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- Title
Clinical librarianship in the UK: temporary trend or permanent profession? Part 1: a review of the role of the clinical librarian.
- Authors
Sargeant SJE; Harrison J
- Abstract
BACKGROUND: This paper is the first of a two-part series of articles presenting the role of the clinical librarian (CL) in the UK today. It situates the CL concept historically, and specifically reports the findings from a study in 2002 (Skinner, The Role of the Clinical Librarian in the UK. MSc Dissertation. Loughborough University: Department of Information Science). RELEVANCE: The impetus for the 2002 study was the awareness of an increase in job advertisements within the NHS for roles seeking to enhance the practice of evidence-based medicine, which included elements of clinical librarianship. Therefore the research was undertaken to establish whether this increase was coincidental, or the beginning of a new professional role for librarians. METHODS: A content analysis of CL job advertisements, examining job titles and duties was undertaken. Twenty-three advertisements were scrutinized, and these results are presented here. As a complementary investigation, a postal questionnaire was sent to a sample of practising CLs in the UK. RESULTS: Several duties can be classified as core to the role of the CL. However there is a great diversity of duties attached to this core, reflecting an absence of nationally accepted practice. CONCLUSION: Further work was necessary to assess current practice and how clinical librarianship can continue to grow at local and national levels. This is addressed in Part Two of this series.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; OCCUPATIONAL roles; JOB descriptions; JOB applications; HOSPITAL libraries; EMPLOYEE recruitment; ADVERTISING; QUESTIONNAIRES; CONTENT analysis; LITERATURE reviews; MEDICAL librarianship
- Publication
Health Information & Libraries Journal, 2004, Vol 21, Issue 3, p173
- ISSN
1471-1834
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1471-1842.2004.00510.x