Access to Information and Information Practices in Clinic Libraries in Bucharest

Abstract

In the context of new information and communication technologies and of the development of large electronic collections, access to medical information and the information practices of doctors have experienced a continuous evolution. Starting from results of previous research carried out by the author, which analysed the access to electronic information resources by the users of academic medical libraries in Romania and showed that a small number of library users surveyed prefer electronic information resources, this paper presents the results of a pilot study from a research whose purpose is to investigate the usage of medical information resources and the information practices of users in university clinic libraries in Bucharest through a questionnaire-based survey. The study found that the users from the clinics employ other information practices and a higher preference and usage of electronic resources. The results also underline the need for an increase of user training in accessing electronic information resources.