Increasing use is made of library consultants to
advise the health authorities in the developing
countries on improving information support to
personnel employed in the national health
system. The main problems encountered by
consultants are structural as services must be
provided to a widely dispersed user population.
Intersectoral coordination should be exercised in
order to obtain access to health-related
information resources operating outside the
administrative scope of the ministry of health.
Financing is a critical aspect due to the
multiplicity of potential funding sources.
Technical aspects rank last and only two areas
are discussed in some detail: collection
development and bibliographic information
retrieval. A comparison shows that the
consultant working in a system context requires
a whole range of specific qualities, skills and
experiences in addition to those that compose
the basic profile of the single-library consultant.
Parker, J. Stephen, ed. Information consultants in action. London, Mansell, 1986. 258 p. ISBN 0-7201-1753-4.
3.
Weitzel, Rolf.Library services for primary health care. Social Science and Medicine, vol.32, no.1, p.53.
4.
Parker, J. Stephen.The overseas library consultant. In: Parker, J. Stephen , ed. Information consultants in action. London, Mansell, 1986. 258p. ISBN 0-7201-1753-4. p.174.
5.
Mills, Anne et al., eds. Health system decentralization. Concepts, issues and country experience. Geneva, WHO, 1990. 151 p. ISBN 92-4-156137-8. p.147.
6.
Shamsul Islam Khan, Zakiuddin Ahmed and Nilufar Akhter. Health sciences libraries and information services in Bangladesh. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association , vol. 78, no.4, October 1990. p.374.
7.
Clow, David.Aid and development—the context of library-related aid. Libri, vol.36, no.2, 1986. p.93.
8.
Chisanga, Chileshe J.J.Factors affecting utility of keys to resources in Zambia. In: Medical libraries: keys to health information. Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on Medical Librarianship ... 24-28 September 1990, New Delhi. New Delhi, Medical Library Association of India, 1990. Vol.1: Papers. 514 p. ISBN 81-900139-2-0 (vol.01). p.82.
9.
Gayasuddin and Buxton, Andrew B. CD-ROM as an alternative medium of access to biomedical information in developing countries. In: Medical libraries: keys... op. cit. p.163-70.
