Korean medical libraries and professional associations: changing services and roles

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for health information from both the public and private sectors as a result of an ageing population and the development of information and communication technologies. 1–3 As a consequence, libraries serving medical science and health care have become more important and the role of health science librarians is changing. 4,5 Big libraries such as the National Library of Medicine of the USA (NLM) have actively responded to this agenda by developing new services and outreach programmes and promoting public health informatics initiatives. 6 The biggest challenge facing health information professionals is that boundaries between the sources and types of health information managed by information specialists and librarians, and the way information is used, are becoming blurred. 2,4,7,8 Moreover, there is a growing need for new ways of delivering information through a variety of e-health services 9,10 and for health information to support evidence-based practice...