I heartily endorse Mike Roddham's comments (below). We see this
in all health sectors with consumer health, clinical librarians and
peripatetic librarians.
Commercial begins!
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List members may be interested that this is entirely the approach
that Graham Walton and I have adopted in the brand new Library
Association title:
Managing knowledge in health services. Walton & Booth eds.
Library Association, 2000.
If you are going to ICML look out for details of a book launch.
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Commercial ends
We and our contributors felt that traditional skills like cat and class,
though undoubtedly still of value particualrly in management of
information resources should be placed in a subordinate position to
more generic information skills such as filtering, appraising and
orgaanising knowledge bases as well as wider skills such as
marketing, political awareness, training and outreach. Readers can
of course decide for themselves how much is aspiration and how
much is the new environment of health care information
management!
> I think the key to it is to sell our information skills, rather than
> our library stock & services. This is similar to the way that other
> professions attract business on the basis of their personal skill and
> experience, e.g. solicitors, architects. Most of the research I've
> seen on where clinicians seek information says they go to people first
> (colleagues, specialists) before trying services. We need to be in
> the 'people' list.
Andrew Booth BA MSc Dip Lib ALA
Director of Information Resources and
Senior Lecturer - Evidence Based Healthcare Information.
School of Health & Related Research (ScHARR)
Regent Court
30 Regent Street
SHEFFIELD
S1 4DA
Tel: 0114 222 5420 or 5214 Fax: 0114 272 4095
The author of Netting the Evidence:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~scharr/ir/netting.html
and Trawling the Net:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~scharr/ir/trawling.html
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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