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Value of Medical Libraries

Value of Medical Libraries

"Hospital librarians and the resources they provide, facilitate improved clinical decision-making and higher quality healthcare across the care continuum, including post-acute care settings. Their contributions also provide valuable financial incentives that include preventing adverse events, reducing unnecessary treatments and tests, and reducing length of stay." 


(MLA's Advocacy Statement Dec 2021 "Partner with Hospital Librarians to Improve Patient Care")
Advocacy Statement - Hospital Library Caucus - LibGuides at Medical Library Association - Advocacy Task Force

Standards of Practice for Hospital Librarians

  • Demonstrate the commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all health care environments

  • Create consistency through the use of the broader term hospital or health sciences library in place of medical library.

  • Bring to light the increasing involvement of librarians with IT applications and teams, including KBI source links in electronic health records (EHR), mobile application support, and interactions with electronic resource products and vendors.

  • Broaden the concept of library space to include physical and virtual libraries.

  • Highlight new research available for calculating staffing ratios and coordinating staffing with library service levels.

  • Expand roles in teaching, researching, and appraising evidence-based literature across clinical specialties and to hospital staff at every level.

  • Emphasize the significance of the librarian having an advanced degree and AHIP certification

  • Expand suggested duties of the librarian to include

    • Support for publishing and adhering to copyright laws.

    • Developing a needs assessment and strategic plan for the library.

    • Planning physical and virtual library spaces including an intra- or internet presence.

  • Reference additional materials to support these recommended, evidence-based library practices.

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