Education for health sciences librarianship

Important organizations in the education of health sciences librarians include graduate schools of library and information science (LIS), the Medical Library Association (MLA), and the National Library of Medicine (NLM). This paper provides an overview of education for health sciences librarianship by considering its development, current status, and possible future evolution. Because health sciences librarians place a strong emphasis on lifelong learning, sections of the paper are devoted to post-master's programs and continuing education as well as to the master's degree program in library and information science. Another distinguishing characteristic of health sciences librarianship is the role of the professional association in providing a credentialing program for its members, now embodied in MLA's Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP). Resources useful to the student of health sciences librarianship, many of them published by MLA, are listed in an appendix to this paper.