Internet in the workplace: censorship, liability, and freedom of speech.

Most hospital medical libraries are supported by private, corporate funds and thus fall under the corporation's policies in regard to discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment. With the free flow of information available on the Internet and through e-mail, it is mandatory to create a corporate policy for appropriate use and review of materials. Access to "questionable" or inappropriate Internet sites is not a freedom of speech issue in a private corporation; it is a potential liability for the corporation, the library, and the librarian. It is also a misuse of company resources.

The legal responsibilities of the health-care librarian.

This article discusses the legal responsibilities that information intermediaries have towards the users of their services. The areas of law that affect legal liability are contract law, tort and strict liability. The likelihood of health-care librarians being held liable for the service they provide is assessed, and methods of reducing this risk are discussed. The key issues are: whether the recipient is relying on the information you provide and whether this reliance is reasonable; whether money changed hands; and whether the institution is under a statutory obligation to provide the information. All-embracing exclusion clauses are often used as an attempt to exclude liability, but their validity in law is doubtful, and they should be replaced by more reasonable ones. Adhering to good professional practice, and avoiding interpreting information for laymen are ways of minimizing liability. If court proceedings do take place, professional indemnity insurance can reduce financial loss.

Outreach: the western New York Hospital Library Services Program, 1985-1989.

The Hospital Library Services Program (HLSP) in western New York, during the period covered by its first five-year plan, 1984-1989, is recounted and described. This ongoing program is funded annually by a New York State grant and hospital participation fees. It is designed to support access to biomedical information for health care professionals through a grant program for hospitals with staffed libraries and a circuit program for hospitals without library staffing or without libraries. Hospitals participating in the grant program contribute funds and receive grants for collection development. Hospitals participating in the circuit program pay a participation fee and receive regularly scheduled, documented, circuit librarian visits; a collection development grant; and a grant for contract library services. The program contracts with the State University of New York at Buffalo's (UB) Health Sciences Library to provide computerized literature searches; interlibrary loan (ILL) of journal articles, books, and audiovisuals; and ILL referrals.

The liability of the hospital librarian. Why you need a professional medical librarian.

Would you hire a cashier instead of a qualified accountant to manage your hospital's financial department? Certainly not--the stakes are too high. The same test holds for your hospital library: Besides running the risk of possible liability and embarrassment for your hospital, hiring an untrained person to manage your library would not serve the best interests of your medical staff and--most importantly--your patients.

Medicare and Medicaid programs; conditions of participation for hospitals--HCFA. Final regulations.

These regulations revise the requirements that hospitals must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs (Titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act). These revisions are intended to simplify and clarify Federal requirements, to provide maximum flexibility in hospital administration while strengthening patient health and safety, to emphasize outcomes rather than processes, to promote cost effectiveness while maintaining quality care, and to achieve more effective compliance with Federal requirements. These regulations also incorporate conforming changes relating to certification of psychiatric hospitals and participation of tuberculosis hospitals made by the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-369).

Hospital libraries in the United States: historical antecedents.

The hospital health sciences library of today that reaches out to the world knowledge base through electronic networks bears little resemblance to its forebears. Yet to understand the challenges and future directions of the hospital library it is necessary to examine how it began and how it has evolved in more than 200 years. This paper identifies five developmental periods in which major strides were made: the colonial years through the 19th century; World War I to the Great Depression; World War II and the 1950s; the 1960s--the Great Society and the Medical Library Assistance Act; and the 1970s, an era of growth for hospital libraries.