Value of hospital libraries: the Fuld Campus study

Objective: The paper demonstrates the value of the Health Sciences Library/Fuld Campus to the organization and shows how responses from patrons aligned themselves with the categories of the taxonomy of contributions of library and information services (LIS) to hospital and academic health centers devised by Abels et al. Methods: Over a period of thirty-two months during 2001 to 2003, patronsʹ literature searches and interlibrary loans were followed up on by sending patrons letters, which included a question asking for feedback as to how the information was used. The comments from users were analyzed according to Abels et al.ʹs taxonomy of LIS contributions in hospital and academic health centers. Results: Results of this study substantiated previous research showing that health sciences LIS contributes to patient health care. Feedback also demonstrated other areas where LIS contributes to the mission and goals of the organization and how these align themselves with Abels et al.ʹs taxonomy.