a hospital library. Organization of the service includes managing equipment and personnel, finding programming, marketing the service, arranging for teleconferences, and establishing videotape procedures. A satellite communications program gives the library the opportunity to establish new partnerships with other departments in the hospital as well as with other segments of the community.
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A building program for a 400-bed hospital library was developed by formulating a list of questions that would help to clarify an understanding of the library's needs, by visiting nearby libraries in similar institutions, and by preparing a program planning guide.
Growing pressures for more effective education programs at community hospitals demand better and more responsive hospital library resources and services. It is suggested that, with a modest amount of additional training and support, a community hospital librarian can play a key role in (1) improving the effectiveness of the hospital's library services and resources, (2) assisting hospital educators with the task of developing, implementing, and evaluating education programs, and (3) facilitating coordination of health information resources and services with all aspects of hospital education programs. An expanded, more active role, that of the Health Information Specialist, is suggested for hospital librarians. A one-week training program for librarians and special orientation for hospital educators and administrators plus followup field consultation for all three is described and proposed as an implementation strategy to provide the background and impetus needed to help hospital librarians evolve and expand their functional role into that of a Health Information Specialist.
A study of the 1975 borrowing requests made by all hospital libraries in central western Massachusetts showed that there were 4,368 requests for articles contained in 1,071 different periodical titles. The numbers of requests per title ranged from eighty-nine for one title to one for each of 123 titles. A graph of the data showed a geometric progression, and the Bradford constants for this dispersion averaged 1.28. The percentage of total requests related to the age of requested issues varied from 62.48% for items not over five years old and 78.15% for issues not over ten years, to 95.57% for materials not over thirty years old. Bradford constants averaged 2.13. Of the thirty most requested periodical titles, sixteen were published in foreign countries, as follows: England--ten; Netherlands--three; Australia--one; Canada--one; and Sweden--one. The study's significance included its total coverage of a relatively large and isolated region, its focus upon the records of requesting rather than lending libraries, and its analysis of interlibrary rather than in-house activities.
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In an attempt to determine how efforts to contain the soaring cost of U.S. health care in the 1980s have affected the size and stature of Michigan hospital libraries, a survey was sent out in April 1988 to 156 hospitals across the state. Fifteen of the 97 responding institutions did not maintain libraries during the survey period and were subsequently excluded from the study. Total FTEs in the 82 responding libraries decreased by 6.1%. In the 69 libraries reporting budget data, materials budgets increased, but by less than 7% a year. Eighteen of the 82 libraries had positions reclassified, with 12 (14.6%) assigned downgrades. The trend toward reduced size and perceived value of hospital libraries that emerged from the survey points to the need for regular collection of comprehensive hospital library statistics to assist hospital librarians in effective direction of their profession's course.
This article introduces the synoptic catalog, a computerized combination of a hospital library catalog and a bookseller's catalog. Majors Scientific Books and Richmond Memorial Hospital Libraries in Virginia collaborated to develop the model. A logical evolution in catalog theory and practice, the design expands the identification, collocation, and evaluation functions of the traditional library catalog. This article explains the procedures and specifications, including system requirements, record mapping, design details, scope, record transmission, timing, record importing, and file maintenance. The result is a single-interface catalog providing simultaneous and consistent searching of combined information databases. Bookseller records in the synoptic catalog can be modified to indicate library ownership. The synoptic catalog design supports cost-effective collection development and focuses on actual information needs of library users. This report discusses user convenience, budget requirements, publisher advertising, collection development, productivity, and library-bookseller relations. User response to the catalog has been favorable, but improvements are needed.
This paper examines the concept of productivity measurement and its application in a hospital library. Component steps in development of a typical productivity measurement system are described, including a process for calculation of quantitative workload standards. Problems and potential benefits of participating in productivity measurement programs are discussed, and managerial strategies suggested.
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This article presents a study on reference services in German hospital libraries. Information for the study was obtained through personal interviews conducted at four libraries in Stuttgart, West Germany in August 1985. A detailed questionnaire covering services provided, staff training, and use of computers was used during the interviews. While reference services are minimal at the libraries in the study, the commitment to patient library services in Germany is exceptional.
QUESTION: What are some of the historical societal, medical, and public health trends leading to today's provision of hospital library services to patients? DATA SOURCES: Literature from the archives of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association and other library sources, medical journals, primary historical documents, and texts from the history of medicine form the core of this review. STUDY SELECTION: The period of review extends from about 1790 through 1950 and focuses solely on trends in the United States. Of primary concern are explicitly documented examples that appear to illustrate the patient-physician relationship and those between librarians and their patient-patrons during the earliest years of the profession's development. DATA EXTRACTION: An historical timeline was created to allow the identification of major trends that may have affected library services. Multiple literature searches were conducted using library, medical, and health anthropology resources. When possible, primary sources were preferred over reviews. MAIN RESULTS: Juxtapositioning historical events allows the reader to obtain an overview of the roots of consumer health services in medical libraries and to consider their potential legacy in today's health care libraries. CONCLUSION: This review article highlights early developments in hospital library service to patients. Further research is needed to verify a preliminary conclusion that in some medical library settings, services to the general public are shaped by the broader health care environment as it has evolved.
In these times of economic constraint, libraries of all types are under increasing pressure to evaluate their services. Hospital libraries face a particular challenge because the goals of the health care system demand that the relevance of library services to patient care be determined. The hospital librarians in Rochester, New York, responded to this challenge by developing a research project that explored the impact of library services on clinical decision making. A systematically sampled group of 448 physicians in the Rochester area agreed to participate in the study between September 1990 and March 1991. The physicians were asked to request some information related to a current clinical case and then to evaluate its impact on the care of their patients. Senior medical staff or administrators acted as study facilitators in each of the fifteen participating hospitals. As a result of the information provided by the library, 80% of the 208 physicians who returned their questionnaires said that they probably or definitely handled some aspect of patient care differently than they would have handled it otherwise. Changes in the following specific aspects of care were reported by the physicians: diagnosis (29%), choice of tests (51%), choice of drugs (45%), reduced length of hospital stay (19%), and advice given to the patient (72%). Physicians also said that the information provided by the library contributed to their ability to avoid the following: hospital admission (12%), patient mortality (19%), hospital-acquired infection (8%), surgery (21%), and additional tests or procedures (49%). The physicians rated the information provided by the library more highly than that provided by other information sources such as diagnostic imaging, lab tests, and discussions with colleagues. In addition to confirming earlier research findings that information provided by hospital libraries is perceived by physicians as having a significant impact on clinical decision making, the results increase our store of scientific knowledge about the specific nature and extent of the impact of information provided by the hospital library.