Clinical librarianship programs have attempted to extend the helping role of the librarian to the patient's bedside, but they have not essentially altered that role. Perhaps this is as it should be. But Davidoff and Florance think something more is necessary. They are suggesting that the relationship between the information-management expert and the other members of the health care team needs a significant shift. They argue that now is the time to move them into the mainstream.
Money is always a problem, of course.
I am reminded of the controversy that still accompanies the notion of quality filtering. While many of our colleagues have adopted and adapted quality filtering as an integral part of the work that they do, many others are repelled by the notion, believing that to make the sorts of judgments required takes one beyond the boundaries of good librarianship. I imagine that the notion of taking an even more active filtering role would be that much more appalling to those who take this view. Perhaps they will agree that whatever these informationists are, they should not be called librarians. But librarians are exactly what they are.