Page 160 - Training for librarianship; library work as a career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

the institutional library. In some medical
institutions the library is as much an active
aid in scientific research as in custodial care.
Never was the dependence on printed sources
or on organized information bureaus so great.
The medical library connected with the hos-
pital or laboratory is winning as secure a
place for itself as the business library has in
its particular sphere. To it comes the sur-
geon in doubt regarding the technic of an
operation which he must perform, the physi-
cian confronted with a difficult case, the
house officer, the nurse and the medical stu-
dent. Thus Doctor Osier writes : " Post-
graduate education is largely in the hands
of the hbraries. Take an illustration of my
own experience the last ten days. In a com-
plicated unusual type of war-shock case about
which I asked my own books in vain, the
answer was easily found in the Royal Society
of Medicine Library." He states also that:
" For the teacher and the worker a . . .
library ... is indispensable. They must
know the world's best work and know it at
once. They mint and make current coin the
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