The Medical Library of the Future: Be Prepared for the Unthinkable

Author: Oliver Obst,  Branch Medical Library of the University and Regional Library M�nster, Germany

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Abstract

Printed vs. electronic journals

Building and managing a journal collection is one of the greatest challenges in library practice in these days. Journal prices had tripled in the last 10 years and library budgets remained almost flat. Three 'Hows' will be discussed: How to optimize the journal collection, How to enhance information access, and How to integrate Open Access.

Printed vs. electronic books

The results of the first German in depth study of e-books will be presented and usage of printed and electronic books be compared.

Customer relationship and marketing

Today, library customers will often not be aware that they use resources of the library, because the services are brought to them via the Internet. Therefore, library success rely on marketing their services. The autor will discuss some marketing tools such as electronic newsletter, printed newspapers, library weblogs, and RSS feeds.

Traditional vs. mobile library

Most medical libraries are already hybrids in the continuum between traditional / paper-oriented and digital / online-oriented libraries. The next two evolutionary steps will be the Mobil Library and the Ubiquitous Library. The Medical Library M�nster started a project to implement the Mobile Library by lending out handheld computer.

About the author

• Study of Biology
• Organisation and handling of clinical studies phase III and IV
• Traineeship in Library and Information Science
• Thesis about the information needs of medical professionals
• Head of the Branch Library of Medicine of the ULB M�nster
• Founder of Mailing lists, Web sites, and Weblogs for Medical Librarians