There are numerous ways one can apply their MLIS degree. You can work in public libraries, academic libraries, government libraries, comic book libraries, even wine libraries. I chose to work in health libraries, but there is one problem. I am not entirely sure what to call this field.

I have come across several terms in the literature that refer to libraries that specialize in information related to health and medicine. A PubMed search for “medical library” shows about 2,300 results. A search for “health sciences library” turns up about 930 results. You can also try “hospital library” (320 results) or “health library” (340 results). The University of Minnesota decided to shake things up by naming their health-related library a “bio-medical library” (this only turned up 28 PubMed results, most of which about the library at UM).

It makes it challenging to do research about this type of library, because there is not a consistent terminology for the field. You do not come across this issue in say, public library research, because there is only one term for libraries that serve the public. It means that in order to perform the best possible search, you have to include up to four different terms just to specify the type of librarianship you are interested in.

Now me, I prefer “medical library”. It’s less of a mouthful than “health sciences library” and usually turns up more results. But I’m curious, what do others who have worked in the field longer than my three months have to say about this? What term do you prefer?