Developing a model for information services based on a librarian-user partnership in medical clinics in Bucharest

Abstract

Although in many countries the role of clinical librarian who works outside the medical library’s physical space, in a clinic or hospital where in the context of evidence-based medicine supports the clinical and research activity as a trusted member of a multidisciplinary team has been acknowledged for a long time, in Romania things are quite different. Most medical librarians work in academic medical libraries where they support the educational and research approach of the medical community, providing access to the scientific information in the biomedical field, and having just a coordinating role for the branch libraries in different hospitals. But in the context of the new information and communication technologies and of the developments regarding the electronic library and collections there has been created the necessary framework for a repositioning of medical librarians and for the promotion of a new type of relationship between them and users based on a possible integration of librarians as members into the clinical and research teams. This could lead to a stronger partnership between them. Change can be used for the benefit of both sides and this paper presents in brief a model for a new type of services for the information users in Bucharest medical clinics designed starting from a study of information practices at the level of hospital libraries.