Informationists

Informationist skills

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Introduction

See also Clinical librarianship, Evidence-based librarianship, Health Informatics, Information technology topics

"...it is unacceptable in this "information age" for medical information retrieval to remain in its current neglected and disorderly state, a poor relation in the family of biomedical research and clinical practice. The concept of the informationist is an idea whose time has come." - Davidoff & Florance in the Annals of Internal Medicine, 2000.

The term or position title informationist - or information specialist in context - refers to a type of library and information professional who provides library and information services to health professionals in context (as in embedded into clinical care and research within health organizations). In the informationist model, the knowledge and skills of health librarians are coupled with any clinical training that they may have as well as considerable knowledge in health research. As defined by Detlefsen (2002), an informationist is a clinical information professional with added qualifications, gained either through graduate education or experience. Starting points for these positions could be clinicians who possess specialist skills in medical or health informatics or medical librarians gaining additional skills and qualifications to enable them to work on an equal footing with health professionals.

The term informationist should not be confused with informaticist although some informationists also have bioinformatics skills. At least two university libraries - Stanford and the University of Washington - have information professionals who provide informatics support but do so without an MLIS degree (but PhDs instead). Nunzia B. Giuse at Vanderbilt is a key figure in researching the informationist paradigm. In a 2000 editorial, Davidoff & Florance suggested that physicians should delegate their information needs to informationists in the way they delegate other work. They propose a credentialed role for librarians that would combine clinical and information retrieval skills. Some health librarians express concern that the informationist model threatens the future of health librarianship while others say that it augers the future.

Websites of interest

Informationist program at NLM http://www.mlanet.org/research/informationist/inst_host.html

• Association of Clinical Librarians and Informationists
• Informationist SIG website at http://informationist.mlanet.org
• NIH Library staff call themselves informationists http://nihlibrary.nih.gov/LibraryServices/Pages/Informationists.aspx

Patient-centered librarianship

Informationists are in a long line of patient-centered models of providing library services that date to the 1970s (see clinical librarianship). The main purpose of these information professionals is to integrate library resources and clinical expertise into patient care. Despite the pressure to deliver services from "within the library", many health librarians who venture into clinical areas and function as a part of patient care teams do so without an official title. In the past, these information pioneers worked to overcome any deficits they had in medical knowledge by trying to bring unique problem-solving skills to the health team. Their primary goal of improving the team's understanding of clinical questions, and meeting the concomitant information needs of users, remain to this day.

Evidence-based research questions

See also Evidence-based health care

The question of how informationists can be effective, and in what settings are they most effective, is an important one in an era of evidence-based practice. Further, how do they compare to traditional health librarians in their ability to provide these services and support? Rankin et al (2008) ask many of these questions in their study: What is the best use of an informationist's time? What information needs are most effectively anticipated clinically? What is the best ratio of health librarians to clinicians and researchers? How much time is needed to evaluate an informationist program or service? What is the cost-benefit ratio for these services?

Canadian context

The informationist debate among health librarians - and the controversy it provokes - takes place primarily in the United States. In particular, it affects members of the MLA - Medical Library Association (U.S.). A review of discussions on the MLA and CHLA/ABSC listservs (and conference reports) suggests this debate is primarily American. That said, CHLA/ABSC has referred to the informationist model in the context of other information trends such as clinical librarianship and the work of Joanne Gard Marshall. There are few (or no) precedents for using the title 'informationist' in Canada though McKibbon and Bayley (2004) have described their work similarly.

Soon after the Annals editorial appeared, Canadian Patricia Fortin, then working as a clinical librarian at Riverview hospital in British Columbia, said: "... although I could do summaries of the literature for some of the questions I receive and/or identify, I would not feel entirely comfortable doing this without more of a clinical background, statistical knowledge, and/or very well-honed critical appraisal skills. This is because what I write could greatly impact patient care. Clearly, some research into this paradigm in the Canadian context is needed." Fortin P. CHAT re: are you an informationist? Message to: MEDLIB-L email discussion list. 2000 Jun 27.