Evolution, revolution, or obsolescence: an examination of writings on the future of health sciences libraries

Abstract

Health sciences libraries are facing enormous challenges. While there is significant national interest in the management of health information, institutions and, concomitantly, funding are focusing on aspects of the management of information and data that falls more readily under the domain of biomedical informaticians than librarians. While learning organizations need more knowledge management (KM), something that certainly falls into the natural domain of health sciences librarians, until recently, few librarians have embraced the new roles associated with KM. For context, comparing the means of both the materials and the personnel budgets found in the 2005–2006 [1] and 2009–2010 [2] Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada, the percentage increase in expenditures for materials was 9.0% total over the 5 years, far below the increase in cost for health sciences resources during the same period, based on past trends [3]. The percentage increase in expenditures on personnel over the same period was an average of only 1.2% per year, suggesting a possible loss of full-time equivalent employees over the 5-year period. At the beginning of the new century, between 2000 and 2005, a number of articles were published in the professional literature describing innovative new roles and competencies for health sciences librarians of the future that would move the profession into a greater position of viability. However, since 2006, there has been a paucity of literature about librarians who have embraced these new roles, and, with the exception of discussions on social networking sites and other commentaries available on the web, the movement toward ensuring our place in the future of knowledge management is slow, if it exists. A brief communication, “Tomorrow's Academic Health Sciences Libraries Today,” included in this issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) as a companion to this comment and opinion piece, presents the results of a survey and semi-structured interviews that establish the directions current academic health sciences libraries are taking to achieve these ends [4]. Literature focusing on the vision for health sciences librarians of the future and the skills necessary to meet that vision is briefly summarized here and compared with comments about future competencies of health sciences librarians disseminated through the web. These observations provide a basis for recommendations to move our profession into a position of strength in the current economic climate and health care environment.