Standards of practice for hospital libraries and librarians, 2022: Medical Library Association Hospital Libraries Caucus Standards Task Force.

The Hospital Library Caucus of the Medical Library Association (MLA) follows the practice established in 1953 of developing quality indicators and best practices in the newly developing and fast-changing world of hospital libraries. As these libraries increased in number and prominence, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAHO) included in 1978 a hospital library standard developed in collaboration with MLA. Subsequent changes in JCAHO, then The Joint Commission (TJC) knowledge management criteria as well as technological changes in the curation and delivery of evidence-based resources influenced standards changes over the years. The 2022 standards mark the most recent edition, replacing the 2007 standards.

Standards for vision science libraries: 2014 revision.

OBJECTIVE: This Association of Vision Science Librarians revision of the "Standards for Vision Science Libraries" aspires to provide benchmarks to address the needs for the services and resources of modern vision science libraries (academic, medical or hospital, pharmaceutical, and so on), which share a core mission, are varied by type, and are located throughout the world. METHODS: Through multiple meeting discussions, member surveys, and a collaborative revision process, the standards have been updated for the first time in over a decade. RESULTS: While the range of types of libraries supporting vision science services, education, and research is wide, all libraries, regardless of type, share core attributes, which the standards address. CONCLUSIONS: The current standards can and should be used to help develop new vision science libraries or to expand the growth of existing libraries, as well as to support vision science librarians in their work to better provide services and resources to their respective users.

Hospital libraries: stand up and be counted!

Hospital librarians must ensure they are contributing positively to the organization's goals and are proactive in meeting user needs while making the best use of scarce resources. Therefore, effective communication with library clients is essential. Client audits are useful tools, but response rates are often poor as the audit can get lost in the overwhelming amount of unsolicited mail received by clinical practitioners, who quickly become expert at selecting and culling. This column shares lessons learned through conducting the audit, highlights key findings from the audit itself, and examines ways to use the audit process to promote and develop a library's services.

Using volunteers in Ontario hospital libraries: views of library managers.

BACKGROUND: Volunteers have been a resource for all types of libraries for many years. Little research has been done to describe the attitudes librarians have toward library volunteers. More specifically, the attitudes of hospital librarians toward volunteers have never been studied. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to explore and describe the extent of volunteer use and to determine library managers' attitudes toward volunteers. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: An anonymous, self-report 38-item questionnaire was mailed to the target population of 89 hospital library managers in Ontario. Seventy-nine useable questionnaires were analyzed from an adjusted sample of 86 eligible respondents, resulting in a response rate of 92%. SPSS 11.5 was used to analyze the data. FINDINGS: The data revealed the attitudes of managers using volunteers did not differ significantly from the attitudes of managers not using volunteers. The findings showed that a majority of managers did not believe their libraries were adequately staffed with paid employees. Sufficient evidence was found of an association between a manager's belief in the adequacy of staffing in the library and the use of volunteers in the library (chi2(1, N=76)=4.11, P=0.043). Specifically, volunteers were more likely to be used by managers who did not believe their libraries were adequately staffed. The presence of a union in the library and the use of volunteers were also associated (chi2(1, N=77)=4.77, P=0.029). When unions were present in the library, volunteers were less likely to be used. IMPLICATIONS: This research has implications for hospital library managers in the management of volunteers. Volunteers should not be viewed as a quick fix or as a long-term solution for a library's understaffing problem.

Standards for Hospital Libraries 2002 with 2004 revisions.

