Editorial—Holding fast to traditional skills in anenvironment of changeLESLIE MORTON* and PENNY BONNETT† *44 The Lawns, Hatch End,Pinner, Middlesex HA5 4BL and †BMA Library, British Medical Association,Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP

The annual Bishop Memorial Lecture was established by the Medical Section of the Li-brary Association to commemorate William Bishop, who played a major part in its foun-dation. Bishop, one-time librarian of the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, was alsothe principal stimulus and organizer of the First International Congress on Medical Li-brarianship (ICML), held in London in 1953. Details of the past Bishop lectures and lec-turers are recorded in Health Libraries Review.1, 2

The inaugural lecture was delivered at St George’s Hospital Medical School on 19January 1968 by William LeFanu, Librarian of the Royal College of Surgeons of Englandand a long-standing friend of William Bishop.3 LeFanu himself took an active part in theaffairs of the Section. He was Chairman of the 1953 ICML London Congress andVice-president of the second ICML held in Washington in 1963. When he died on 1April 1995 the Independent wrote of him: ‘Among the select few dedicated to be medicallibrarians William LeFanu was one of the most quietly distinguished’.4

The Health Libraries Group, successor to the Medical Section and the Medical,Health and Welfare Libraries Group, felt that William LeFanu should also be com-memorated by an annual lecture. It was a happy idea to combine the names of two oldfriends in a joint Bishop and LeFanu Memorial Lecture and appropriate that the first jointlecture should be delivered by the Director of History of Medicine and Librarian of theWellcome Institute, Eric Freeman. The text of his lecture, which was delivered at theNational Heart and Lung Institute on 4 November 1996, is reproduced in this issue. EricFreeman spent most of his working life at the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, nowthe Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.5 During his time there he saw, anddirected, many changes. From the old-style Reading Room with its massive woodenshelves he has seen the library completely refurbished. The completion of a radical refur-bishment and comprehensive retyping of its card catalogue, to the cards replaced by mi-crofiche and then by an on-line database. His lecture gives a fascinating account of thechanges which have taken place in the library during his 35 years there; indeed, from thealmost Dickensian mould of a ‘Gentleman’s Club’ to the automated informationmarketplace of today. It is particularly good to have this reminder of how libraries usedto be. However, in order to cope with and manage change we should hold fast to ourtraditional skills and professional abilities and design a future that has solid roots in libraryand information science.

With recent NHS reforms, health libraries are at the centre of a new environment,bringing with them tremendous opportunities for library and information service (LIS)professionals to demonstrate the important contribution they can make to an effectivehealth service. As well as these organizational changes there are also new medical, social

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and educational changes, bringing in their wake evidence-based medicine, patient em-powerment and problem-based learning, to mention just three of the ‘cultural’ shifts inthe health sector.

The new environment in which LIS professionals are operating is immensely excitingand offers real opportunities, but in order to seize these opportunities LIS professionalsmust put themselves forward as being at the forefront of change and not following alongbehind it. Some valuable research is now being carried out, especially in Library and In-formation Schools, but it is important that LIS staff understand the research process andbecome more actively involved. In his paper, John Clark demystifies the research processand gives a practical step-by-step account of the process, with practical examples. Thiswill be a valuable tool for anyone embarking on such a project.

The changes and new environment have also had a tremendous impact oninformation provision within the health service. LIS staff need to improve organizationaland retrieval skills, to look at the service provided, and the quality of that service. In theirpaper Andrew Booth and Alan O’Rourke set out to answer the question: is informationretrieval enhanced by making each component of a structured abstract a separatelysearchable field? Their study is based on MEDLINE and, in the age of evidence-basedmedicine, is a valuable example of the sort of question LIS staff should be asking.Another paper looking at a different aspect of retrieval skills, preparation of the searchquestion, is by Robin Snowball. In his lively presentation Robin describes, in a clearconcise manner, the process of using a three- or four-part clinical question in theteaching of search preparation for database search training. This article represents asubstantial contribution to the present discussion on problem-based teaching of retrievalskills.

