Activities	Provide health information about new medical treatments, clinical trials and standard trials procedures, tests, and equipment to physicians, allied health professionals, patients, consumers, and corporations. They help physicians provide quality care to patients, help patients find information, answer consumers’ questions, and provide information to the health care industries.
Outlook	Average job growth
Median Income	$52,500 per year in 2008
Work Context & Conditions	Work in hospitals, academic medical centers, and clinics; colleges, universities, and professional schools; consumer health libraries; research centers and foundations; industry; federal, state, and local government agencies. They work closely with physicians, nurses, health educators, and other allied health care professionals, administrators, programmers and information technology specialists, faculty and students, consumers, and the community.
Minimum Education Requirements	Master's Degree
Skills	Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Writing, Active Listening, Service Orientation, Active Learning, Reading Comprehension, Speaking
Abilities	Oral Expression, Category Flexibility, Speech Recognition, Written Comprehension, Near Vision, Information Ordering, Inductive Reasoning, Oral Comprehension, Written Expression
Interviews	Robin Meckley

Job Category		Education, Training, & Library
Job Description		Medical librarians provide health information about new medical treatments, clinical trials and standard trials procedures, tests, and equipment to physicians, allied health professionals, patients, consumers, and corporations. They help physicians provide quality care to patients, help patients find information, answer consumers’ questions, and provide information to the health care industries. They work with a variety of health care providers: doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, etc. They use computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) heavily in their daily work. Some librarians are systems librarians, responsible for fixing computers, for running local area networks, or for training others to use technology. Librarians frequently create Web pages for their library. Some are even responsible for the Web site for their hospitals or universities. Medical librarians look for information from lots of sources to help them do their jobs. They have to talk with physicians and hospital administrators, professors and university chancellors. The traditional concept of a library is being redefined from a place to access paper records or books, to one which also houses the most advanced mediums, including CD-ROM, the Internet, virtual libraries, and remote access to a wide range of resources. Consequently, librarians increasingly are combining traditional duties with tasks involving quickly changing technology. Librarians assist people in finding information and using it effectively for personal and professional purposes. Librarians must have knowledge of a wide variety of scholarly and public information sources, and follow trends related to publishing, computers, and the media to effectively oversee the selection and organization of library materials. They manage staff and develop and direct information programs and systems for the public to ensure information is organized to meet users' needs. Most librarian positions incorporate three aspects of library work: user services, technical services, and administrative services. Even librarians specializing in one of these areas perform other responsibilities. Librarians in user services work with the public to help them find the information they need. This involves analyzing users' needs to determine what information is appropriate, and searching for, acquiring, and providing information. It also includes an instructional role, such as showing users how to access information. For example, librarians commonly help users navigate the Internet, showing them how to most efficiently search for relevant information. Librarians in technical services, such as acquisitions and cataloguing, acquire and prepare materials for use and often do not deal directly with the public. Librarians in administrative services oversee the management and planning of libraries, negotiate contracts for services, materials, and equipment, supervise library employees, perform public relations and fund-raising duties, prepare budgets, and direct activities to ensure that everything functions properly. Librarians also work in information centers or libraries maintained by government agencies, corporations, law firms, advertising agencies, museums, professional associations, medical centers, hospitals, religious organizations, and research laboratories. They build and arrange an organization's information resources, which usually are limited to subjects of special interest to the organization. These special librarians can provide vital information services by preparing abstracts and indexes of current periodicals, organizing bibliographies, or analyzing background information and preparing reports on areas of particular interest. For example, a special librarian working for a corporation could provide the sales department with information on competitors or new developments affecting their field. Many libraries have access to remote databases and maintain their own computerized databases. The widespread use of automation in libraries makes database searching skills important to librarians. Librarians develop and index databases and help train users to develop searching skills for the information they need. Some libraries are forming consortiums with other libraries through electronic mail. This allows patrons to simultaneously submit information requests to several libraries. The Internet also is expanding the amount of available reference information. Librarians must be aware of how to use these resources in order to locate information. Librarians with computer and information systems skills can work as automated systems librarians, planning and operating computer systems, and information science librarians, designing information storage and retrieval systems and developing procedures for collecting, organizing, interpreting, and classifying information. These librarians analyze and plan for future information needs. The increased use of automated information systems enables librarians to focus on administrative and budgeting responsibilities, grant writing, and specialized research requests, while delegating more technical and user services responsibilities to technicians. Increasingly, librarians apply their information management and research skills to arenas outside of libraries—for example, database development, reference tool development, information systems, publishing, Internet coordination, marketing, and training of database users. Entrepreneurial librarians sometimes start their own consulting practices, acting as freelance librarians or information brokers and providing services to other libraries, businesses, or government agencies.
Working Conditions		Librarians spend a significant portion of time at their desks or in front of computer terminals; extended work at video display terminals can cause eyestrain and headaches. Assisting users in obtaining information for their jobs, recreational purposes, and other tasks can be challenging and satisfying; at the same time, working with users under deadlines can be demanding and stressful. Some librarians lift and carry books, and some climb ladders to reach high stacks. Librarians in small organizations sometimes shelve books themselves. More than 2 out of 10 librarians work part time. Public and college librarians often work weekends and evenings, and have to work some holidays.
Salary Range		Salaries of librarians vary according to the type and location of the institution, the level of responsibility, and length of employment. Librarians with primarily administrative duties often have greater earnings. Median annual earnings of librarians in 2008 were $52,500. The middle 50 percent earned between $42,200 and $65,300. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $33,200, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $81,100. The average annual salary for all librarians in the Federal Government in nonsupervisory, supervisory, and managerial positions was $84,796 in March 2009.

