Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Towards Academic Medical Library Standards in India: A Call for Action


Affiliations
1 Librarian Selection Grade, Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi – 110029, India
2 Library and Information Officer, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001, India
 

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


With the rapidly growing healthcare information, medical librarians' roles and responsibilities in health care institutions are expanding, more so in the present context of Corona virus pandemic. Librarians in western countries are engaged in organizing, managing information resources, and offering seamless access to library materials to their users, supporting them with online consultation and research services. Medical libraries in India are slow to pick up the necessary momentum. They are underrepresented in medical education, their roles and responsibilities meagerly defined in institutions’ employment regulations and there is little in terms of medical library standards for India. Even the newly constituted National Medical Commission has not taken note of the role medical libraries can play going by its recently released 'Minimum Requirement for Annual MBBS Admissions Regulations 2020'. What should be minimum medical library standards, role of libraries in medical education in India? In order to answer these questions, the author reviewed: (i) higher education policy documents, inspection documents, UGC guidelines, and their coverage on libraries, (ii) standards developed by professional library associations, and (iii) publications on library standards in international journals. Medical education is a highly specialized area where serving librarians require a unique set of skills to meet the information needs of the diverse users of medical libraries. On reviewing these native documents, it was found that there is little content available for medical libraries to adopt in India. Therefore, to get a wider picture, library standards for higher education developed by professional library associations of the advanced countries were examined. Based on these, a model minimum standard for medical libraries in India is proposed. The right mix of resources, staff, funds, and infrastructure is important for the proper functioning of academic medical libraries in medical institutions. This will in turn enhance the quality of medical education, health care services, and research in the country.

Keywords

Accreditation, Library Standards, Medical Libraries, National Medical Commission, University Grants Commission
User
About The Authors

Sangeeta Narang
Librarian Selection Grade, Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi – 110029
India

Mahender Kumar Vishwakarma
Library and Information Officer, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001
India


