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Medical Librarian |
Career OverviewMedical librarians plan and arrange a full range of collections specializing in health and medicine. This librarian works as an integral resource for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in hospital, clinics and medical centers.
The medical librarian is often responsible for assisting the treatment team to find information specific to the conditions they are treating. Often the medical librarian completes the searches and copies relevant information for the physician or nurse.
The Medical Librarian must be very knowledgeable of medical terms and procedures as well as a trained skilled librarian. The librarian must be thoroughly familiar with research techniques using a wide variety of services ranging from medical journals and periodicals to the internet. As noted above, the librarian must often retrieve specific, critical information at a moment’s notice.
Medical librarians are not only found in hospitals and clinics. These librarians also work in government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, insurance firms, nonprofit foundations, medical equipment companies, and even internet companies. Basically, this position is needed whenever people need access to a high volume and variety of medical and scientific literature. The medical librarian is critical not only to doctors but also to individuals that base policy decisions on current research in medical practice. The librarian’s work is also very important to patients hoping to better understand their own diseases and treatments.
The medical librarian must have excellent communication skills and an ability to ask necessary questions to help people find the information they are looking for. A medical librarian must also be able to determine what information is relevant and important in expending library resources. It is not unusual for Medical Librarians to create medical information websites. Wherever this job is performed, the librarian has a lot of contact with a variety of library users, so good interpersonal and communication skills are essential.
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Career RequirementsMost medical librarian positions will require a Masters of Library and Information Science degree as well as an undergraduate degree in
biology, medical science, medical terminology, computer science, education and/or management of healthcare facilities. Some specialized research facilities and high profile hospitals may require a PhD in library sciences.
Since a medical librarian is a supervisory role some experience in hospital or healthcare administration is usually considered desirable but experience working in other library settings is also an asset.
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Job OutlookThe job outlook for medical librarians will remain steady with current librarians retiring and moving into other positions. With some technology advances that make searching resources easier the demand for medical librarians is likely to decrease slightly over the next several years. There will, however, be a definite need for skilled individuals to manage and compile medical libraries.
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Career TrackA medical librarian may work as a medical website administrator or developer or may work in consulting with other centers establishing their own medical library collection. Some medical librarians may return to faculty position to teach students entering the field. In addition may medical librarians complete contract work as researchers for various agencies and pharmaceutical companies.
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CompensationDepending upon education, accreditation, years of experience, and work environment, the Medical Librarian could earn a salary starting around $41,000 up to as high as $158,000. Those medical librarians earning the highest salaries usually have very large collections to manage and may also be responsible for website management and program development.
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