Recruiting Medical Students into Health Sciences Librarianship: Pursuing the Informationist Concept through a Dual Degree Model

The Need for Informationists Over 54% of current MLA members are over 50 Medical librarians are working in an increasingly complex field In response, we need medical informationists: Individuals who have biomedical content expertise as well as an understanding of information and library science

The Dual Degree Program MD/MSLS or MD/MSIS Complete 2 years toward MD During third “research” year, complete MSLS or MSIS (in one or two years) MS paper must meet Duke requirements for 3rd-year thesis Return to Duke to complete MD

The Project Goals Funding received from IMLS ($392,295) Recruit 4 students from Duke into the dual degree program 2 to begin Fall 2006 2 to begin Fall 2007 Test the feasibility of this model for increasing the number of medical informationists

The Project Team At UNC: At Duke: Barbara Wildemuth, Professor Claudia Gollop, Assoc. Professor Peggy Schaeffer, Project Coordinator At Duke: Pat Thibodeau, Director, DUMC Library Robert James, Assoc. Dir., Public Services, DUMC Library

Project Evaluation Evaluate the viability of this approach, in terms of: Student performance Student satisfaction Effects on career plans of participants

Timetable Recruitment Admit/advise participating students 12/05 3/06 6/06 9/06 12/06 3/07 6/07 9/07 12/07 3/08 6/08 9/08 Recruitment Admit/advise participating students Identify faculty mentors and learning experiences Develop marketing materials and project website Support for first cohort of students Support for second cohort of students Assessment of first cohort * Assessment of second cohort

Questions?