Current status and future prospects

Introduction

Although we (Meghan and Ann) have worked together for many years this is the first article we have co-authored. Other mother–daughter librarians exist, but we have not met any who work in health librarianship. Both of us are librarians and feel that we are doing important library work, although neither of us currently occupy a traditional library position. We are eager to present this article on research and hope to provide a cross-generational view of the current situation and a look into the future of research.

When we thought about research in practice we considered three areas. Librarians have always been research ‘helpers’ providing literature searches, document delivery, and fact checking. Librarians will probably continue to do this work long into the future. Our article is not about that sort of research assistance. We want to concentrate on our own library and information practice research and research done in collaboration (true partnerships) with other researchers.

Ann attests to the fact that we, as librarians, have come a long way in the past 25 years. She remembers the landmark randomized controlled trial done by Joanne Marshall in 1981 on clinical medical librarians just one floor below her office.¹ Meghan was born that year. Many other research studies have been done, projects completed, and PhDs obtained since then. We both have taken part in systematic review production and seen the prominence of librarians in Cochrane Centers, US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Evidence-Based Practice centres, and groups that produce clinical practice guidelines and health technology assessments. An example of this kind of work is the wonderful report on peer review of search strategies from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health published in 2008 in which the first three authors are librarians.²

We, as individuals and as a profession, have seen the recent growth in respect for evidence and our roles as keepers and providers of that evidence that has come about because of the evidence-based practice movement across so many disciplines including our own. Basic research training is better—Meghan's in 2006 involved writing a research proposal and was certainly better than Ann's in 1972. Many librarians continue to take an inordinate number of continuing education courses on all aspects of research. Ann has given probably 200 workshops and training sessions on doing and understanding research and many trainers in the UK (e.g. Anne Brice and Andrew Booth) have likely given many, many more. Innumerable librarians have gone on to obtain advanced degrees in such areas as business, public health, epidemiology, information science, and informatics. Many of these degrees have been at the PhD level. Rather than staying in academic teaching positions, many of those with PhDs are library directors. They are in the unique position to set the stage and provide mentoring to their staff to take part in research projects both within our own profession and to collaborate with others beyond. Many have already done so. The move to interdisciplinary degree programs and research grants has also added opportunities to do and be part of research. Professional organizations, such as the Medical Library Association (MLA), have highlighted the importance of research and provided research training. The MLA research policy statement shows where we have come from, where we are now, and where we want to go in the future.³

What does the future hold for us as library and information practitioners with respect to research and what are the challenges holding us back? We both are excited about the future yet also concerned. Because of the complexities of modern life and our move to interdisciplinary education and jobs, librarians are not the only profession which now deals with health information. Health informaticians, information scientists, and health records professionals, as well as pharmacists, are vying for their place in health information management. Some of these groups have worked to build strong research foundations for their work force. For example, the move by pharmacists to an extended 6-year PharmD degree instead of a 4–5 years baccalaureate degree was brilliant and one that librarians could learn from.

Technology seems to be driving the research world, if not the world itself. Libraries have long ceased to be buildings and book collections. People can go online and find answers to many of their questions. The Internet simplifies and at the same time complicates our lives. Will we survive? Will we thrive? We think so. We (Ann and Meghan) feel strongly that librarians’ roles and functions with respect to research will contribute to that thriving. We feel that librarians have the ability to do research, are moving towards getting needed training, and are getting involved in situations where research can and should be done. What is lacking or holding us back is support—and possibly attitude. Some of this support must come from within—our directors and administrators must be able to give us time, opportunity, and resources to do research. Good research requires all three, although time to plan and execute studies is the most important factor followed by recognition of its importance and the needed resources. We also need to market our unique skills to collaborate with others.

Even more important, however, is that we, as a profession, need to seek support from those outside our libraries. Help is available and we have not sought it. Academic librarians can seek research help from other departments and services. Most research departments have mandates to help others in their communities. This help can be for specific projects or to develop research skills by providing mentors. Hospitals provide similar research assistance. Our professional organizations are another source of project or personnel specific help. Many of these services go untapped. We also wonder if librarians suffer from the ‘Shoemaker's children syndrome’. Just as marketing firms do not market themselves well, accountants have poorly done accounts, and shoemaker's children go barefoot, librarians, being in the evidence business, may be prone to ignore evidence in our professional lives.⁴

As an older and a younger librarian we are proud to be librarians and hope that our profession continues to learn and grow and produce even more evidence for ourselves and the larger world in which we live and work.

Conflicts of interest

KAM & MKG have declared no conflicts.