This document outlines the syllabus for a graduate course on health sciences librarianship. The course will cover all aspects of medical and health sciences librarianship, with a focus on collection development, reference services, searching biomedical literature, and emerging topics. Students will complete assignments such as a healthcare issue analysis, database tutorials, reference scenarios, and a site visit paper. The goal is for students to understand the environment and roles of health sciences librarians, be able to search biomedical resources and answer reference questions, and develop collections. The syllabus provides reading assignments, project details, grading criteria, and policies.

1. Health Sciences Librarianship
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GSLIS 784: Health Sciences Librarianship
Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies
Mondays 6:40 PM – 9:15 PM
Joseph S. Murphy Institute--City University Of New York, Computer Room, 18th
Floor
Instructor: Mary Lou Glazer, MLS
Office Phone: 631 261-4400 ● E-Mail: MaryLou.Glazer@va.gov
Office Hours by Appointment with Instructor
Course Description
All phases of medical and allied health sciences librarianship, with emphasis on medical
community relationships; current information retrieval systems; the selection and control
of serial, monographic, and non-print materials in biomedicine; electronic searching and
retrieval experience necessary.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, you should be able to:
1) Understand the basic environment of health sciences libraries;
2) Know how to search both print and electronic health sciences information
resources;
3) Use the basic biomedical reference sources to answer factual questions;
4) Understand the basic principles of building and managing a collection of health
sciences print and electronic resources.
Pre or Co-Requisites
GSLIS 700, 701, 702, 703 and permission of the school
Required Textbooks
Jeffrey T. Huber, Jo Anne Boorkman and Jean Blackwell. Introduction to Reference
Sources in the Health Sciences. 5th
ed. Neal-Schuman Publishers. New York. 2008.
Michele Spatz. Answering Consumer Health Questions: The Medical Library
Association Guide for Reference Librarians. Neal-Schuman Publishers. New York.
2008.

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Other readings as assigned.
Course Outline, Readings and Assignments
Date Description Readings Due
August 27 Introduction to Health
Sciences Librarianship
N/A
September 3 NO CLASS Information seeking behavior of nursing
students and clinical nurses; implications for
health sciences librarians. J Med Lib Assoc
2005; 93(2):213-222
September 10 Biomedical Terminology
and the Roles of Today’s
Healthcare Professionals
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department
of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2010-
11 Edition, Healthcare, on the Internet at
http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs035.htm
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell, p. 141-
154, p. 303-325;
The Basics of Medical Subject Headings
(MeSH®) in MEDLINE®/PubMed®
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/mesh/
Decreased hospital length of stay associated
with presentation of cases at morning report
with librarian support. J Med Libr Assoc.
2007 Oct;95(4):381-7. Banks DE.
Guest Speaker:
Mary J. Markland
SE Clinical Campus Librarian
University of North Dakota School of Medicine &
Health Science
Sept 17 NO CLASS

3. Health Sciences Librarianship
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Date Description Readings Due
September 24 Environment of the Health
Sciences Librarian
Healthcare Issue Assignment Due
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell, p. 3-32.
Pauline S. Beam, B.S.N., M.L.S., Laura M.
Schimming, M.L. The Changing Library:
What Clinicians Need To Know. Mount
Sinai Journal Of Medicine Vol. 73 No. 6
October 2006, 857-63.
Gawande AA, Final Cut, The New Yorker,
Mar 19, 2001
Tutorial Projects to be assigned.
October 1 Biomedical Literature:
Characteristics and
Comparisons (Monographs,
Serials and other formats)
Greenhalgh T. How to read a paper. Getting
your bearings (deciding what the
paper is about). BMJ. 1997 Jul
26;315(7102):243-6. PubMed PMID:
9253275; PubMed
Central PMCID: PMC2127173.
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) tutorials ,
Information Services Department, Library
of the Health Sciences-Chicago, University
of Illinois at Chicago. http://ebp.lib.uic.edu/
October 8
October 10
Wednesday
NO CLASS
Electronic Resources in the
Health Sciences: Searching
the Literature, Part 1
Insert readings
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell, p. 47-89,
91-137
PubMed®/MEDLINE® Basics
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmed.html
Speaker: Elaine Aligood
VAMC Boston Chief Informatista
Tutorial Project Presentations Due
October 15 Electronic Resources in the
Health Sciences: Searching
the Literature, Part 2
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell, p. 155-
214

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Date Description Readings Due
Tutorial Project Presentations
October 22 Electronic Resources in the
Health Sciences: Searching
the Literature, Part 3
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell , p. 249-
345
Tutorial Project Presentations
October 29 Providing Reference to the
Health Professional
Questions Asked at the Virtual and Physical
Health Sciences Reference Desk:
How Do They Compare
and What Do They Tell Us? Sandra L. De
Groote.
Medical Reference Services Quarterly, Vol.
24(2), Summer 2005
p. 11-23.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15829456
Scenario Assignment Distributed
November 5 Providing Reference to the
Consumer Health Patron
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell, p.215-
248;Spatz, p.1-36, 67-86
Gail Kouame, Margo Harris, and Susan
Murray. Consumer Health Information
from Both Sides of the Reference Desk.
LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 53, No. 3,
Winter 2005 (“Consumer Health Issues,
Trends, and Research: Part 2. Applicable
Research in the 21st Century,” edited by
Tammy L. Mays), pp. 464–479
Guest speaker:
Janet M. Schneider, M.A., AHIP
Chief, Library Service
James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital
November 12 Professional Ethics in
Health Sciences
Librarianship
Spatz, p. 37-65
Toni Carbo. Challenges for libraries
creating one world: information ethics and
policy issues for medical librarians.
J Med Lib Assoc.2003 July; 91(3): 281–284
Crawford H. In search of an ethic of medical
librarianship. Bull Med Libr
Assoc. 1978 Jul;66(3):331-7.

