Teaching of formal courses by medical librarians

Medical education should include formal course work on the use of the medical library. The formal teaching effort of medical librarians at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences is described. Three courses on the use of the library are offered to graduate students in basic medical sciences, dentistry, and pharmacy and to undergraduate students in medical records administration. A review of the literature covering teaching by medical librarians and the results of a questionnaire survey also are reported. A 95 percent response to a questionnaire sent to 105 health-science-related school libraries was received. Of the 100 libraries responding, only 18 offered formal course work. An additional 19 reported plans for offering formal courses on the use of the library.