The Medical Librarian is a professionally educated individual who is responsible for the organization and dissemination of health, scientific and clinical, as well as general information to professionals and staff in a health care delivery or educational setting. The Librarian is responsible for building and arranging the institution's information resources. Other activities may include conducting research, writing abstracts, or writing for publications. While duties and responsibilities may vary depending upon the size of the employing institution, the Medical Librarian's responsibilities are divided into two basic functions: public services and technical services. Public services involve providing timely, accurate and relevant information to health professionals. This will include conducting literature searches, compiling bibliographies, handling inter-library loan services and bibliographic instruction. Technical services are the "behind-the-scenes" operations such as selection of book titles, journals and audiovisuals, acquisitions and cataloging. The Medical Librarian must also keep abreast of new developments in computer and information delivery technologies. Medical libraries vary greatly in size from small one-person entities with a few hundred titles to vast institutions with larger staffing needs and hundreds of thousands of titles. This range offers many opportunities for librarians with varying work styles and patterns. In smaller libraries, the librarian generally will handle both public and technical services, as well as preparing the budget, supervising support staff and overseeing other administrative matters. In larger facilities, librarians can specialize in a single area, such as cataloging, administration or reference. The medical librarian frequently serves on administrative committees within their employing institution and/or may have faculty status if working in an educational setting. The medical librarian must be organized, have good analytical skills and be able to work well with people. He or she works closely with physicians and other healthcare workers seeking information and must be friendly, approachable and service oriented.

A Master's Degree in Library and Information Science (MLS) from an American Library Association (ALA) accredited school is required

• Masters Degree

Opportunities will continue to be best in special and research libraries, especially for librarians with knowledge of scientific and technical fields such as medicine. Individuals skilled in developing computerized library systems will also have better than average employment prospects. Employment of librarians is expected to grow more slowly than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. The limited growth in employment of librarians during the 1980’s is expected to continue. However, the number of job openings resulting from the need to replace librarians who leave the occupation is expected to increase by 2005, as many workers reach retirement age. Willingness to relocate will greatly enhance job prospects. Opportunities will be best for librarians outside traditional settings. Nontraditional library settings include medical settings, information brokers, private corporations, and consulting firms. Many companies are turning to librarians because of their excellent research and organizational skills, and knowledge of library automation systems. Librarians can review the vast amount of information that is available and analyze, evaluate, and organize it according to a company’s specific needs. Librarians working in these settings are often classified as systems analysts, data base specialists, managers, and researchers

$47,300

• University Of Missouri - Columbia School Of Information Science & Learning Technologies

• Aft Healthcare
• American Library Association
• Medical Library Association