Health Sciences Interest Group

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Charge: An opportunity for academic librarians with health sciences responsibilities to have a place in ACRL to network, share information, ask questions, and work on special projects relevant to the academic health sciences.
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  • 1.  Questions - Being a Librarian in a University Medical Center

    Posted Mar 28, 2024 07:48 PM

    Hi Health Sciences Interest Group Members, 

    I recently joined ALA and some of its divisions, RTs, interest groups, and sections. I have some questions about being a librarian in a university medical center. If you are a librarian in a university medical center or know someone in that position, may you (or ask someone you know who is a medical librarian to) respond to the following questions:

    - What are some pros and cons of being a medical librarian?

    - What have been challenging parts of getting a job as a librarian in medical library?

    -  What are most challenging aspects of being a medical librarian (context of challenges on the job)

    -  Lessons Learned in Early Career of being a medical librarian

    - Common Jargon/terminology in medical libraries

    - Classification Systems in medical libraries

    - Any book recommendations for medical librarians and/or those interested in getting a job as a medical librarian?



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    Bryan Gonzalez
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  • 2.  RE: Questions - Being a Librarian in a University Medical Center

    Posted 27 days ago

    Bryan - Not sure how to answer some of these, but most challenging is learning systematic review searching.  Also, having people in health care understand what you do and how it is important.  For an early career librarian now, learn as much as you can about data, LLMs/AI, and expert searching.  Don't be afraid to try new things and don't give up.  

    Learn medical terminology.  National Library of Medicine is the main classification but also you need to know MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) in PubMed that is used in other databases.  (also learn PubMed the NNLM has great classes)

    hope this helps some but feel free to email me at angela.spencer@slu.edu



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    Angela Spencer
    Health Sciences Reference Librarian
    Saint Louis University
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    Original Message