Notifications

  • NAAC Institutional Accreditation Manual for self-study Report Universities. (2018). Available from: http://naac. gov.in/images/docs/Manuals/University-Manual-24th- October-2018.pdf.
  • National Medical Commission -Introduction. Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: https://www.nmc.org.in/ about-nmc/introduction.
  • National Medical Commission. (2020). Minimum Requirements for Annual M.B.B.S. Admissions Regulations. Available from: https://www.nmc.org.in/ MCIRest/open/getDocument?path=/Documents/Public/ Portal/LatestNews/Requirements.pdf.
  • National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF). (2020). Ministry of Human Resource Development. Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: https://www.nirfindia.org/2020/ Ranking2020.html.
  • National Education Policy, Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2020). Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/ mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf.
  • University Grant Commission Regulations on minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in universities and colleges and measures for the maintenance of standards in higher education. (2018). Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/ 5323630_New_Draft_UGCRegulation-2018-9-2.pdf.
  • University of Delhi (2008). Amendments to the Recruitment Rules (Non-Teaching Employees), under Ordinance XXII-D. Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: http://crl.du.ac.in/duls/Amendments%20to%20 the%20Recruitment%20Rules%20(Non-Teaching%20 Employees),%202008%20under%20Ordinance%20 XXII-D.pdf.
  • National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) (2020), Bengaluru, Manual of Health Sciences for Universities. Available at http://www.naac.gov.in/images// docs/Manuals/Health-Science-University-manual-18- Dec-2020.pdf.
  • Australian Library and Information Association Health Libraries. (2008). Guidelines for Australian Health Libraries. Available from: https://www.alia.org.au/sites/ default/files/documents/Guidelines.fo_.Aust_.Hlth_.reading. pdf.
  • Canadian Health Libraries Association. (2007). Standards for Library and Information Services in Canadian Health Care Facilities. JCHLA, 5. Available from: http:// v2020eresource.org/content/files/Library_standards.pdf.
  • American Library Association. (2006). Standards for Libraries in Higher Education. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/standardslibraries.
  • Library Association of Ireland (2005). Standards for Irish Healthcare Library and Information Services. 2nd ed. Cited on 2020 Dec 24. Available from: https:// www.lenus.ie/bitstream/handle/10147/71656/tandardsforIrishHealthcareLibraryandInformationServices. pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
  • Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries. (2012). Recruiting and Selecting Academic Health Sciences Library Directors: A Guide. Seattle, Washington; 2017. Available from: https://www.aahsl.org/assets/2017/2017_aahsl_ recruitguide_final.pdf.
  • National Health Services Knowledge for healthcare a development framework. (2015). Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/ documents/Knowledge_for_healthcare_a_development_ framework_2014.pdfe.
  • National Health Service. (2019). HEE Quality and Improvement Outcomes Framework for NHS Funded Library and Knowledge Services in England. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/ default/files/documents/HEE%20Quality%20and%20 Improvement%20Outcomes%20Framework.pdf.
  • Bandy, M. et al. (2008). Standards for hospital libraries 2007. J Med Libr Assoc., 96(2): 162-169. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2268237/, https://doi.org/10.3163/1536- 5050.96.2.162. PMid:18379675 PMCid:PMC2268237.
  • Hallam, G., Ritchie, A. and Hamill, C et al., (2010). Australia’s Health Libraries: A Research-directed Future. Library Trends, 59(1-2): 350-372. https://muse.jhu.edu/ article/407822/summary.
  • Motte, K., Caldwell, C.B., Lamson, K.S., Ferimer, S. and Nims, J.C. (2014). Standards for vision science libraries. J. Med. Libr. Assoc., 102(4): 288-291. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC4188056/. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536- 5050.102.4.010. PMid:25349547 PMCid:PMC4188056.
  • Day, A. and Goswami, L. (2020). Driving change with evidence and knowledge: Transforming knowledge services for the NHS across England. Business Information Review, 37(1): 10-18. Cited on 2020 Jun 22. Available from: https:// doi.org/10.1177/0266382120909240.
  • Boelen, C., Blouin, D., Gibbs, T. and Woollard, R. (2019). Accrediting excellence for a medical school’s impact on population health. Education for Health, 32(1): 41. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.educationforhealth. net/article.asp?issn=1357-6283;year=2019;volu me=32;issue=1;spage=41;epage=48;aulast=Boelen;type=0 https://doi.org/10.4103/efh.EfH_204_19. PMid:31512592.
  • Leinster. (2014). Role of accrediting bodies in providing education leadership in medical education. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.thejhs.org/ article.asp?issn=2468-6360;year=2014;volume=2;issue =4;spage=132;epage=135;aulast=Leinster, https://doi. org/10.4103/1658-600X.142779.
  • Accreditation of Library and Information Services in the Health Sector: A Checklist to Support Assessment. (2002). 2nd edition, Fowler CC, Trinder V.
  • Blouin, D., Tekian, A., Kamin, C. and Harris, I.B. (2018). The impact of accreditation on medical schools’ processes. Med. Educ., 52(2): 182-191. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/medu.13461. PMid:29044652.
  • Schwartz, D.G., Blobaum, P.M., Shipman, J.P., Markwell, L.G. and Marshall, J.G. (2009). The health sciences librarian in medical education: A vital pathways project task force. J. Med. Libr. Assoc., 97(4): 280-284. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2759163/, https://doi.org/10.3163/1536- 5050.97.4.012. PMid:19851492 PMCid:PMC2759163.
  • Murphy, J. (2009). The role of health science librarians in preparing tomorrow’s doctors to manage information. Health Libraries Review, 17(1): 7-13. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com /doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2532.2000.00252.x, https://doi. org/10.1046/j.1365-2532.2000.00252.x.
  • Tait, E., Martzoukou, K. and Reid, P. (2016). Libraries for the future: The role of IT utilities in the transformation of academic libraries. Palgrave Communications, 2(1): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2016.70.
  • Henderson, M. (2014). New roles and new horizons for health sciences librarians and libraries. Health Sciences Librarianship, p. 405-420.
  • Bryant, S.L., Stewart, D. and Goswami, L. (2015). Knowledge for Healthcare: The future of health librarianship. Health Info. Libr. J., 32(3): 163-166. https://doi.org/10.1111/ hir.12119. PMid:26268516.
  • Bryant, S.L., Bingham, H., Carlyle, R., Day, A., Ferguson, L. and Stewart, D. (2018). Forward view: Advancing health library and knowledge services in England. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 35(1): 70-7. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/abs/10.1111/hir.12206, https://doi.org/10.1111/ hir.12206. PMid:29322613.
  • Giles, G. (2000). Report on accreditation learning sets in the West Midlands Region of the NHS. Health Libraries Review, 17(4): 181-188. Cited 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2000.00292.x, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2532.2000.00292.x. PMid:11198323.
  • Dexter, N., Muellenbach, J.M., Lorbeer, E.R., Rand, D., Wilcox, M.E. and Long, B.A. (2019). Building new twentyfirst century medical school libraries from the ground up: Challenges, experiences, and lessons learned. J. Med. Libr. Assoc., 107(1): 6-15. Cited 2020 Apr 28. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6300241/, https://doi.org/10.5195/JMLA.2019.493. PMid:30598644 PMCid:PMC6300241.
  • Crum, J.A. and Cooper, I.D. (2013). Emerging roles for biomedical librarians: A survey of current practice, challenges, and changes. J. Med. Libr. Assoc., 101(4): 278-286. Cited on 2020 Dec 5. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC3794683/, https://doi.org/10.3163/1536- 5050.101.4.009. PMid:24163599 PMCid:PMC3794683.
  • Stinson, E.R. (1982). Standards for Health Sciences Libraries. Library Trends, p. 125-137. Available from: https://www. ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/7252/librarytrendsv31i1l_ opt.pdf?sequence=1.
  • Institutes of National Importance. (2014). Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutes_of_National_ Importance. Accessed on 6th June 2021.

