Information literacy instruction by librarians is integrated into the doctor of pharmacy curriculum in the USA but requires evidence of impact

Abstract

BackgroundMedical librarians play an essential role in providing information literacy instruction for pharmacy students in order to educate them on health information searching, retrieval, and evaluation. Nevertheless, there have been no peer‐reviewed publications providing comprehensive data on librarians' involvement in pharmacy education across the United States.ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to investigate the instructional delivery methods, technology used, and topics taught by librarians across the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum in the United States.MethodsA 17‐question electronic survey was designed using Qualtrics and distributed via professional library discussion lists in 2023.ResultsThirty‐eight librarians indicated their involvement in teaching information literacy to pharmacy students during orientation sessions, elective and credit‐bearing courses using in‐class, online synchronous, and hybrid instructional delivery formats. Topics included medical and drug databases, citation management tools, evidence‐based medicine, and free drug information resources.DiscussionThis is the first study that provides a broad insight into the teaching roles and instructional trends of medical librarians in pharmacy education.ConclusionsThough the results of this survey demonstrate a high level of integration of library instruction into the pharmacy curriculum, more research needs to be done to collect data on medical librarians' contribution to educating student pharmacists.