International trends in health science librarianship part 12: South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

This is the 12th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship. This issue describes developments in health science librarianship in the first decade of the 21st century in South Asia. The three contributors report on challenges facing health science librarians in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There is consensus as to the need for education, training and professional development. Starting in the next issue, the focus will turn to Africa, starting with countries in southern Africa. JM.

Health information multitype library reference referral networking: panacea for the '90s.

Librarians are exploring new approaches to information sharing to cope with a rapidly changing environment dominated by budget cuts, information explosion, and globalization of the economy, science, and culture. In 1990, the University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences (UIC LHS) initiated a pilot project aimed at establishing an effective balance between state-of-the-art information technology and traditional library methods and promoting cooperation among health information professionals by establishing the Health Information Referral Network (HIRN) in the state of Illinois. HIRN's background and development, Internet home page, and networking techniques reviewed in this paper are applicable to multitype libraries and information centers interested in improving information use and the referral process.

Accessing the biomedical literature: the South Dakota Med-Fax Network.

Librarians developed a plan for a medical information network based upon the needs of South Dakota physicians as revealed in a 1984 survey. The South Dakota Med-Fax Network received private funding in 1987 and became operational in 1988. The Network incorporates interactive simultaneous remote on-line database searching (ISRS) and telefacsimile transmission to expedite the identification and delivery of medical literature to South Dakota physicians. At present, the Network is composed of sixteen institutional sites. Individual physicians may establish their own sites if they provide an IBM compatible personal computer with a modem and purchase a telecommunications software package. The Network will provide training and follow-up support. Use patterns to date demonstrate that telefacsimile transmission is instrumental in reducing significantly the time necessary to deliver journal literature and that ISRS searching is the method of choice in the Network's remote sites.

Perspectives on academic health sciences libraries in the 1980s: indicators from a Delphi study.

A Delphi study was undertaken to identify the changes in library roles and functions that the directors of academic health sciences libraries believe will occur over the next decade. The methodology is described and the results are summarized. Two scenarios resulted: one, highly desirable; the other, highly probable. They overlap by 64%. Library directors expect moderate evolutionary changes in the next ten years. Users are perceived to be the force maintaining the status quo, while technology is the force advancing change. The adoption of technology is seen as desirable and within the libraries' span of control. Education and service roles of librarians will expand. Library and institutional priorities are seen as obstacles to change.