Further evidence of the changes have been seen in the advancement of technologies.The rapid advance of the Internet is evidence of this, many libraries are now developingtheir own WEB sites. In their paper Kerr Donaldson and Donald Mackay, of the HealthEducation Board for Scotland, share their experience of setting up a World Wide Webhealth information service.

The Internet has emerged as an important technology for health care delivery andhealth care librarians. In this issue we are beginning a new series Innovations on the Internetand are very pleased to welcome Betsy Anagnostelis as our series editor. The first articlesin this series are on the OMNI project, and Hypertext links from HEBSWEB. We wouldlike to hear of other WEB sites, so if you have already set up a WEB site or are in the pro-cess of doing so, we look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

1 Thornton, J.L. The W. J. Bishop Memorial lectures, 1968–1983. Health Libraries Review 1984, 1, 149-51.2 Morton, L. T. Bishop lecture [1984–1989]. Health Libraries Review, 1990, 7, 21–2.3 LeFanu, W. William John Bishop. A great medical librarian. Library Association Record 1969, 71, 101–5.4 Webster, A. William LeFanu. Independent, 7 April 1995.5 Nutton, V. & Bynum, W. F. Eric Freeman’s retirement. Medical History, 1997, 41, 227–8.

© 1997 Blackwell Science Ltd, Health Libraries Review 14, 133–134

134 Editorial

and educational changes, bringing in their wake evidence-based medicine, patient em-powerment and problem-based learning, to mention just three of the ‘cultural’ shifts inthe health sector.

The new environment in which LIS professionals are operating is immensely excitingand offers real opportunities, but in order to seize these opportunities LIS professionalsmust put themselves forward as being at the forefront of change and not following alongbehind it. Some valuable research is now being carried out, especially in Library and In-formation Schools, but it is important that LIS staff understand the research process andbecome more actively involved. In his paper, John Clark demystifies the research processand gives a practical step-by-step account of the process, with practical examples. Thiswill be a valuable tool for anyone embarking on such a project.

The changes and new environment have also had a tremendous impact oninformation provision within the health service. LIS staff need to improve organizationaland retrieval skills, to look at the service provided, and the quality of that service. In theirpaper Andrew Booth and Alan O’Rourke set out to answer the question: is informationretrieval enhanced by making each component of a structured abstract a separatelysearchable field? Their study is based on MEDLINE and, in the age of evidence-basedmedicine, is a valuable example of the sort of question LIS staff should be asking.Another paper looking at a different aspect of retrieval skills, preparation of the searchquestion, is by Robin Snowball. In his lively presentation Robin describes, in a clearconcise manner, the process of using a three- or four-part clinical question in theteaching of search preparation for database search training. This article represents asubstantial contribution to the present discussion on problem-based teaching of retrievalskills.

Further evidence of the changes have been seen in the advancement of technologies.The rapid advance of the Internet is evidence of this, many libraries are now developingtheir own WEB sites. In their paper Kerr Donaldson and Donald Mackay, of the HealthEducation Board for Scotland, share their experience of setting up a World Wide Webhealth information service.

The Internet has emerged as an important technology for health care delivery andhealth care librarians. In this issue we are beginning a new series Innovations on the Internetand are very pleased to welcome Betsy Anagnostelis as our series editor. The first articlesin this series are on the OMNI project, and Hypertext links from HEBSWEB. We wouldlike to hear of other WEB sites, so if you have already set up a WEB site or are in the pro-cess of doing so, we look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

1 Thornton, J.L. The W. J. Bishop Memorial lectures, 1968–1983. Health Libraries Review 1984, 1, 149-51.2 Morton, L. T. Bishop lecture [1984–1989]. Health Libraries Review, 1990, 7, 21–2.3 LeFanu, W. William John Bishop. A great medical librarian. Library Association Record 1969, 71, 101–5.4 Webster, A. William LeFanu. Independent, 7 April 1995.5 Nutton, V. & Bynum, W. F. Eric Freeman’s retirement. Medical History, 1997, 41, 227–8.