Evaluation of (some of) London's Health Libraries, their Services, Staff and Patrons by the means of a Questionnaire, Visits and Websites
Creators: name: Brown, Oskar
Publisher: name: unknown
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Library science
subject: Information science

description: Abstract 
 
What is a Health Library? What categories need to be met so that a library can be referred to as a Health Library, and not just a library with health material? A literature review was carried out, looking at the history of health libraries in the UK, various organisations linked to those, the staff that work in them, the services they have offered in the past, and the one that is being offered at present. An email was sent to health libraries found on the HLISD website seeking respondents to a questionnaire of 21 questions in relation to health libraries and their services. Whilst initial reaction to the email was promising, it eventually resulted in fewer positive responses than had been hoped. In order to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the libraries, the author proposed visits to participating libraries in the hope that this would result in further insight and additional knowledge. This was then supplemented with an analysis of the libraries' websites. The combined results were analysed and put forward in various charts and graphs, which eventually led to a proposed definition of health libraries, as well as adding an additional knowledge to the variety of services currently being provided in the capital. Finally recommendations have been suggested for the future, as have further studies, which hopefully will ensure continuing survival and services of health libraries in the UK. 
 
Keywords: 
 
Health Library, Medical Library, Evaluation, Assessment, Services, Staff, Patrons, Web 2.0
description: Abstract What is a Health Library? What categories need to be met so that a library can be referred to as a Health Library, and not just a library with health material? A literature review was carried out, looking at the history of health libraries in the UK, various organisations linked to those, the staff that work in them, the services they have offered in the past, and the one that is being offered at present. An email was sent to health libraries found on the HLISD website seeking respondents to a questionnaire of 21 questions in relation to health libraries and their services. Whilst initial reaction to the email was promising, it eventually resulted in fewer positive responses than had been hoped. In order to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the libraries, the author proposed visits to participating libraries in the hope that this would result in further insight and additional knowledge. This was then supplemented with an analysis of the libraries' websites. The combined results were analysed and put forward in various charts and graphs, which eventually led to a proposed definition of health libraries, as well as adding an additional knowledge to the variety of services currently being provided in the capital. Finally recommendations have been suggested for the future, as have further studies, which hopefully will ensure continuing survival and services of health libraries in the UK. Keywords: Health Library, Medical Library, Evaluation, Assessment, Services, Staff, Patrons, Web 2.0