Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship

Citation

Bourke, G. (2008), "Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship", Library Management, Vol. 29 No. 8/9, pp. 820-821. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810917594

As the title suggests, Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship is a textbook directed at an audience of graduate library students and early practitioners. The work is edited by M. Sandra Wood – a highly credentialled and experienced librarian. Sandra states that her aim in compiling this work is to: “reflect current and future trends in health sciences librarianship”. The contributors to this work have been drawn from an array of settings, including university libraries; NLM; medical centre libraries; schools of library and information science; and schools of medicine.

The book is organised into five sections which deliver offerings of essential information about current practices, processes and philosophies; together with ideas and discussions about emerging issues and potential change. The first section is introductory, with chapters that examine professional issues surrounding health sciences librarianship, and the US health care environment. Subsequent sections present chapters on technical services; information literacy; information retrieval; marketing; EBP; health informatics; management in hospital and academic libraries; library space planning; consumer health information, and numerous other areas of interest to students and practitioners.

In an introductory text such as this, it is typical that an overview‐style treatment is applied to the presentation of information – and this remains true of this piece of work. However, in terms of the sheer breadth of topics covered, the content could be described as impressively comprehensive. In fact, I can imagine a readership of librarians (other than the intended audience of graduate students and early practitioners) whose interest may be piqued by many of the chapters offered.

The book appears to be specifically written for an audience within the USA and Canada. With rare exceptions, the contributors draw upon North American examples; and refer to North American situations, institutions, websites and so on. While the substantial coverage of issues pertaining to health sciences librarianship is likely to draw an international readership, the single disappointing feature of this text is that it doesn't really seek to include or accommodate an international perspective. In fact, the very structure of the book lends itself to opportunities for integrating international perspectives within its many chapters, but those opportunities have been missed. An international focus might have been integrated by including prominent non‐US library associations in the glossary; including web addresses for relevant overseas sites in the lists of web sites that occur throughout the book; and, where appropriate, presenting summaries of corresponding international information at the conclusion of a topic or chapter.

Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship stands tall on two fronts: first, it provides comprehensive and articulate overviews of the many subjects associated with this specialization; and second, it achieves its stated aim of reflecting current and future trends in health sciences librarianship. It is a textbook that will be welcomed by both students and practitioners in this specialized field.