Abstract Views: 259

PDF Views: 103




  • Towards Academic Medical Library Standards in India: A Call for Action

Abstract Views: 259  |  PDF Views: 103

Authors

Sangeeta Narang
Librarian Selection Grade, Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi – 110029, India
Mahender Kumar Vishwakarma
Library and Information Officer, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001, India

Abstract


With the rapidly growing healthcare information, medical librarians' roles and responsibilities in health care institutions are expanding, more so in the present context of Corona virus pandemic. Librarians in western countries are engaged in organizing, managing information resources, and offering seamless access to library materials to their users, supporting them with online consultation and research services. Medical libraries in India are slow to pick up the necessary momentum. They are underrepresented in medical education, their roles and responsibilities meagerly defined in institutions’ employment regulations and there is little in terms of medical library standards for India. Even the newly constituted National Medical Commission has not taken note of the role medical libraries can play going by its recently released 'Minimum Requirement for Annual MBBS Admissions Regulations 2020'. What should be minimum medical library standards, role of libraries in medical education in India? In order to answer these questions, the author reviewed: (i) higher education policy documents, inspection documents, UGC guidelines, and their coverage on libraries, (ii) standards developed by professional library associations, and (iii) publications on library standards in international journals. Medical education is a highly specialized area where serving librarians require a unique set of skills to meet the information needs of the diverse users of medical libraries. On reviewing these native documents, it was found that there is little content available for medical libraries to adopt in India. Therefore, to get a wider picture, library standards for higher education developed by professional library associations of the advanced countries were examined. Based on these, a model minimum standard for medical libraries in India is proposed. The right mix of resources, staff, funds, and infrastructure is important for the proper functioning of academic medical libraries in medical institutions. This will in turn enhance the quality of medical education, health care services, and research in the country.

Keywords


Accreditation, Library Standards, Medical Libraries, National Medical Commission, University Grants Commission

References