Medical librarians have a champion in Dr. Teitelbaum! His presentation began by noting his relationship several years ago with medical librarians and argued that despite being many years later, the role of medical librarians has not changed but rather the world has changed with the advancement of technology. Librarians are "information accessors and distributors" in the beginning and we still are today, only differently.
Dr. Teitelbaum expressed concerns of the future of graduate medical programs having limited locations for residents to train at. Shorter hospital stays mean that ambulatory care settings are the training grounds for these graduates. More often than not graduates find themselves turning to hospital and medical librarians for assistance and education on research, which is leading to an "integrated teaching model" for graduate medical education.
As an early-career academic medical library professional, Dr. Teitelbaum's talk was encouraging. Most of my library career has been during the economic downturn and sometimes I feel as if I've only experinced the "do more with less" institutional mentality. In a time when libraries are struggling to communicate their relevancy, it was validating to hear Dr. Teitelbaum's continued appreciation and support of libraries.
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