Out- Sourcing Libraries?

Yes, change is the law of nature. No wonder, the technology differentiates “MAN – THE TOOL MAKER”[7] from “other animals”. It was the making of and using of “stone axe” which lead the departure of humans from his cousins. So technological advances are only Human.

However, being professionals we cannot wait and watch for “e”, we have to make it happen. Out-sourcing may be seen very simple, but someone somewhere is putting great efforts to make it happen. Be it Google, Microsoft or a Librarian has to make “e” happen as it will not come from vacuum. Thus we should on the other side – those will make it happen playing different roles.  

Medical and Clinical Librarians will have upgrade themselves radically to take up challenges of the future librarianship [6][3]. Those, who change and adopt themselves will survive others will be eliminated. Medical Informatics has a place for such professionals [1] and these would be instrumental in future health care teams [2][4][5].          


References:

1 . WHAT TYPES OF CAREERS ARE THERE IN HEALTH INFORMATICS
·  Clinical Informatics Staff
·  Health Informatics Senior Managers and Directors of Services
·  Health Records Staff
·  Information & Communication Technology (ICT) staff
·  Information Management Staff
·  Knowledge Management Staff

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/nhs-knowledge_base/data/5584.html


2. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STAFF
“Clinicians and managers alike rely heavily on knowledge management staff for support in training, education, development and practice. Clinical staff in particular, face a constant challenge in keeping up to date with the latest research and guidelines in their particular fields. Knowledge management specialists also provide training in search and critical appraisal skills.”

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/nhs-knowledge_base/data/5599.html



3. CHANGING ROLES FOR LIBRARIANS
http://www.infotoday.com/il2005/presentations/B302_Hammer.pps


4. What Is eHealth (5): A Research Agenda for eHealth Through Stakeholder Consultation and Policy Context Review
http://www.jmir.org/2005/5/e54/
“The scope of eHealth research (using, processing, sharing, controlling information) derived empirically from this study corresponds with “textbook” descriptions of informatics. Stakeholders would like eHealth research to include outcomes such as improved health or quality of life, but such research may be long term while changes in information technology are rapid. Longer-term research questions need to be concerned with human behavior and our use of information, rather than particular technologies. In some cases, “modelling” longer-term costs and benefits (in terms of health) may be desirable.”

5. Sahu, DK (2005) Access to information/knowledge: a clinician's perspective. In: IJD GoldCon and Cuticon 2005, 26-27 Nov 2005, Kolkata, India.http://openmed.nic.in/1153/
6. Sriganesh, V. (2005) Laying a foundation for Clinical Librarianship in India. In: MLAI 2005, 07-09 Nov 2005, Bangalore, India.http://openmed.nic.in/1145/

7. OAKLEY, KENNETH P. Man the Tool-maker.London, The Trustees of the British Museum, 1961. Or. wrappers. 98 p. Ills.

--- "Dr. Vivek Sahi" <drsahi@...> wrote:> *Hi....*> *Its called - Thinking out of the Box.....anyone who> has trained in six> sigma will understand this.....Sukhdev, I agree with> you there are lots of> things to think about before embarking on such a> project, but you wait and> watch with time, everything will be "e" thats the> down or upside of> technology, to let a machine to a humans job - off> course not in all> cases.....See what Google and Microsfot are planning> - I think they are> going to electronically format libaries now.....so> you will have the same> thing - ie borrow books with or with out a fee, and> if you send them back> late then you will have to pay a late fee.....I> think people should> understand this is the way the world is headed and> accept that....mark my> words this is what will ultimately happen......*> **> *Rgds*>> **>>>> On 28/11/05, Sukhdev Singh <esukhdev@...>> wrote:> >> > I would also like to differ on outsourcing.> >> > I wonder if anywhere in world a medical college> has out-sourced a> > library?> >> > Anyway in Indian situation if we have to consider> out-sourcing of> > library - the following have to be ensured first:> >> > --Medical Colleges are well connected to Internet> >> > --All the content required for learning / teaching> is available on> > Internet.> >> > --Students have unlimited access to Internet and> can carry it> > whereever they like to learn.> >> > --There is someone (ghost? / librarian) who will> acquire the content> > from number of vendors and publishers on behalf of> medical college and> > catalogues/indexes for the faculty/students.> Maintains users'> > accounts, collects fee, ensure quality service is> available.> >> > --There are additional topics of information> science / librarianship> > taught in medical colleges on how to use various> resources and when to> > use these.> >> > --And the above is economical for the country,> institute and learning> > community.> >> > I wish all the above are available.> >> > The economics still matters! - we all know when to> "Hire a Taxi" and> > when to "Buy a Car". When to Self-drive and when> to "employ a driver".> >> > When the requirement is casual / personal or for> small company -> > outsourcing could be a solution. But I wonder if a> teaching institute> > can outsource a library.> >> > In future the content publishing scenario could> change. But it would> > only require a highly specialized professional [or> team of> > professionals] to manage digital content and> library. Just looking for> > too simple a solution � outsourcing � even if> possible and economical> > � would be risky.> >> > I think, instead of short-term solutions, let some> of us work out what> > all would be required to have a modern medical> physical/digital> > library for a teaching institution. Under this> context, I would like> > to suggest the following two documents as starting> point:> >> > Sahu, DK (2005) Access to information/knowledge: a> clinician's> > perspective. In: IJD GoldCon and Cuticon 2005,> 26-27 Nov 2005,> > Kolkata, India.> > http://openmed.nic.in/1153/> >> > Sriganesh, V. (2005) Laying a foundation for> Clinical Librarianship in> > India. In: MLAI 2005, 07-09 Nov 2005, Bangalore,> India.> > http://openmed.nic.in/1145/