Developments in health sciences libraries since 1974: from physical entity to the virtual library

It is hard to imagine this as a diminished role. Librarians must aggressively educate administrators about their skills, abilities, and role in institutional information management. Where are health sciences libraries going? It is indeed difficult to predict where the next twenty years will lead. If the changes of the past two decades are any indication, librarians are in for a roller coaster ride. As the "virtual" library becomes a reality, librarians will probably play a greater role in quality filtering. A recent study indicates that librarians can recognize and select clinically useful articles as effectively as physicians (Kuller et al., 1993). Librarians should pursue this service to assume a greater role in providing value-added services to their clients. And what of the library as the physical entity? Chances are the physical entity will remain for at least twenty years with both print and electronic resources. Clients and librarians will probably find their workstation to be more and more useful as they tap into the world's information sources. The High Performance Computing and Communications Act (HPCC), which established the National Research and Education Network (NREN), will provide libraries with access to high-speed and high-capability communication facilities, but these technologies will also be accessible to many individuals and organizations in the future. Librarians must again emphasize their skills and role in developing roadmaps for these many electronic highways. They must work closer with other units in their institutions which deal with technology, whether this be academic computing, patient information systems, or telecommunications, so that the place of the library and what it has to offer will continue to be the "heart" of the information system. Health sciences librarians have a brilliant future ahead of them if they build on the past tradition of being in the forefront of innovative applications of technology.

The Alexandria Library was an idyllic place, no doubt, where scholars gathered for discourse and study. The virtual library may be such an entity if the potential of networked information and technology are harnessed as tools in the creation and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of all.

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