Education Required		A background in science, health sciences, or allied health is beneficial, as are graduate courses in medical informatics or medical librarianship.Those who are willing to be flexible in employment opportunities or are geographically mobile have greater career options. The Medical Library Association recommends obtaining an undergraduate degree in a given field, then following this up with a graduate degree in library and information science. A master's degree in Library Science (MLS) is necessary for librarian positions in most public, academic, and special libraries, and in some school libraries. The federal government requires an MLS or the equivalent in education and experience. Many colleges and universities offer MLS programs, but employers often prefer graduates of the approximately 56 schools accredited by the American Library Association. Most MLS programs require a bachelor's degree; any liberal arts major is appropriate. Most MLS programs take 1 year to complete; others take 2. A typical graduate program includes courses in the foundations of library and information science, including the history of books and printing, intellectual freedom and censorship, and the role of libraries and information in society. Other basic courses cover material selection and processing, the organization of information, reference tools and strategies, and user services. Courses are adapted to educate librarians to use new resources brought about by advancing technology such as on-line reference systems, Internet search methods, and automated circulation systems. A Ph.D. degree in library and information science is advantageous for a college teaching position, or a top administrative job in a college or university library or large library system. Librarians participate in continuing training once they are on the job to keep abreast of new information systems brought about by changing technology. Experienced librarians can advance to administrative positions, such as department head, library director, or chief information officer.
Recommended High School Courses		Computers and Electronics, Biology, Mathematics, English, Chemistry
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Law, Government and Jurisprudence, Administration and Management, Mathematics, Communications and Media, Biology, Customer and Personal Service, Computers and Electronics, Medicine and Dentistry, Education and Training, English Language
Certification and Licensing

Interest Area		Artistic Involves a degree of self-expression and working with forms, designs, and patterns and without a clear set of rules.
Work Values		Moral Values Never pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong. Security Have steady employment. Working Conditions Good working conditions. Co-workers Have co-workers who are easy to get along with. Autonomy Plan work with little supervision. Authority Give directions and instructions to others. Responsibility Make decisions on your own.
Skills		Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Instructing Teach others how to do something. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Category Flexibility Generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. Speech Recognition Identify and understand the speech of another person Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Near Vision Able to see details of objects at a close range (within a few feet of the observer). Information Ordering Able to correctly follow rules for arranging things or actions in a certain order, including numbers, words, pictures, procedures, and logical operations. Inductive Reasoning Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. Written Expression Able to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Related Jobs		Administrator, Medical Database, Curator, Health and Medical Science Museum, Technician, Medical Library, Biological Science Teacher, Postsecondary
Job Outlook		Employment of librarians is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations over the 2008–18 period. The increasing use of computerized information storage and retrieval systems continues to contribute to slow growth in the demand for librarians. Computerized systems make cataloguing easier, which library technicians now handle. In addition, many libraries are equipped for users to access library computers directly from their homes or offices. These systems allow users to bypass librarians and conduct research on their own. However, librarians are needed to manage staff, help users develop database searching techniques, address complicated reference requests, and define users' needs. Despite expectations of slower-than-average employment growth, the need to replace librarians as they retire will result in numerous additional job openings. Applicants for librarian jobs in large metropolitan areas, where most graduates prefer to work, usually face competition; those willing to work in rural areas should have better job prospects. Opportunities will be best for librarians outside traditional settings. Many companies are turning to librarians because of their research and organizational skills, and knowledge of computer databases and library automation systems. Librarians can review vast amounts of information and analyze, evaluate, and organize it according to a company's specific needs. Librarians also are hired by organizations to set up information on the Internet. Librarians working in these settings may be classified as systems analysts, database specialists and trainers, webmasters or web developers, or LAN (local area network) coordinators. Librarians held about 159,900 jobs in 2008. About 59 percent were employed by public and private educational institutions and 27 percent were employed by local government.
More Information		Medical Library Association, Medical Library Association - Career Information Site
References		Medical Library Association, on the Internet at http://www.mlanet.org/ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Librarians on the internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm O*net on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/25-4021.00