Reuters has a nice story on the value librarians – this time it’s the information professionals at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center who provide searches for cancer patients. 95% of patients surveyed indicated that the librarian had provided them with some new information.
From the article:
“This demonstrates,” said [Librarian Ruti] Volk, “that even though the information is supposedly so accessible and everything is on the web, people still need the help of a professional to find information that is relevant to them that is current and accurate and authoritative.”
Librarians have access to resources sometimes unavailable to the public such as subscription-based databases. But the biggest advantage, Volk said, is expertise in searching. “I do this every day, I should do it better than other people,” she said.