As you glanced at the title of this article, you may have muttered,
"What medical library? Brown doesnít have a medical library!" If
you define having one as operating a separate building with that
name over the door, you would be correct. Our collections and staff
for this discipline are housed in the Sciences Library, sharing
quarters with resources ranging from engineering to computer science.
In addition, the information needs of the Medical School faculty
and students are also met by the libraries of the affiliated hospitals.
We may seem somewhat eccentric in having established a Medical School
without constructing a dedicated library building. However, the
choice to support medical education through the existing library
system does not mean that these collections are less important or
that the particular information services required by physicians
and their students can be neglected. Nor does the fact that our
medical library is "virtual" mitigate the challenges faced by its
librarians. Indeed, it means that the staff must be especially creative
if they are to meet the needs of users who cannot look to a traditional
medical library for help. In this issue, articles by Medical Library
Coordinator Tovah Reis and Reference Librarian Janet Crager recount
some of the innovative ways in which we provide information and
services to our medical students and faculty.
What sorts of challenges does our medical library face? Well, first,
in common with publications in the other sciences, its books and
journals are extraordinarily expensive. Journals are especially
important in medicine and, nationally, the average cost of a subscription
in 2001 was around $657.00. And, if the past decade is any indication,
we can expect prices to rise by at least 10% a year, a substantial
amount when one realizes that the acquisitions budget for medicine,
nearly $500,000, is largely committed to periodicals. Recognizing
the pressure the Library faces in this area, the Dean of Medicine
and Biological Sciences, Donald J. Marsh, has committed to increasing
the Libraryís acquisitions allocation by at least 10% a year until
it reaches $1,000,000. In its capital campaign, the Medical School
has also established a $3 million endowment goal for Library needs,
a sum which, if raised, would add about $150,000 annually to the
available funds. In the meantime, Brown librarians have acquired
a substantial number of titles, at a more reasonable cost-per-title
than the average, by taking advantage of a number of large "package"
deals for electronic journals. The acquisition of digital books
has also increased access to monographic works, whose purchase had
declined, as more money was being redirected to cover the growing
cost of serials.
The decentralized nature of the medical library, from the East Side
to affiliated hospitals around the state, also presents challenges
in communication, planning, and the provision of services. The hospital
libraries are not only separately funded, but they also have a variety
of service obligations beyond those to Medical School faculty, students,
and staff. Although the relationships between our librarians and
their hospital library colleagues are dynamic and cooperative, they
are sometimes made difficult by wide variations in funding, redundant
systems (e.g., different vendors for the same medical database),
and an inability to develop and implement a single technological
infrastructure. In addition, it takes concerted effort to make sure
that Medical School faculty and students receive the same menu of
services, regardless of the hospital they consider "home." Our Medical
Library Coordinator, Tovah Reis, whose position is made possible
by the Medical School, helps the Library immeasurably in this effort.
Finally, Brownís medical library shares a challenge in common with
all similar institutions: keeping abreast of the changing nature
of health information, teaching, and research. Medical librarianship
has always been forward-looking. In fact, it was in medical libraries
that some of the earliest applications of information technology
evolved. The teaching of medicine has always relied heavily on multimedia,
from models and videos to slides and computer simulation. Today,
the new digital technologies allow physicians and students to "visualize"
an organ in three dimensions, simulate a surgical procedure or "examine"
a patient online. The Library must not only make such digital content
available, but must find ways to preserve it. At the same time,
we must provide the infrastructure to allow students and faculty
to work with these technologies in the Library, in offices, and
in the classroom. As you might imagine, in an age where technological
development moves forward at a breathtaking pace, our task is neither
easy nor inexpensive.
Despite the formidable nature of these challenges, the Library is
fortunate to have strong support from the Medical School, innovative
and energetic medical librarians, committed colleagues in the affiliated
hospital libraries, and the interest and involvement of donors.
With such a powerful combination, we expect to see Brownís "virtual
but vital" medical library grow and prosper as we move forward in
the 21st century.
--Merrily E. Taylor Joukowsky Family University Librarian
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library
