Findings from the most recent Medical Library Association salary survey.

OBJECTIVE: The objective is to provide information on basic issues in library management identified by the Medical Library Association's (MLA's) seventh triennial salary survey. METHODS: The survey was a Web-based questionnaire. A nonrandom sample of persons was obtained by posting messages to MLA's membership and to the MEDLIB-L e-mail discussion list. Employed MLA members and nonmembers employed in medical library settings filled out a Web-based form designed using common gateway interface (CGI) programming. RESULTS: Six hundred forty-five usable responses were analyzed by the Hay Group and presented in the MLA publication, Hay Group/MLA 2001 Compensation and Benefits Survey. Results from the 2001 survey in this article focus on pay and job satisfaction. Salary survey results since 1983 were analyzed to review trends in seniority, diversity, and pay equity. CONCLUSIONS: Given the age progression of respondents from 1983 to 2001, it is clear that succession planning is a core issue for medical libraries. Although efforts to create more diversity in medical libraries in member organizations have started to yield results, pay for white respondents has increased at a higher rate than for other racial categories. The authors found that the pay-for-performance system in the organizations of approximately two-thirds of the respondents is suboptimized and that most of the reasons medical librarians cite for leaving their organization can be addressed and potentially changed by management. Results from the eighth salary survey, slated to be conducted in the fall of 2004, will further track these trends and issues.

Reader activity in a multidisciplinary health sciences library: a case study at St George's Library.

This paper reports on a survey of user activity in a London teaching hospital with a multidisciplinary health sciences library. Library users were asked to complete a simple survey form on each visit to the library over a week long period. Information was required to help establish a formula for funding. The user survey examined reasons for visiting the library, frequency of visits, length of visit and also asked for comments and suggestions. Finally there is discussion regarding the effectiveness of the survey in terms of the practical framework utilized and of the gains obtained.

Survey of library and information use by health-care students.

The study compares and contrasts the usage and views of three groups of health-care students (Pre-Project 2000, Project 2000 and BSc Occupational Therapy) on their library facilities. A literature review is included which underpins the importance of libraries for health-care students. Data was compiled from survey responses. The results demonstrate which libraries the students use, how often they use them, what they do in the libraries, and the stock used. They also show the level of student confidence and the services used. The implications of the study for future provision are considered.

Nurses--their information needs and use of libraries: the views of some librarians.

An overview of the information needs of nurses is followed by a description of the findings of the Information Seeking Behaviour of Nurses Project. A brief comparison is made with the perceptions that librarians have of nurses' information-seeking activity followed by a more detailed discussion of the ways that librarians consider that nurses' use of libraries could be improved. It is concluded that library provision and use can be improved only by co-operation between nurses, students, educators, librarians and managers.