Abstract
Background: The Clinical Library (CL) is a virtual library of books, journals, drug information, and patient information. It has no hard copy books or journals to lend. Objectives: On the 10-year anniversary of the CL, feedback from information skills training indicated a need for a user assessment survey to ensure that the CL continues to meet the medical information needs of the modern clinician. The study was conducted to assess the level of electronic information use, the geographical distribution of users, and the frequency of use by various clinical practitioners. The study also contained a survey of health librarians in the United Kingdom to assess whether our information strategies are in line with international practices and needs. Methods: External consultants were hired to conduct interviews and a survey among the membership and to perform an environmental scan of Canadian and U.S. services. A series of interviews was conducted by the health librarian at health libraries in the U.K. Results: Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said they access information to help inform patient diagnosis or treatment at least every 2–3 days, 40% of respondents regularly use web-based medical information services, and 46% of respondents used the CL as part or all of their electronic search strategy. The use of the CL varied widely depending on the location of respondents and their access to a health library. Respondents in rural areas and those unaffiliated with hospital libraries were more likely to use the virtual CL. Family practitioners showed the most familiarity with the CL offerings and reported the highest use of the CL (66.7% of respondents). A significant minority of respondents found the CL difficult to navigate. The U.K. arm of the study showed that services offered there were similar to those offered by the CL. Conclusions: Based on the findings, the CL remains a vital service for members. The CL should maintain its services for members and make the user interface easier to use. A majority of clinicians are seeking evidence to support decisions about patient care. The use of web-based resources, including journals and textbooks, is growing. The CL is meeting the needs of a significant portion of respondents, mainly family physicians. The U.K. study found that librarians there offer similar services to those offered by the CL and that, based on their use, U.K. librarians expect to be offering these services for some time to come. The CL must look for synergies and duplication with affiliated libraries and find ways to collaborate and promote services.
Highlights
The Clinical Library (CL) was launched by Doctors Nova Scotia (DNS) in 2000 for provincial physicians, surgeons, and students; mostly for rural physicians who do not have access to a local hospital or university health library
Primary objectives included obtaining information on: how widespread the use of electronic medical information sources was, how often the CL was used to meet clinicians’ needs, whether geographical location and access to a hospital library impacts the use of the CL, the familiarity with the spectrum of resources and services offered by the CL, the ease of use of the current CL interface, and whether certain practitioner specialists were more or less familiar with the CL
Environmental scan The environmental scan of comparable virtual information services for medical associations and groups in North America showed that the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) library offers similar family practice resources and services to those offered on the CL site, and the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) library offers an extensive search service
Summary
The Clinical Library (CL) was launched by Doctors Nova Scotia (DNS) in 2000 for provincial physicians, surgeons, and students; mostly for rural physicians who do not have access to a local hospital or university health library. It was clear there was value in obtaining wider input about all services offered through a survey distributed to as many members as possible. The Clinical Library (CL) is a virtual library of books, journals, drug information, and patient information. Objectives: On the 10-year anniversary of the CL, feedback from information skills training indicated a need for a user assessment survey to ensure that the CL continues to meet the medical information needs of the modern clinician. A series of interviews was conducted by the health librarian at health libraries in the U.K. Results: Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said they access information to help inform patient diagnosis or treatment at least every 2Á3 days, 40% of respondents regularly use web-based medical information services, and 46% of respondents used the CL as part or all of their electronic search strategy. The CL must look for synergies and duplication with affiliated libraries and find ways to collaborate and promote services
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