Librarian as Curriculum Mapper on a Curriculum Mapping Team

Background: Curriculum mapping is the process of recording a medical school’s curriculum and providing information about competencies, gaps, and redundancies. It is a tool for curriculum development and integration, accreditation, and evaluation. Librarians have traditionally provided help with creating controlled vocabulary lists for maps. It is less common to have a librarian serve both in the role of curriculum mapper and as the faculty member on the curriculum mapper team. As a mapper, librarian searching, teaching, collaboration, and data management skills are utilized in a non-traditional setting.

Description: A curriculum mapping team shared information input within the map. Course and session level information is added to the map each year along with any relevant keyword mappings. Hierarchies of learning objectives from the program, course, and session levels were created. Learning and assessment sessions are labeled with MedBiquitous controlled vocabulary. The database can be searched for information like other databases. Information from the database can be used in curriculum reports, accreditation reports, and educational grant paperwork. The mapping team works with administration and faculty to provide information needed to determine if topics are covered within the curriculum and determine level of coverage.

Conclusion: Projects completed and deadlines met have been used to illustrate the importance of the information within the database. The major outcome for the map is the completion and submission of the annual AAMC curriculum inventory report. A second outcome included completion of data information requests for College of Medicine-related reports and faculty requests as requested. Lastly, course directors and coordinators checked the accuracy of information added to the map for their courses.