title: Participating in communities of practice.
abstract: Hospital librarians understand they need to move outside the four walls of the physical library and provide information support for clinicians in various settings. Librarians round with patient care teams as clinical librarians. They sit on quality improvement and patient safety committees in order to provide information to those groups. Many are members of their organization's Institutional Review Board. Some of these activities are done for a specific purpose and are short-lived. Other activities become institutionalized as the value of the librarian's contribution is recognized. This article will describe examples in which hospital librarians are part of multidisciplinary teams created to improve patient care in their hospital.
authors.affiliation: Library and Media Services, Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital, Denver, CO 80218, USA. bandym@exempla.org
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bandy
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Condon
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Graves
mesh_terms: D003120:Colorado; D006126:Group Processes; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007325:Institutional Practice; D015274:Interdepartmental Relations; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007857:Leadership; D016245:Librarians; D007992:Libraries, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017146:Models, Organizational; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*