HSLS Update

Director’s Reflections… A Visit to Vietnam

Several months ago, I was invited to participate in an assessment of health information access and medical libraries in Vietnam.  The project was funded by the International Program of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).  In addition to myself, the assessment team included Ellen Detlefsen, associate professor in Pitt’s School of Information Sciences and lead faculty member for the school’s specialization in medical librarianship; Kate Oliver, associate director of the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University; and Chuong Huynh from NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information.  

During our two-week stay in January 2007, we traveled the length of the country, beginning in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in the south, then to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, Hue in the central region, and Hanoi in the north.  We visited medical schools and hospitals, and interviewed nearly a hundred physicians, educators, medical librarians, and students.  Based on these interviews and observations, our team will offer recommendations to enhance training opportunities for medical librarians and health professionals.

In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Dr. Detlefsen taught a one-day workshop titled Medical Libraries and Medical Librarians:  Moving Into the 21st Century.  Attendees were eager to discuss how Vietnamese medical libraries can enhance user services and incorporate the principles of evidence-based practice into the education of health professionals.  

Medical library facilities in Vietnam range from modern, well-equipped university Learning Resource Centers in Can Tho and Hue to tiny collections of outdated books in crowded hospitals.  Updated textbooks are scarce, although a program of the World Health Organization called HINARI provides free access to hundreds of online full-text journals in the health sciences.  Like their counterparts in the United States, Vietnamese students love the Internet and spend time surfing their favorite Web sites to find the latest information and trends.  They recognize that the Internet and online resources, not print books or journals, will be the tools of choice for enhancing Vietnamese medical library collections.

Travel in Vietnam was an amazing experience – a fascinating mix of the modern and the traditional.  We were unfailingly greeted with kindness and hospitality.  Helpful strangers routinely offered assistance with navigating through heavy traffic to cross the street.  I was awed by the beauty of the landscape, and took hundreds of pictures.  

I hope that HSLS will soon have the opportunity to extend reciprocal hospitality to visiting Vietnamese librarians.

--Barbara Epstein
bepstein@pitt.edu