Transcript Library manpower in allopathic medical institutions in

Library manpower in allopathic
medical institutions in Kerala:
a critical appraisal
Mr. Saji S. Nair
&
Dr. Sunil Kumar P.
RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY
…….Relevance of the study
• Medical libraries – as a source of
support
– Teaching
– Learning
– Research
– Patient care
…….Relevance of the study
• Medical librarians – as information
intermediaries
– Traditional role as custodians
– Beyond that ……….
– It is so important …..
• Qualifications
• Experience
• Professional exposure to events
- Success and survival depend on ….
• Knowledge
• Skill
• Competence in medical librarianship
…….Relevance of the study
Research shows:
“Professionally led library services have
an impact on health outcomes for
patients and may lead to time savings
for health-care professionals.”
Weightman AL, Williamson J. The value and
impact of information provided through
library services for patient care: a systematic
review. Health Information And Libraries
Journal 2005;22(1):4-25.
…….Relevance of the study
Kerala – Infrastructure for allopathic medicine
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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681 Primary Health Centres
233 Community Health Centres
77 Taluk head quarter hospitals
16 District hospitals
15 General hospitals
19 speciality hospitals
17 Tuberculosis clinics
49 other hospitals
Source: Economic Review 2014 / Kerala State Planning Board.
Thiruvananthapuram: the board, 2014
…….Relevance of the study
Allopathic Medical Education in
Kerala
• 32 MCI recognized institutions
– 30 medical colleges
– 2 Specialized medical institutions
• Annual intake of
– 3540 MBBS students
– 1246 PG students
•
8571 Faculty members
Source: Medical Council of India (2014). Retrieved
November 26, 2014, from http://www.mciindia.org/
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Objectives of the study
• To determine the size of library manpower in
allopathic medical institutions in Kerala.
• To ascertain designations, qualifications,
salaries, experience and exposure to professional
events of medical librarians.
• To evaluate the manpower attributes with
respect to the norms prescribed by Medical
Council of India.
• To offer suggestions for manpower development
in academic medical libraries in Kerala.
REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
Related Studies
• No exhaustive nation -wide surveys
• State-specific medical library surveys
– Karnataka
– Andhra Pradesh
– Gujarat
– Maharashtra
– Orissa
– Delhi
• In Kerala
• No studies so far
• Manpower attributes in University libraries - covered
METHODOLOGY
Methodology
• Survey research – Cross sectional design
• Respondents – Heads of 25 libraries
• Tools used
– Questionnaires, supplemented with
• informal interviews,
• observational visits.
• Data collection
– Completed in May 2013
– Response rate 100 %.
• Data analysis
– Microsoft excel
– SPSS ver. 17
– Descriptive statistics
FINDINGS
University affiliation
Kerala University of
Health Sciences (KUHS)
Private University
Statutory autonomous
with University status
92 %
4%
4%
Institutions Vs Level of Course
UG and PG combined
64 %
UG only
28 %
PG only
8%
• Majority are professionals.
• 210 incumbents in 25 libraries.
• 25 heads of libraries AND 105 supporting librarians.
Staff strength Vs MCI stipulations
Extreme values
Required
number
as per
MCI
Mean
number of
staff
Professionals
/Semiprofessionals
8
4.5
10
2
Supporting
staff
4
3.2
8
1
12
8.4
18
5
Staff
Categories
Total staff
strength
Maximum Minimum
Reminders
• Goals of academic medical libraries are
same.
• Information requirements of professionals
are not much different.
• Library staff is the backbone and it should
be adequate.
• Libraries need to comply with the norms of
regulatory authorities like MCI.
BUT ……………………
• Libraries failed to comply with MCI norms.
• Inconsistent distribution of staff
• 80 % of libraries are managed by 2 – 3
professionals.
• Found !!! Practice of engaging support staff in
professional staff positions
Implications ……………………
• Dismal performance of libraries
• Affecting professionalism
• Heavy workload
Distribution of designations of heads of libraries
Sl.
Designations
No
1
Chief librarian
Number of
libraries
11
Percentage
44.0
2
Librarian
3
12.0
3
Senior grade librarian
3
12.0
4
3
12.0
5
Librarian cum
information officer
Assistant librarian
2
8.0
6
Librarian Gr. I
2
8.0
7
Librarian Gr. IV
1
4.0
25
100.0
Total
Distribution of designations of
supporting librarians
Sl.