The Medical Library Association's Standards for Hospital Libraries 2002 has been developed as a guide for hospital administrators, librarians, and accrediting bodies to ensure that hospitals have the resources and services to effectively meet their needs for knowledge-based information. Specific requirements for knowledge-based information include that the library be a separate department with its own budget. Knowledge-based information in the library should be directed by a qualified librarian who functions as a department head and is a member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. The standards define the role of the medical librarian and the links between knowledge-based information and other functions such as patient care, patient education, performance improvement, and education. In addition, the standards address the development and implementation of the knowledge-based information needs assessment and plan, the promotion and publicity of the KBI services, and the physical space and staffing requirements. The role, qualifications, and functions of a hospital library consultant are outlined. The health sciences library is positioned to play a key role in the hospital. The increasing use of the Internet and new information technologies by medical, nursing, and allied health staffs, patients and the community require new strategies, strategic planning, allocation of adequate resources, and selection and evaluation of appropriate information resources and technologies. The Hospital Library Standards Committee has developed this document as a guideline to be used in facing these challenges together.

Using Six Sigma to improve the film library.

The film library of a film-based radiology department is a mission-critical component of the department that is frequently underappreciated and under-staffed. A poorly performing film library causes operational problems for not only the radiology department, but for the institution as a whole. Since Six Sigma techniques had proved successful in an earlier CT throughput improvement project, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Division of Diagnostic Imaging decided to use Six Sigma techniques to dramatically improve the performance of its film library. Nine mini-project teams were formed to address the basic operating functions of the film library. The teams included film library employees, employees from other sections of radiology, employees from stakeholders outside of radiology, and radiologists and referring physicians, as appropriate to the team's mission. Each Six Sigma team developed a process map of the current process, reviewed or acquired baseline quantitative data to assess the current level of performance, and then modified the process map to incorporate their recommendations for improving the process. An overall project steering committee reviewed recommendations from each Six Sigma team to assure that all of the teams' efforts were coordinated and aligned with the overall project goals. The steering committee also provided advice on implementation strategies, particularly for changes that would have an immediate effect on stakeholders outside of the radiology department. After implementation of recommendations, quantitative data were collected again to determine if the changes were having the desired effect. Improvement in both quantitative metrics and in employee morale have been experienced. We continue to collect data as assurance that the improvements are being sustained over the long haul. Six Sigma techniques, which are as quantitatively-based as possible, are useful in a service-oriented organization, such as a film library. The primary problem we encountered was that most of the important film library customer services are not automatically captured in the RIS or in any other information system. We had to develop manual data collection methods for most of our performance metrics. These collection methods were burden-some to the frontline employees who were required to collect the data. Additionally, we had to invest many hours of effort into assuring that the data were valid since film library employees rarely have the educational background to readily grasp the importance of the statistical methods employed in Six Sigma. One of the most important lessons we learned was that film library employees, including supervisory personnel, must be held accountable for their performance in a manner that is objective, fair and constructive. The best methods involved feedback collected by the employees themselves in the ordinary course of their duties. Another important lesson we learned was that film library employees, as well as stakeholders outside of the film library, need to understand how important the film library is to the smooth functioning of the entire institution. Significant educational efforts must be expended to show film library employees how their duties affect their film library co-workers and the institution's patients. Physicians, nurses and employees outside of the film library must do their part too, which requires educational efforts that highlight the importance of compliance with film library policies.

Standards for hospital libraries 2002.

The Medical Library Association's "Standards for Hospital Libraries 2002" have been developed as a guide for hospital administrators, librarians, and accrediting bodies to ensure that hospitals have the resources and services to effectively meet their needs for knowledge-based information. Specific requirements for knowledge-based information include that the library be a separate department with its own budget. Knowledge-based information in the library should be directed by a qualified librarian who functions as a department head and is a member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. The standards define the role of the medical librarian and the links between knowledge-based information and other functions such as patient care, patient education, performance improvement, and education. In addition, the standards address the development and implementation of the knowledge-based information needs assessment and plans, the promotion and publicity of the knowledge-based information services, and the physical space and staffing requirements. The role, qualifications, and functions of a hospital library consultant are outlined. The health sciences library is positioned to play a key role in the hospital. The increasing use of the Internet and new information technologies by medical, nursing, and allied health staffs; patients; and the community require new strategies, strategic planning, allocation of adequate resources, and selection and evaluation of appropriate information resources and technologies. The Hospital Library Standards Committee has developed this document as a guideline to be used in facing these challenges.