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One of the characteristics of the final decade of this century is the treatment of information as a commodity. As the world becomes increasingly dominated by information and its technology, in all its facets, librarians must learn to integrate all the new developments into daily practice.
'It is to the extent to which we shall succeed in developing powerful information networks through efficient information transfer that we shall succeed in contributing to the betterment of health throughout our nations'. It is this challenge which medical librarians from some 34 countries set for themselves in convening the Third European Conference of Medical Libraries in Montpellier, France, in September 1992. All aspects of medical information were addressed - the technical aspects of transfer, ethical and legal issues, costs, benefits, rights and responsibilities, quality assurance, guidance systems, communications technology, education and training both of information professionals and end-users were discussed and debated in depth in Montpellier. This volume presents an accurate account of a conference which has made a significant contribution to the development of medical librarianship in Europe and the wider world.
List of contents
Foreword. Information Transfer: New Age - New Ways. I. Medical Information : a World in Evolution. II. New Technology in Information Transfer. III. Implications of Information and Information Transfer. 1: Scientific Communication. 1.1. Communication. 1.2. Quality Assurance. 2: Librarianship. 2.1. Education and Responsibility. 2.2. Users and their Needs. 2.3. End-User Training. 3: Medical Libraries. 3.1. National Cooperation. 3.2. Library Cooperation. 3.3. International Cooperation. 4: Library Services. 4.1. A Changing World. 4.2. New Methods. 4.3. New Services. 5: New Technologies. 5.1. New Challenges. 5.2. Database Services. 5.3. CD-ROM. 5.4. Interfaces. 5.5. Networking. 6: Specialty Libraries. 6.1. Information in the Pharmaceutical Industry. 6.2. History of Medicine. 6.3. Nursing and Allied Health Libraries. 6.4. Oncology Libraries. 6.5. Libraries and Documentation Centres. Alphabetic Index of Contributing Authors. Alphabetic Index of Keywords.
Report
` The book deserves to read by all medical librarians as it contains reports about a number of important new initiatives and should make readers think about the philosophy of the service they provide. '
International Journal of Information & Library Research, 5:3, 1993
