From Snow to GIS Librarians: The Case for Health GIS and Informatics Within the Library

摘要

The central question for map and geography librarians-or as we must add in this case, geospatial information managers-is What role is there for such managers in the process of health research? Health research includes, perhaps ironically, a greater emphasis on illness research and the "illness infrastructure" that we can consider as our hospitals, clinics, physicians, and other health care professionals such as pharmacists and nurse practitioners. Obviously, this may be considered a contentious view because we have always attempted to place emphasis on areas of preventive medicine that arise out of community health. So, What is our role in this system and its processes?