The legal responsibilities of the health-care librarian.

This article discusses the legal responsibilities that information intermediaries have towards the users of their services. The areas of law that affect legal liability are contract law, tort and strict liability. The likelihood of health-care librarians being held liable for the service they provide is assessed, and methods of reducing this risk are discussed. The key issues are: whether the recipient is relying on the information you provide and whether this reliance is reasonable; whether money changed hands; and whether the institution is under a statutory obligation to provide the information. All-embracing exclusion clauses are often used as an attempt to exclude liability, but their validity in law is doubtful, and they should be replaced by more reasonable ones. Adhering to good professional practice, and avoiding interpreting information for laymen are ways of minimizing liability. If court proceedings do take place, professional indemnity insurance can reduce financial loss.

The liability of the hospital librarian. Why you need a professional medical librarian.

Would you hire a cashier instead of a qualified accountant to manage your hospital's financial department? Certainly not--the stakes are too high. The same test holds for your hospital library: Besides running the risk of possible liability and embarrassment for your hospital, hiring an untrained person to manage your library would not serve the best interests of your medical staff and--most importantly--your patients.

Issues in information malpractice.

In today's information explosion environment, the health sciences librarian is increasingly placed in the role of interpreting, translating, and evaluating information for clientele. With this emerging role and the burgeoning of fee for service programs, the question of information malpractice liability becomes an increasingly important issue. This paper explores the basis for legal actions against librarians and offers some precautionary measures to help protect against such legal action.

Medical information, health sciences librarians, and professional liability.

As a gatekeeper to medical literature and a critical link in the delivery of information to physicians, the librarian's role raises the issue of the librarian's professional liability. The paper suggests several ways in which liability may attach to the librarian or the librarian's employers. Although the librarian's personal risk is negligible, the physician's exposure due to ineffective library work is substantial since the courts have held that a physician must keep abreast of progress in his field. Librarians can also become associated with professional liability actions as part of a case against a physician or hospital through the legal doctrine of vicarious liability. The paper concludes by suggesting several proactive steps for health sciences librarians to pursue to insulate themselves from professional liability and to insulate physicians and institutions from vicarious liability.