Transforming Medical Library Staff for the Twenty-first Century

The services provided by the twenty-first century medical library are evolving, from circulating print materials, interlibrary loan, and traditional reference desk services to services like in depth literature searches, systematic reviews, and research impact studies.

To support these changing services, the medical library must re-evaluate, reassess and redeploy its staff, providing them with new opportunities to grow and develop in new areas to support the evolving needs of the library. However, staff cannot be expected to embrace new roles without buy in, training and without developing a plan for assessing whether or not they are successful in their new roles. Transforming Medical Library Staff for the Twenty-First Century focuses on how the medical library can redeploy its staff to support these new services through actively engaging and empowering them in the process.

This book shares best practices in developing and motivating staff to accept and welcome the changing priorities of medical libraries.

Melanie J. Norton is head of access and delivery services at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University. She has served in several leadership roles including president of the Association of North Carolina Health Sciences Librarians, and chair of the MidAtlantic Chapter of the Medical Library Association. She has been a librarian for more than thirty years and has managed staff for over twenty years.

Nathan Rupp is the director of technical services and information technology at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). Prior to his work at IPFW, he wasthe head of collection development and management at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University where he has worked since 2012. He has a wide range of experience in collection development and technical services at several ARL libraries and has held leadership positions in the American Library Association, Special Libraries Association, and the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries Association.