Informationist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Informationist (or Information Specialist in Context) provides research and knowledge management services in the context of clinical care or biomedical research. One way to think of the Informationist is the knowledge and skill of a medical librarian with extensive research specialization. Medical librarians and other biomedical professional organizations have been exploring the possibilities for evaluating how Informationists are being used and whether their activities supplement or replace medical library activity.

The term was proposed by Davidoff & Florance in 2000. Their editorial suggested that physicians should be delegating their information needs to informationists, just as they currently order CT scans from radiologists or cardiac catheterizations from cardiologists.

Davidoff, F., & Florance, V. (2000). The informationist: A new health profession? Annals of Internal Medicine, 132(12): 996-998.