Romanian Medical Libraries
The Situation at Present
Copyright©2004
Ioana Robu
General background
In Romania medical librarianship is represented by:
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- libraries of medical universities
- libraries of large / national research institutes
- hospital libraries
The most important by far, in terms of resources, development and
research, are libraries of medical universities.
In Romania higher education in the fields of medicine, dentistry,
pharmacy, nursing, midwifery is based in universities of medicine
and pharmacy, independent and separate higher education
institutions.
* Veterinary medicine is under the umbrella of agricultural sciences and
is taught in this type of universities
The main medical university libraries are:
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Central Library of the University of Medicine and
Pharmacy (U.M.Ph.) Bucharest
Central Library of the U.M.Ph. Iasi
Central Library of the U.M.Ph. Cluj
Central Library of the U.M.Ph. Timisoara
Library of the U.M.Ph. Targu-Mures
Library of the U.M.Ph. Craiova
Libraries, separately located, of
Faculties of Medicine
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Brasov
Sibiu
Oradea
Constanta
Arad
Libraries of large research institutes
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mostly located in Bucharest - national institutes microbiology & virology, genetics, public health etc.
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but also in large academic centers, e.g. in Cluj the
Institute of Public Health, Institute of Oncology, Heart
Institute
Hospital libraries
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mostly libraries of the county health boards
large hospitals such as Fundeni Hospital in Bucharest, or
large county hospitals in Baia Mare, Galati, Ploiesti,
Pitesti
At present there is no medical library that plays a leading
role nationwide, such as a national library of medicine.
The Center of Medical
Documentation
(Bucharest) used to
play this role before
1989, but since then it
received no or very
little funding from the
Ministry of Health,
much poorer than the
Ministry of Education,
therefore the library is
almost non-existent at
present.
MEDICAL SCHOOL LIBRARIES
Main features
General Organization Frame
University libraries are special departments of the parent university, i.e.
they depend financially and hierarchically on the main university.
 main decisions are taken by the Senate and the Scientific Council
 chief librarian responds directly to the Rector (President) or Vicerector in charge
This has a generally positive effect on the development because
funding is much more substantial than in the case of hospital or
health board libraries.
In fact, medical university libraries have also assumed role of regional
medical libraries.
Collections
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number of volumes ranging between ~1 million (Bucharest) and 20,000
(Oradea, Arad)
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before 1990 the number of titles was generally about 10% of the no. of
volumes because of the multiple copies for students. However, the library
concept as a free bookshop has started to disappear because of (a)
increasing price of books and (2) budget limitations. Currently the title /
volume ratio foe acquisitions is roughly 1 / 4.
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foreign language books and periodicals represent on average 20% of
the collections, with wide differences according to every library / university
policy.
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gap in the foreign collections between 1976 - 1990 - no hard currency was
allocated for buying books or subscribing to journals
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current subscriptions to foreign periodicals range between 350 titles
(Bucharest) and 20-30 (Oradea, Arad). No consortium system or shared
acquisition exist as yet.
Technology
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Only 3 of the medical university libraries have an automated library
management system (Cluj, Iasi, Tg. Mures), and 3 of the others
(Brasov, Sibiu, Constanta). The system is the same, ALICE, from
Softlink Europe.
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All libraries have Internet connections, though the use of Internet in
the library differs widely.
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In general there are great differences regarding implementation of
new technologies.
This makes it difficult to establish a proper network cooperation
between us.
Web pages
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Craiova: http://www.umfcv.ro/ro/index.html
Iasi: http://www.umfiasi.ro/biblioteca/biblioteca.htm
Cluj: http://www.bib.umfcluj.ro/bibumf/
Brasov, Sibiu and Constanta have sites for their main
libraries, with access to the online catalogue
Targu Mures only provides access to the catalogue directly
from the university main page
Bucharest and Timisoara medical libraries do not have web
sites or page.
Services
Much more user friendly and user oriented after 1990,
with still some old sequelae, e.g. collections are still kept
100% in closed access in some libraries.
 lending services
 reading room lending
References services
 - databases : PubMed, Web of Science (at the Ministry of
Education), Cochrane (Timisoara), EMC (Encyclopedie
Medico-Chirurgicale) Consult (Cluj).
 Searching is performed by staff or users - free Internet
access in Cluj, Iasi, Brasov, Sibiu
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Services (continued)
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Information is sought for research and teaching (90% proportion)
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Libraries do not have a section for consumer / patient information
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Document supply / ILL - a mutual agreement system exists between
all the academic libraries at a national level. Where possible it is
done electronically, Copyright law permits.
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Cluj is a member of the DOCLINE system
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Romania still takes advantage of its status as a poor country,
benefitting from HINARI t (http://www.healthinternetwork.org)
established by WHO as well as free access to a number of
resources (e.g. DynaMed etc.) that grant free access to developing
economies.
Users
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Patrons are students, university teaching and research staff.
Currently Cluj U.M.Ph has 4500 students and 600 staff.
Residents, doctors, nurses outwith the university also use the library
heavily. Total number of registered users for Cluj is 7752.
User education:
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library induction tours, training for database and Internet searching
In Cluj: course integrated in the curriculum (optional 1st year
undergraduate level, and Postgraduate course of 2 weeks - paid)
Buildings / location
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Traditional, old, not
designed for open
access or
computer facilities.
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Refurbishment and
refurnishing have
been performed
after 1990.
Buildings (continued)
The only new medical
library building that is
being constructed is in
Cluj, though there is still
a struggle for space.
Location (continued)
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Space is always a problem !
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In the case of medical university libraries there is usually
a central (main) library and a fairly large number of small
department branches (staffed by a member of the
respective department),
e.g.
Bucharest UMPh Library has 95 branches, Iasi has
90 branches, Cluj has 40 branches
Budgets
Large discrepancies regarding university policies and budgeting. No
fixed amount or percentage is budgeted directly from the
government for libraries. It is at the discretion of every university.
Self-financing schemes are now possible and granted legally
since 1997.
Paid services:
 library cards
 fines for overdue loans
 photocopying, printing, scanning etc.
 renting out equipment
 bibliographies
 document supply (full text articles)
Library staff and the profession
Only after 1991 have Schools of Librarianship and Information Science
been reinstated. LIS schools exist in Bucharest, Cluj, Sibiu, Oradea,
Targoviste, Timisoara
Before 1990 librarians were recruited among people with various
backgrounds: languages, history, biology, chemistry, mostly teachers
who could not find a teaching job in a larger town.
Since 1997 new librarians positions can only be filled by persons who
have an academic degree (college or university) in Library and
Information Science. No special qualifications (health sciences
background) are needed for medical librarianship.
Continuing education courses in mainstream librarianship are offered in
Bucharest and Cluj (British Council), but there is no system of
postgraduate professional accreditation.
Cooperation
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Medical Section - Romanian Association of Education Libraries
(ABIR) - meet once a year on the occasion of the national
conference.
Travelling is expensive, gathering representatives from all the
medical libraries is difficult.
Projects at a national level:
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RoBiblioMed - national database of Romanian medical periodicals
(~ 70 titles, of which only 11 are indexed in MEDLINE), using
WWWISIS
- shared online access to periodicals - negotiations underway for
next year with Ovid, Proquest and Elsevier.
International cooperation
Each library has established their own links.
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Cluj UMPh Library
translation license from the NLM for MeSH
Sister library with Duke University Medical Center Library (North
Carolina) and Ruth Lily Medical Library at Indianapolis
Involvement in European projects (PHARE, LEONARDO) at the level of
the Ministry of Education and the National Library Association
irobu@umfcluj.ro