Librarians, Informaticists, Informationists, and Other Information Professionals in Biomedicine and the Health Sciences

Abstract

Biomedicine and health today are supported by a tightly woven interdisciplinary braid of (1) the discovery and use of information content, (2) its storage, management, and retrieval by information science (including the practice of librarianship) enabled by (3) the tools of information technology. Few specialists in one strand of the braid can work without some understanding of the other two strands. None have a monopoly on any one strand. Professional titles in research, education, and practice often are inadequate descriptions of the cross-disciplinary roles of their holders, or the actual practice of the professions. Some are medical librarians, health information managers, biomedical informaticists, and clinical informationists. Others work with controlled vocabularies, imaging and radiation therapy informatics, or business information systems. Biomedical informatics and bioinformatics related to human health include biosignals (including patient monitoring), laboratory informatics, pharmaceutical informatics, biomolecular informatics, genetic informatics, and proteonomics.

Key Words:

• informaticists
• informationists
• librarians