An Analysis of Health and Science Library and Information Science Courses and Faculty Experience at ALA-Accredited Programs Across the United States

Objectives: This talk will highlight findings of a data collection and analysis project designed by the Office of Engagement and Training of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to identify opportunities for collaboration between US ALA-accredited LIS programs and health sciences or medical libraries. It will also briefly introduce ideas for outreach to and engagement with these programs.

Methods: The project included an inventory of all LIS program offerings (i.e., courses, certificates, and joint programs) with health or science (H/S) content at 54 ALA-accredited programs and all LIS faculty members with H/S experience (e.g., relevant education, instruction, research, funding, or professional memberships). Data were collected from a variety of sources, including course catalogs, program websites, class schedules, faculty directories, faculty CVs, faculty webpages, publication databases, Google searches, and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2018 data. Additionally, the project also included an analysis of ALISE 2018 demographic data relating to the racial/ethnic diversity of students attending each program.

Results: Across all 54 ALA-accredited programs, 4% of LIS courses included H/S content and 43% of faculty had H/S experience with most having three or more experiences. The most common H/S courses were health librarianship and health informatics. Thirteen institutions offered H/S-relevant LIS certificates and nine offered H/S-relevant joint LIS programs. Seven institutions had a significant proportion of students across three or more racial/ethnic groups.

Conclusions: The low proportion of H/S LIS program offerings (4%) compared to the high proportion of LIS faculty members with H/S experience (43%) suggests the need and potential for efforts strengthening H/S LIS offerings and more opportunities for diverse LIS students interested in health sciences librarianship. Recommendations for outreach and engagement will be discussed. This work was carried out by staff of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health, with support from NLM.