Services and staffing practices in academic health sciences libraries serving college of osteopathic medicine programs: a mixed methods study

Authors

  • Joanne M. Muellenbach Director, Health Sciences Library and Associate Professor, California Health Sciences University, Clovis, CA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9970-6729
  • Wendy C. Duncan Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Provost, California Health Sciences University, Clovis, CA
  • Cheryl Vanier Chief Research Officer, Touro University Nevada, Henderson, NV
  • Lisa A. Ennis Director, Library & Learning Resources, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dothan, AL
  • Anna Yang Science Librarian, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2020.862

Keywords:

College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) Libraries, Library Services, Library Staffing, Library Leadership

Abstract

Objective: This study describes and assesses services, staffing practices, and trends in academic health sciences libraries that serve accredited college of osteopathic medicine (COM) programs in the United States.

Methods: The study was conducted in three phases. In phase one, the investigators collected data on library services and staffing through the publicly facing websites of the COM libraries. In phase two, thirty-five COM library directors were invited to complete a survey regarding their services, staffing, supported programs, and students served. In phase three, seven COM library directors participated in phone interviews regarding services that increased their visibility, their motivation to offer expanded services, adequacy of staffing, and competencies required for new librarian roles. The investigators incorporated the Medical Library Association (MLA) competencies as a framework to structure the results.

Results: Phase one identified 35 COM libraries serving between 162 and 8,281 students. In phase two, 30 out of a possible 35 survey respondents indicated that the top services offered or considered by COM libraries were in the MLA competency areas of “Instruction & Instructional Design” and “Evidence-Based Practice & Research.” In addition, we discovered that COM libraries had a median of 10 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff per 1,000 students. Phase three data revealed that library directors attributed their libraries’ success to the skills and talents of their staff, the wide range of resources and services they offered, and the desirability of their physical spaces. Library directors identified skills in the same MLA competency areas as phase two, as well as in the MLA competency areas of “Information Management” and “Leadership & Management,” as being desirable for new staff.

Conclusion: The study results provide information for medical school administrators and library directors to help identify trends across US osteopathic medical schools in order to justify the need for additional services and staffing. These results can assist medical and library leadership in COM schools in planning for their future academic health sciences libraries. Finally, the findings could assist programs in library and information sciences in redesigning their curriculums based on the MLA competencies for students who seek future careers in academic health sciences libraries.

References

Medical Library Association. Task force to review MLA’s competencies for lifelong learning and professional success final report, May 2017 [Internet]. The Association [cited 15 Sep 2019]. <https://www.mlanet.org/page/test-competencies>.

Lindberg DAB, Humphreys BL. 2015—the future of medical libraries. New Engl J Med. 2005 Mar 17;352(11):1067–70.

McClure LW. When the librarian was the search engine: introduction to the special issue on new roles for health sciences librarians. J Med Libr Assoc. 2013 Oct;101(4):57–60. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.101.4.006.

Clarke S, Thomas Z. Health librarians: developing competence through a ‘legitimate peripheral participation model.’ Health Inf Libr J. 2011 Dec;28(4):326–30.

Lave J, Wenger E. Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 1991.

Lawton A, Burns J. A review of competencies needed for health librarians—a comparison of Irish and international practice. Health Inf Libr J. 2015; Jun;32(2):84–94.

Epstein BA. Health sciences libraries in the United States: new directions. Health Inf Libr J. 2017 Dec;34(4):307–11.

Fitterling L, Garber D, Palazzolo E. Medical information literacy Q-Bank: a collaborative and developing project. Med Ref Serv Q. 2018 Oct–Dec;37(4):331–40.

Ma J, Stahl L, Knotts E. Emerging roles of health information professionals for library and information science curriculum development: a scoping review. J Med Libr Assoc. 2018 Oct;106(4):432–44. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.354.

Dexter N, Muellenbach JM, Lorbeer ER, Rand D, Wilcox ME, Long BA. Building new twenty-first-century medical school libraries from the ground up: challenges, experiences, and lessons learned. J Med Libr Assoc. 2019 Jan;107(1):6–15. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2019.493.

Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Accredited MD programs in the United States [Internet]. The Committee; 2019 [cited 20 Jan 2020]. <https://lcme.org/directory/accredited-u-s-programs/>.

American Osteopathic Association, Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. Accreditation of colleges of osteopathic medicine: COM continuing accreditation standards [Internet]. The Association; 2019 [cited 23 Sep 2019]. <https://osteopathic.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/com-continuing-accreditation-standards.pdf>.

Peters AS, Clark-Chiarelli N, Block SD. Comparison of osteopathic and allopathic medical schools’ support for primary care. J Gen Internal Med. 1999 Dec;14(12):730–9. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1999.03179.x.

Salsberg E, Erikson C. Doctors of osteopathic medicine: a growing share of the physician workforce. Health Affairs. 23 Oct 2017.

Eldredge JD, Heskett KM, Henner T, Tan JP. Current practices in library/informatics instruction in academic libraries serving medical schools in the western United States: a three-phase action research study. BMC Med Educ. 2013 13:119. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-13-119.

American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine [Internet]. The Association [cited 5 Oct 2019]. <https://aacom.org/become-a-doctor/u-s-colleges-of-osteopathic-medicine/>.

Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries. Annual statistics of medical school libraries in the United States and Canada. 41st ed. Seattle, WA: The Association; 2019.

Library Research Services. Definition of terms [Internet]. Colorado State Library, Colorado Department of Education [cited 28 Jan 2020]. <https://lrs.org/data-tools/public-libraries/definition-of-terms/>.

Muellenbach JM, Houk KM, Thimons DE, Rodriguez B. Integrating information literacy and evidence-based medicine content within a new school of medicine curriculum: process and outcome. Med Ref Serv Q. 2018 Apr–Jun;37(2):198–206.

Hoover J. Gaps in IT and library services at small academic libraries in Canada. Inf Technol Libr. 2018 Dec;15–26.

Fought RL, Mitsunori M. Accepting the challenge: what academic health sciences library directors do to become effective leaders. J Med Libr Assoc. 2018 Apr;106(2):219–26. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.350.

Gardner J. Quoted in: Henry J. On regimentation. Washington University Mag. 1964 Spring:11–3.

Brodman E. Money talks, but people count. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1965 Oct;53(4):567–72.

Downloads

Published

2020-07-01

Issue

Section

Original Investigation