IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE ROLE OF HEALTH-SCIENCES LIBRARIANS

Information technology is transforming the nature of health sciences i nformation and its management, thereby altering the traditional respon sibilities of health sciences librarians. As a result, the traditional educational preparation for librarianship is no longer entirely relev ant, and there is a real possibility that information management will be taken over by individuals with different educational backgrounds an d skills. This paper explores four topics relevant to this issue: the emergence of new forms of health sciences information, the impact of t echnology on the practice of health sciences librarianship, the intera ction of technology and the practice of health sciences librarianship, and the relationship among these three topics and the educational pre paration of health sciences librarians.