The Medical Librarian’s Mentorship in Research Scholarship for Medical Students in Undergraduate Medical Education

Background: Health science librarians are integral to educational programs at their home institution. There is abundant literature on information literacy instruction. Existing mentorship programs are most tailored to librarians’ professional development, instituted by individual libraries or professional organization. There is a paucity of literature on librarians’ mentorship for students. The aim of the poster is to illustrate three types of librarian mentor-mentee relationships, introduce a process and practice for mentorship, demonstrate outcomes, and share tips and strategies for the mentor role as a librarian to promote the contribution of a medical library in scholarship of discovery.

Description: The OUWB Medical School annually recruit mentors for a required student research Capstone research project program and the Summer Internship Program. The Capstone research project is a mandatory four-year program for all medical students. The Summer Internship Program is for medical students following the completion of their first year of medical school. The internship opportunities are meant to foster both personal and professional development. Apart from the two programs, there are medical students who are driven and embark on additional research projects to pursue their interests in a specialty of their future choice. The medical librarian’s mentorship meets students’ needs in conducting research projects out of the scope of traditional bench research or clinical research and introduces them to different research methodologies such as systematic review, rapid review, evaluation studies in the fields of consumer health informatics and medical education.

Conclusion: Through the librarian’s mentorship, students learn research skills, information seeking/management skills, develop a better understanding of research methodologies, and cultivates a deep appreciation for the role, skill sets, and knowledge of the librarian. Furthermore, students get to involve in scholarly activities and disseminate their project outcomes at professional conferences or via submissions for peer-reviewed journals. The librarian’s mentorship provides a unique learning opportunity for students to develop professionally in areas of research, library skills, lifelong and self-directed learning. The outcomes resulted from the mentor-mentee relationships enhance students’ qualification for their future residency program in a specialty of their choice. Moreover, the librarian’s mentoring of medical students promotes the librarian’s important role and contributions in developing future physician investigators.