Vital pathways for hospital librarians: present and future roles

Abstract

Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today's hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.

The Case for Embedded Hospital Librarianship

“…To improve efficiency and for cost reduction, it is imperative to make the case that librarians be located where the greatest need for their services is in order to assist hospitals in remaining competitive within their markets. Although users now perform many of their own searches, when asked, they will admit that librarian searches are better and more relevant (8).…”

A Web Portal Providing Statewide Access to Licensed Content: Implications for Hospital Librarians

“…A comprehensive publicity plan has now been developed to increase providers' awareness of this resource and encourage increased use. Health sciences librarians throughout the state will continue to be updated on these publicity efforts; those communications will emphasize the value added services that librarians can deliver not only in clinical care but also in administrative decision making, patient safety and risk management issues, patient and family education, and many other areas (3). It also remains important to remind librarians that HEAL-WA cannot be made available as a substitute for an institutional purchase of resources, that institution-wide access to HEAL-WA resources will not be given, and that HEAL-WA access does not include access to UW Health Sciences Library resources.…”

La biblioteca hospitalaria como elemento económicamente rentable para la organización: la inversión retorna

“…El objetivo de este trabajo es demostrar cómo, lejos de ser un gasto o un lujo accesorio, la biblioteca hospitalaria es realmente una inversión para la organización (Holst;Funk;Adams;Bandy;Boss;Hill;Joseph;Lett, 2009) pues desde este departamento se desarrollan herramientas y servicios que impactan directamente en la mejora de la asistencia y la investigación de la organización a través del apoyo en el proceso de gestión del conocimiento de los profesionales.…”