libr534 history of medical librarianship 2014
TRANSCRIPT
UBC’s iSchool LIBR534 - Health information sources & services, Giustini (2014)
Andreas Vesalius (1514 — 1564), Flemish anatomist, physician and author of 1543 book on human anatomy
De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesaliushttp://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/flash/vesalius/vesalius.html
Introduction to the history of medicine (with an eye to sources of information)
“…the history of medical libraries is related to the actual history of medicine”Birchette, 1973
The historical roots of health librarianship
“…the profession of medicine has been a concern …since the beginning of time….the physician, the medicine man, the healer, has always been looked upon
with great respect through the centuries…. the medical library has played an important role in the great advances in medical knowledge. [Medical libraries]
are the link between the past and the present…”
Birchette, 1973
The historical roots of health librarianship
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Cushing/John_Hay_Whitney_Medical_Library
In his book, Roy Porter, medical historian, says: “
“ (Porter, pg. 30)
• Prehistory (before recorded history) • Before the invention of writing• Humans were hunter-gatherers, and herbivores• Our study of medicine requires artifacts, human remains &
anthropology• i.e., Trepanation can be proven
• Some other ‘evidence’ in art, mummification
Let’s start at prehistory…
• ~3000 BC forward
• Greeks refute claims disease caused by demons/spirits
• science based on logic, reason, philosophy
• Empirical observation
The ancient world
• Hippocrates 460-377 BC
• The “Father of Medicine”
Greek physicians in antiquity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECjakT-5cw
Galen, AD 129 – 216
• Fall of Rome precipitates dark ages
• Political & religious turmoil; diseases “God sent”
• Arabic medicine thrives
• Bubonic plague, massive loss of life
• Madness, insanity, leprosy; hospitals in 11th C.
Dark ages / ~1400 AD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8pwGDhppr0
Avicenna, the Persian polymath
Renaissance of scientific inquiry & learning• Human dissection & cadaver studies
– Paduan anatomy– Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) – Giovanni Morgagni (1682-1771)
• Blood circulation theory– William Harvey (1578-1657)
Medicine’s rebirth, 1500+
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650)» Mind-body duality theory
• Scientific revolution 16/17th centuries• Bacon, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton• Invention of microscopy • Birth of demography • First “clinical trials”
The Renaissance
Laboratory research • Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) “German school”• Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
• paved way for antisepsis - Joseph Lister (1827-1912)
• Bacteriology as a scientific discipline• Robert Koch (1843-1910)
• New Science: Darwin, Freud, Einstein
19th century lab medicine
• Biomedical models emerge• Health defined as “absence of disease”• Disease caused by pathogens • Behavioural sciences• Health interdisciplinarity• Post-Freudian integration
• Economics of providing health care• Rise of value of information • Evidence-based practice in 1990s
20th c. biomedical model
Sulfa drugs (1930s), penicillin/antibiotics (1940s)• Pharmaceutical companies & profits • Patient want the magic pill• Resistance & superbugs
Technological advances & specialization in 21st C.• But in early 21st C., medical systems seen to be failing
The 20th century rise of drugs
• Medicine’s roots are in antiquity• Accelerated growth in knowledge from renaissance• History of medicine closely linked with science• Science and medicine are interdependent• Medical knowledge built on previous evidence • What Roy Porter calls “the medical record”
This tour of medical history reveals …
• Many major medical libraries were established in 19th C.• Early libraries grew out of private collections
Hospitals established in US & Canada• Health libraries followed• Flexner report 1910
1875 medical libraries
• Physicians helped to establish several medical libraries
• William OSLER, Canadian physician, on evidence:“We doctors have always been a simple, trusting folk! Did we not believe Galen implicitly for fifteen hundred years and Hippocrates for more than two thousand years?”
• [Speech given to Ontario Medical Association, Toronto, June 3, 1909]. Canada Lancet. 1909; 42:899-912
Influence of physicians on libraries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm817yZeros
McGill’s Osler Library
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm817yZeros
• John Shaw Billings, MD - His Role– Led U.S. Surgeon General’s Library - 1865-1883
• Medical Library Association founded in 1898– Founding members: Margaret Charlton (Canadian medical
librarian), William Osler, George Gould (American physician)– Largest medical library association in the world– Offers a credential for medical librarians called AHIP
America & medicine
Margaret Ridley Charlton (1858-1931)
US National Library of Medicine • National Network of Libraries of Medi
cine (NNLM)– Established by legislation in 1956– Today, NLM coordinates information
services for libraries worldwide...
Medical library movement, 20th century
• No health library act in Canada• No national library of medicine• CISTI (Canadian Institute for Science & Technical
Information) officially 1966/1974 • Since 1970, CISTI works closely with health librarians• In 2010, CISTI services were outsourced• In 2014, services are unavailable http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/
Medical libraries in Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/health-canada-library-changes-leave-scientists-scrambling-1.2499217
• UBC health libraries• Still largest “network” of its kind in Canada • Serves UBC health community at multiple locations
• HLABC (Health Libraries Assoc. of BC)• ~100 members• College of Registered Nurses of BC (CRNBC), BC Cancer Agency,
BC College of Physicians & Surgeons Library (CPSBC)• Government ministries & public libraries• Both library technicians & librarians
Medical libraries – British Columbia
National & provincial influences • Health care reform ongoing in 21st century• Triggered by Romanow Commission• Provincial & local context(s)• Expansion of medical, nursing, pharmacy programs
Summary
• Origins can be traced back to the early 20th c.• 1824: Canada’s 1st medical school• Father of Canadian medicare, Tommy Douglas
Canada Health Act (1984)– National standards of care; publicly-financed, privately delivered– Merged hospital & medical insurance as one statute– No extra-billing; no user fees
Health care in Canada
Canada’s five (5) health act principles:1. universality2. accessibility3. portability4. public administration5. comprehensive
LIBR534 - Health information sources & services, Giustini
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