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Date Description Readings Due
Gawande AA. When Law and Ethics Collide
Why Physicians Participate in Executions.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2006
Mar 23; 354:1221-1229.
Scenario Assignments Due
November 19 Selection and control of
serial, monographic, and
non-print materials in
biomedicine
Huber, Boorkman and Blackwell, p.35-45
B. Chaudhry, Wang J, Wu S, Maglione M,
Mojica W, Roth E, Morton SC, Shekelle
PG. Systematic review: impact of health
information technology on quality,
efficiency, and costs of medical care. Ann
Intern Med. 2006 May 16;144(10):742-52.
Epub 2006 Apr 11. Review. PubMed PMID:
16702590.
A definitive systematic review.
November 26 Clinical Informatics Readings
The Checklist, Annals of Medicine, Dec 10,
2007, Atul Gawande
Bringing evidence to practice: a team
approach to teaching skills required for an
informationist role in evidence-based
clinical and public health practice, J Med
Lib Assoc 2008;96:50-57, Oliver, KB
Site Review: http://www.amia.org
Work on site visit assignment and upcoming
readings
December 3 The Future of Healthcare
and Health Sciences
Librarianship
McDermott, Irene E. Matter of Survival:
Keeping Up with Medical Breakthroughs.
Searcher; Jul2005, Vol. 13 Issue 7, p8-11.
Speaker: Kristi Holmes PHD
Bioinformaticist
Bernard Becker Medical library
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, MO
December 10 Health Science Library Site Visit Paper Due- Last Class

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Projects & Grades
Healthcare Issue Assignment 15%
Each student will choose a healthcare issue of interest to them and pull one article from
the mainstream media (e.g., The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek)
as well as another article covering the same issue in the healthcare literature (e.g.,
New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical
Association).
After reading the two articles, students will prepare a 1-2 page analysis comparing and
contrasting the way in which the same issue has been detailed and covered in the main
stream media vs. the healthcare literature. Note differences and similarities in the
analysis as well as the relevancy and accuracy of sources cited or mentioned.
Due September 24th
Tutorial Presentation 20%
Each student will be assigned a biomedical database or electronic resource to review and
demonstrate in class. Presentations are to be 10 minutes in length and are to
demonstrate live in class how the assigned resource is to be utilized.
Students are to provide the class members with a one page handout detailing the
resource’s: purpose, the reasons the resource would be use, which healthcare
professionals might use the resource, the organizing principle behind the resource (e.g.,
does it use controlled vocabulary, work via table of contents), and a critical appraisal of
the resource’s value.
Due Wednesday October 10th
Scenario Assignment 25%
Students will be given six scenarios that medical librarians may encounter in their daily
practice. They are to choose three on which to work on and write at least a one
page description for each regarding how they would approach the situation, what
actions they would take and how they would address the questions and/or issues
involved. Assignment should be no longer than six pages total. Citations should
be as per APA style.
Scenarios will be collected at the beginning of class and students should be prepared to
discuss them.
Due November 12th

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Site Visit 30%
Make arrangements to visit a health sciences library in the area and interview staff
regarding their collection, services and experiences. You may choose any type of facility
but it MUST specialize in health sciences and/or medical librarianship.
Write 8-10 pages detailing what you have discovered, comparing and contrasting the
library which you visited with other similar libraries in terms of staff, budget, collection
breadth and depth, as well as any other factors that you deem to be significant.
Papers should be prepared according to APA style, as detailed in the “Policies” section
below.
Due December 10th
Class Participation and Attendance 10%
Students are expected to take part in discussions and interactive class activities.
Policies
Assignments
Students are expected to complete assignments as directed and on time, unless
arrangements are made with the instructor prior to the assignment due date. Assignments
submitted later than the due date will lose points for being late.
All assignments are to be typed as per APA style unless otherwise noted.
Assignments (specifically reference format) should conform to the American
Psychological Association Citation Style. Examples of APA format may be found at
http://www.cwpost.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citapa.htm
Attendance and class participation are expected and will be incorporated into the
student’s grade. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain information/notes from
classmates if they are absent from class for any reason.
Not all resources will be available online and students will be expected to visit area
health science and/or public libraries to access necessary resources. A list of medical
libraries available for public use in New York State is available from MedlinePlus at:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/libraries/newyork.html
Plagiarism is unacceptable and will be treated in accordance with Queens College
Policies and Procedures.