The value of information supplied to clinicians by health libraries: devising an outcomes-based assessment of the contribution of libraries to clinical decision-making.

The Value project, a study funded by the British Library Research and Development Department and a group of postgraduate medical deans, has examined the effectiveness of NHS library and information services. Clinicians at 11 hospital library sites were asked to describe the purposes for which they needed information, the steps they took to obtain it, and to assess the value of the information obtained from interlibrary loan requests, database searches and end-user searches. A sample of non-library users and of users of the BMA Dial-Up MEDLINE service were also asked similar questions. Results show that information did, or would in the future, assist in personal clinical decision-making and which kinds of decisions were most supported. Information new to clinicians was often provided. Follow-up interviews provided illustrations of the ways in which developments aimed at more cost-effective patient care were supported by information obtained from the library. Results are being used to guide the production of a quality assurance toolkit to help libraries audit their services and improve the delivery of information to clinicians.