Wow--I can't believe I just typed in that title, and I can't believe I'm actually going to go ahead and write this post. However, this topic has been rattling around in my head for a while, and I think it's time to let it out.
If this post makes you angry, I want you to think about why, and I want you to tell me why. Challenge me, and let's start a conversation.
Why (Many) Medical Librarians Deserve to Lose Their Jobs
I come from a public library background, and although I did an internship in a really terrific medical library while in library school, I always thought public libraries would be my home. Public libraries have a mission, a built-in purpose, that I found and find most appealing. Public libraries through their very existence encourage literacy, provide access, and enhance engagement.
Medical libraries, on the other hand, have a mission that seems on the surface to be just as clear and vital, but which in reality is muddled and indistinct. Where else can information truly save lives? Any medical librarian can rattle off a couple of stories about the time they provided just-in-time information to help if not save a patient. Medical information improves outcomes, eases fear, and empowers the consumers of an often-confusing health care product.
The problem is this: because of the way most medical librarians work, the number of times their work truly makes an impact are few and far between. What does the average hospital librarian spend most of her/his time doing? Much of the day is spent on circulation, processing materials (checking in journals, etc.), and processing interlibrary loans, both incoming and outgoing. This is clerical work that takes time away from activities that truly make an impact. Any librarian spending most of their time on clerical work deserves to lose their job and be replaced by a clerk. Modern healthcare cannot support an expense that cannot be justified.
"But wait," you say. "I'm a solo librarian! What else can I do? Materials have to be processed and the work has to get done!"
You get volunteers to cover your clerical work. You find ways to minimize the clerical work. You think outside the box and do whatever you have to do to get the daily clerical work down to less than 25% of your job. You implement self-serve checkout so you're no longer tied to the desk.
And then, you get out there and start shakin' your moneymaker. Medical librarians have skills, they have talents, they have gifts that make them invaluable to any healthcare organization. Who else knows that the MEDLINE search interface in MDConsult sucks? Who else knows that 30 seconds with a Jablonski's or even a Merck Manual can be better than a 20-minute Internet search? Who else truly understands what makes a piece of information a quality piece of information? Who else knows that PubMed citations end in the 1950's?
In most facilities, the medical librarian is the only one who really knows these things, and the medical librarian is the only one who really knows why these things are important. But if the librarian is trapped (willingly or unwillingly) in a room or behind a desk, s/he can't be out sharing this information with the people who need to know it. If you're trapped, you can't be making the impact that can save that pateint, and save you.
The fact is that it's not just medical librarians who face this problem: even public libraries have to justify their existence, academic librarians struggle to remain relevant in a Google world, and I can't even imagine what it must be like for corporate librarians. However, I think the nature of medical librarianship particularly encourages the kind of passivity that makes us so vulnerable. Someday, they might need us to help save somebody, so they have to keep us, right?
Not right. Not anymore.
Do you deserve to lose your job?
WDT
