INFORMATICS AND MEDICAL-LIBRARIES - CHANGING NEEDS AND CHANGING ROLES

Medical librarians play a crucial role in the evolution of institution al information policy. As information professionals, they share many s imilarities with thier medical informatics counterparts. Both groups e mphasize information delivery to the point of decision making; both gr oups serve as curators of institutional knowledge bases. If the term ' 'publication'' encompasses the delivery of clinical information releva nt to individuals or populations, both librarians and medical informat icians have an immediate interest in the nature of biomedical publishi ng, particularly in areas of intellectual ownership, confidentiality, distribution, and access. Both groups also have been early leaders in applying information technology to solve pressing knowledge-management problems, and both groups have a strong commitment to educating colle agues in the effec-tive use of information. Although the challenges fa ced by librarians and medical informaticians are sometimes different, the evolution of information technology and new forms of biomedical co mmunication suggest that there is now a greater convergence between th e two disciplines.