Abstract

Author(s): Abu Waris, M. Vasanthakumar, A. Nagaraja

Within the domain of librarianship, medical librarianship has its own historical perspectives in the global context. In India, the history of medical libraries can be traced back to the period of 2nd century BC. The Nalanda and Taxila Universities housed the Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita and the commentaries on these by their successors. Numbers of medical institutions have started during pre and postindependence period. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi came into existence during 1911 which is one among the oldest research institutions in the world. National Medical Library has been started in New Delhi during 1946.Under WHOSEARO, HELLIS network project was started during 1982, then 17thICMR-NIC center has come into operational during 1988.Number of medical institutions increased rapidly during last two decades. The global library services from National Library of Medicine (USA), World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva are being made available in the country through networks, with the application of ICT’s. Numbers of bio-medical resources comprising on-line, off-line databases, open access resources are also adding to the collection of medical libraries one after another. Best-practices have also come into existence. As a result of information proliferation, the concept of networking has gained the momentum at all levels; led to establishment of consortia for resource sharing among the medical libraries in India.Those libraries working in the medical institutions are regulated by Medical Council of India (MCI), New Delhi through its standards and guidelines.