Evaluation of a clinical medical librarian program at the Yale Medical Library

A clinical medical librarian (CML) program in a large university-based teaching hospital setting is viewed by the majority of clinicians as education-oriented, with slightly fewer clinicians viewing it as patient care oriented. The CML service has been utilized for research purposes only when it is clear that case-relevant information can evolve into research intended to have "clinical" impact. This study reports the results of a questionnaire circulated among clinicians receiving CML support by a large medical school library. Results indicate that (1) the CML effected a change in information-seeking behavior by the clinicians--they obtained information that would not have been available to them if the CML had not been present in patient-management conferences; (2) relevancy of information provided by the CML was judged by the clinicians to be very high; (3) the accuracy of the CML's search, coupled with the rapidity of delivery, was found to be highly satisfactory; (4) acceptance of the CML within the patient care setting was acknowledged by the majority of clinicians, who contact the CML in-hospital and overwhelmingly prefer to do so; and (5) there was no statistically significant variation in the manner in which different medical specialties use the services of a CML. These findings justify implementation of a clinical medical librarian program, on a modified basis, as an additional service to already existing reference services offered by a large medical school library.