Clinical Information Services Specialist (medical librarian)
About American Academy of Ophthalmology
The mission of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) is to advance the lifelong learning and professional interests of Ophthalmologists (Eye M.D.s) to ensure that the public can obtain the best possible eye care. Headquartered in San Francisco, the Academy has approximately 29,000 members worldwide and almost 200 employees.
Job Summary
The Clinical Information Services Specialist is a primary resource for Academy members, staff, and the public on information about ophthalmology and eye care and thereby contributes to the strategic objectives of enabling the Academy to be the premier provider of eye care information. This includes using sophisticated search strategies to systematically review the medical literature to provide references for the development of evidence-based clinical documents; answering clinical inquiries from members, staff, and the public; and maintaining the Academy Library, which serves as a resource for all staff and members.
This position will have the opportunity to develop a catalog of electronic resources; learn about ophthalmology and information retrieval methods; provide clinical, demographic, biographical, and statistical information to the CEO/EVP, VPs and other staff as requested; and contribute the most up-to-date and comprehensive evidence-based information from the peer-reviewed scientific literature for the basis of Preferred Practice Pattern® guidelines, Ophthalmic Technology Assessments or other evidence-based documents.
The ideal candidate will be a self starter with a Masters degree in Library Science, excellent customer service and communication skills, and experience as a medical librarian using complex Boolean searches in order to produce either comprehensive or concise results depending on the need. This position is located in San Francisco.
Responsibilities
- Search medical and grey literature for articles to use in development of evidence-based documents.
- Obtain copyright permissions from authors and publishers and maintain copyright permissions database for images used in the Practicing Ophthalmologists’ Curriculum and Compass.
- Answer inquiries for clinical and other information as requested by CEO/EVP, VPs, other staff and members.
- Manage Academy Library, including acquiring assets, routing periodicals, routing electronic table of contents, assembling a reading packet for VPs on a biweekly basis, filing periodicals, and managing a budget.
- Function as the department’s coordinator for the preparation and packing for the Annual Meeting.
Skills and Requirements
- Must have a Masters degree in Library Science and experience as a librarian in a technical field. Strongly prefer experience as a medical librarian.
- Knowledge of library classifications, catalog systems, and needs assessment tools.
- Knowledge of the structure and search techniques of the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed database is essential.
- Knowledge of external health organizations, such as the FDA, CDC, NEI, NLM, AHRQ, etc. is preferred.
- Technological competence designing search strategies and using complex Boolean searches with internet search engines, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE, and other databases.
- Strong oral and written communication skills are necessary in order to express ideas clearly and communicate effectively with members over the phone and by fax/letters.
- Ability to document search strategies in an accurate and comprehensive manner and write about technical topics in a clear, concise manner.
- Ability to hone in on specific search topics and distill the search findings to make searches as precise and concise as possible.
- Ability to troubleshoot situations and analyze why the yield for searches is sub-optimal.
- Experience using automated reference software tools such as EndNote and digital asset management software such as Media Beacon is not required but a plus.
Starting Salary
$59,130 – $65,700 + possible bonus + excellent full benefits package which includes a yearly 401k contribution from AAO up to 10% of salary
To apply and find more information about the Academy, benefits and culture, visit http://aao.org/jobs
