A History of Medical Libraries and Librarianship in the United States: From John Shaw Billingsto the Digital Era presents a history of the profession from the beginnings of the Army Surgeon General’s Library in 1836 to today’s era of the digital health sciences library. The purpose of this book is not only to make this history available to the profession’s practitioners, but also to provide context as medical librarians and libraries enter a new age in their history as the digital information environment has undercut the medical library’s previous role as the depository of the print based KBI/information base.
The book divides the profession’s history is divided into seven eras:
1. The Era of the Library of the Office of the Army Surgeon General and John Shaw Billings – 1836 – 1898
2. The Era of the Gentleman Physician Librarian – 1898 to 1945
3. The Era of the Development of the Clinical Research Infrastructure (NIH), the Rapid Expansion in Funded and Published Clinical Research and the Emergence of Medical Librarianship as a Profession – 1945 – 1962
4. The Era of the Development of the National Library of Medicine, Online digital Subject Searching (Medline) and the Creation of the National Health Science Library Infrastructure– 1962 – 1975
5. The Medline Era – A Golden Age for Medical Libraries – 1975 – 1995
6. The Era of Universal Access to Information and the Transition from Paper to Digitally Based Medical Libraries – 1995 – 2015
7. The Era of the Digital Health Sciences Library – 2015 –
Each era is reviewed through discussing the developments in the field and the factors which drove those developments. The book will provide current and future medical librarians and information specialists an understanding of the development of their profession and some insights into its future.
The authors of this book in fifty years of marriage have observed and been part of the evolution of medical libraries and librarianship, academia, and health related research and education. Having gotten married as undergraduates, they have made this professional journey together supporting and learning from each other’s experiences. This is the third book they have coauthored.
Michael Reed Kronenfeld, MLS, MBA, AHIP, FMLA is University Librarian Emeritus, A.T. Still University of the Health Sciences. Since receiving his MLS in 1975 he has worked as the archivist/processor of the papers of Senator Lister Hill, as the Director of the Library and the Educational Resources Center at a state health department, as the Library Director and web master for a public teaching hospital and, for his last 17 years before retirement, as the University Librarian for a medical university, retiring in March of 2019. He has been an active member of the Medical Library Association throughout his career. In his forty-four years in the profession, he has been interested in and published on the history of the medical library profession and on the impact of technology in driving this history.
Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita in Sociology, SSFD, Arizona State University. Her research areas are medical sociology and aging and the life course with special focus on health policy, health care utilization and health behavior. She serves as editor of the research annual, Research in the Sociology of Health Care, published by Emerald Press. She is coeditor of Health. She has served as Chair of the Medical Sociology Section, American Sociological Association (ASA). She is currently the secretary-treasurer of the Retirement Network, ASA. She is a past President of Sociologists for Women in Society.
Chapter 1 – The Era of the Library of the Office of the Army Surgeon General and John Shaw Billings – 1836 – 1898
Chapter 2 - The Era of the Gentleman Physician Librarian – 1898 to 1945
Chapter 3 - The Era of the Development of the Clinical Research Infrastructure (NIH), the Rapid Expansion in Funded and Published Clinical Research and the Emergence of Medical Librarianship as a Profession – 1945 – 1962
Chapter 4 - The Era of the Development of the National Library of Medicine, Online digital Subject Searching (Medline) and the Creation of the Health Science Library Infrastructure– 1962 – 1975
Chapter 5 - The Medline Era – A Golden Age for Medical Libraries – 1975 – 1995
Chapter 6 - The Era of Universal Access to Information and the Transition from Paper to Digitally Based Medical Libraries – 1995 – 2015
Chapter 7 - The Era of the Digital Health Sciences Library – 2015 –