No
Designations
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Assistant librarian
Library assistant
Deputy librarian
Cataloguer
Documentalist
Librarian
Librarian Gr. I
Librarian Gr. II
Librarian Gr. IV
Juniour Librarian
Seniour Librarian
Associate Librarian
Junior library Assistant
14
Librarian cum documentation officer
15
Librarian cum documentation
assistant
Number of
libraries
13
8
7
3
3
3
1
1
6
1
1
1
1
1
1
Percentage
52.0
32.0
28.0
12.0
12.0
12.0
4.0
4.0
24.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
4.0
Salary pattern of incumbents
Distribution of pay scales of librarians
Sl.
No.
Pay scales
Number of librarians
Percentage
1
32110-44640
3
6.0
2
21240-37040
3
6.0
3
18740-33680
1
2.0
4
16180-29180
2
4.0
5
11620-20240
3
6.0
6
6680-10790
27
54.0
7
15600-39100
3
6.0
8
9300-34800
8
16.0
50
100.0
Total
Distribution of consolidated salaries of librarians
Consolidated pay
(Rs. as range)
Number of
librarians
Percentage
≤ 10000
57
71.3
10001-15000
16
20.0
15001 - 20000
6
7.5
20000 ≥
1
1.2
80
100.0
Total
Less attractive salary structure
Status of medical library experience of library personnel
Less exposure to medical librarianship
Professional events attended by the incumbents
Medical librarianship
is at infancy in
Kerala
Other observations
• Lack of support from managements
• Lack of time bound promotions
• Non-recognition of skills
SUGGESTIONS
MEDICAL LIBRARIANS
New Titles – Twists to old roles
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Clinical librarian
Clinical informationist
Bioinformationist
Public health informationist
Consumer health librarian
Systematic review librarian
….. And more
Cooper ID, Crum JA. New activities and changing roles of health
sciences librarians: a systematic review, 1990-2012. J Med
Libr Assoc. 2013 Oct;101(4):268-77.
CLINICAL MEDICAL LIBRARIAN – roles
• Participate in hospital rounds along with
doctors.
• Learn the clinical situations and note the
questions to be answered.
• Find answers to support doctors for decision
making.
• Providing required information in the
consolidated form.
Medical librarians - International
perspectives
• Integral part of the health care team
• Serve as faculty of academic programs
• Design and manage:
– websites, Internet blogs and digital
libraries
• Conduct of outreach programs
- departments and other stakeholders
• Liaison with faculty to accomplish institutional
tasks
• Support for Evidence - Based Medical Practice
and so on………
Evidence Based Medicine and
Medical librarians
• EBM
• Is a practice – utilizes current best
evidence
• It requires
• Literature search
• Quality filtering
• Critical appraisal
• All are part of core knowledge of
librarianship
Here, the suggestion is…
• The medical librarians in Kerala need to
– sense the changes in global medical library
parlance
– Assimilate the new roles.
– Practice it in their institutional environment.
Expectation – a new breed of medical
librarians
……Suggestions …………..
• Medical librarianship in LIS curriculum
• Conduct of short-term courses in
medical librarianship
• Continuing education programs for
medical librarians
• Librarians as expert searchers
– Mediated literature search for doctors
– Curriculum integrated training to improve
search skills
• Liaison with faculty and students
…… Suggestions …………..
• Professional issues to be resolved
– Attractive pay scales / salaries
– Rectification of anomalies
– Promotional prospects
– Direct recruitment in key posts
CONCLUSIONS
•
•
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•
Conclusions
Though Kerala specific study, it is a microcosm of
the trends and tendencies in India.
Though a qualified spectrum of medical
librarians are available, they still like to continue
in conventional roles.
Even though, to some extent, they are busy with
ensuring accessibility to E-Resources, they fail
impress as agents of change.
Medical librarians in the State need
empowerment. Hence, parent bodies shall
provide adequate support for them to acquire
knowledge and skills.
“The Great Age of Libraries is
coming to an end, but….. the
Great Age of librarians is just
beginning”
(Plutchak TS. Breaking the barriers of time and
space: the dawning of the great age of librarians.
J Med Libr Assoc. 2012 Jan;100(1):10-9)