Purpose -Aims to describe one academic health science center library's experience with expanding reference librarian leadership roles in implementing institutional repository initiatives. Design/methodology/approach -The institutional repository project development phases are briefly documented. The rationale for selecting reference librarians to lead the initiative and resultant role changes is discussed. Findings -Reference librarians are strategically placed to promote and administer institutional repository initiatives successfully. The professional challenge rests in reference librarians' readiness to become scholarly publishing change agents.Practical implications -This case study documents a successful approach to incorporating institutional repository projects into existing library roles in addition to providing new leadership opportunities for reference librarians. Originality/value -Reference librarian roles in institutional repository projects and the evolution of organizational roles are not addressed in the heavily technology-and marketing-based institutional repository literature.

The relationships between problem-based learning (PBL) curricula and libraries have generated a substantial number of journal articles, but few have addressed the importance of the interaction between health science libraries and PBL curricula. This article attempts to contribute to this dimension through a description of the roles of library liaisons. First we describe the evolution of the liaison roles beginning 2 years prior to the implementation of a PBL curriculum. We then describe the core responsibilities of liaisons at the University of New Mexico (UNM) with mention of other innovative roles developed by some liaisons.

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The formal teaching role is becoming an accepted responsibility for the health sciences librarian in hospital libraries as well as at large academic health sciences center libraries. This article explains how to design effective educational sessions by writing clear instructional objectives in behavioral format. After reading this article, the hospital librarian should be able to write simple and clear instructional objectives for teaching MEDLINE, arrange the objectives in a logical sequence to structure the teaching experience, and apply them to the evaluation of the learning outcomes.

Background: Public health practitioners and researchers for many years have been attempting to understand more clearly the links between social conditions and the health of populations. Until recently, most public health professionals in English-speaking countries were unaware that their colleagues in Latin America had developed an entire field of inquiry and practice devoted to making these links more clearly understood. The Latin American Social Medicine (LASM) database finally bridges this previous gap.