Strategies for Library Support of Research: Health Sciences

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Strategies for Library Support of Research
Health Sciences Bioinformatics Models

• Research, Teaching, and Learning Briefing Session
• May 23, 2007
• ARL Membership Meeting, St. Louis
• Neil Rambo
• ARL Visiting Program Officer
• University of Washington Libraries

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Why is Health Sciences a model?

• Patient care mission
• Influence of sponsored research
• Connection between professional training
  practice

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Why is Health Sciences a model?

• Patient care mission
• Human life
• Time critical
• Regulated environment
• Influence of sponsored research
• Connection between professional training
  practice

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Why is Health Sciences a model?

• Patient care mission
• Influence of sponsored research
• Time pressures
• Competition
• Accountability
• Connection between professional training
  practice

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Why is Health Sciences a model?

• Patient care mission
• Influence of sponsored research
• Connection between professional training
  practice
• Undergraduate medical education ?
• clinical rotations ? residency ? professional
  practice

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How has this affected medical libraries?

• Focus on user needs
• health professional
• patient
• Early adopters of technology
• Focus on solving problems
• bibliography ? evidence

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Example innovations/responses

• Clinical medical librarian
• Liaison librarian
• Integrated advanced information management
  systems
• Informationist or information-specialist-in-contex
  t
• Bioinformatics specialist

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Example innovations/responses

• Clinical medical librarian
• Piloted in 1970s
• Literature Attached To CHart (LATCH)
• Economic reality limits spread
• Today evolution from searching ? teaching EBM
  techniques
• Liaison librarian
• Integrated advanced information management
  systems
• Informationist or information-specialist-in-contex
  t
• Bioinformatics specialist

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Example innovations/responses

• Clinical medical librarian
• Liaison librarian
• Librarian assigned to unit
• Learn professional language, issues, culture
• Less selector and more teacher/consultant
• Look for opportunities to make connections
• Integrated advanced information management
  systems
• Informationist or information-specialist-in-contex
  t
• Bioinformatics specialist

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Example innovations/responses

• Clinical medical librarian
• Liaison librarian
• Integrated advanced information management
  systems
• 1980s-90s, Nina Matheson
• Library as part of an enterprise information
  system
• Library integrated in a technology/organization
  nexus
• context-appropriate information, linking the
  published
• biomedical knowledge base with clinical,
  research,
• educational and administrative information
• Informationist or information-specialist-in-contex
  t
• Bioinformatics specialist

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Example innovations/responses

• Clinical medical librarian
• Liaison librarian
• Integrated advanced information management
  systems
• Informationist or information-specialist-in-contex
  t
• 2000, Florance Davidoff
• Dual track professional training
• NIH pilot funding for individuals/institutions
  (2003, 2006)
• Bioinformatics specialist

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Example innovations/responses

• Clinical medical librarian
• Liaison librarian
• Integrated advanced information management
  systems
• Informationist or information-specialist-in-contex
  t
• Bioinformatics specialist

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Bioinformatics Specialist

• Michele Tennant, PhD, MLIS
• Health Sciences Libraries
• University of Florida
• Video by Ned Davis
• UF HSC Libraries

Audio available athttp//www.arl.org/arldocs/reso
urces/pubs/mmproceedings/150/rambo.zip
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My own evolution

• From Health Sciences ?

• Biosciences (UW)
• Cyberinfrastructure (UW)
• Library support for research eScience (ARL)

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From service to added value

• Environment
• Ubiquitous access
• technology
• content
• Time pressures
• Funding competition
• Attention
• Awash in info chaos

• Service ? Value
• Save time synthesized results
• Improve research outcomes
• Improve compliance
• Costs (?)
• PIM
• Publication assistance
• Data management

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How do these models fit in a broader
context?How extensible are they to other
disciplines and domains?What others can we
point to?What others do we need to develop?