Why the History of Medicine and Health Sciences Matters and Why Libraries Play a Central Role
By: Patrick Corcoran, MLIS candidate, University of Southern Mississippi
By: Patrick Corcoran, MLIS candidate, University of Southern Mississippi
Sixteenth Century Alchemist-Physician, Paracelsus, who, along with a multitude of others of that same profession, before and after him, developed sophisticated and effective medicines. Now, at the turn of our 21st Century, these systems are beginning to be re-explored, in a style not unlike what brought Medieval Europe into the Renaissance...the mass reevaluation of ancient knowledge. Libraries and archives of medical and health sciences are where a large portion of these revolutionarily relevant materials currently reside and can be accessed for use. (Ritman, n.d., Image)
History of medicine and related health sciences libraries and archives are becoming founts of knowledge that will aid our global society in healing many of our most chronic ailments. Knowing this, librarians and archivists are poised to evolve our profession into the Information Age.
Too many people in public health (as in most other fields) believe that history is irrelevant to their particular interests and professional concerns. Historians and those with a historical perspective have the responsibility to prove them wrong by demonstrating the relevance of their insights and analyses...[in fact]...history is not...the exclusive domain of historians. (Fee, 2015)
Ancient knowledge hidden away in overburdened storage stacks may just as well be sealed in an undiscovered Pharaonic Egyptian tomb. As specialists in the field of health sciences history are able to identify these resources, and make them available, much germane healing knowledge will be brought to light. Once analyzed and experimented, these medical techniques can be replicated in our modern day. Ironically, not only the ancient or Medieval medical knowledge evades us; our Industrial Age boom of technology, experiments and patent medicines have mostly been brushed aside into the recesses of specialty libraries, archives and museums, only to be rediscovered to test their efficacy.
As these techniques and formulas become unearthed to our critical modern perceptions, librarians, archivists and curators will, once again, be monumental in importance with the cataloguing of this information. In his article "The Alchemy of Turning Fiction into Truth", David Henige, entertains the notion that the Library of Congress does not effectively address the historical factualness of materials when assigning them a classification number. Henige exemplifies 'ancient alien' theoretical books being cataloged with space travel and Tolkien Middle Earth materials being placed in literature. (Henige, 2008) As old ways of healing continue being effective, either a cataloger at the Library of Congress or a small, rural branch library may have the ability to categorize it in a way that is advantageous to, both, modern and future society.
To end with a glimpse of what is possible, exemplifies the Waring Historical Library at the Medical University of South Carolina. This specialty library was determined to reinvent itself in order to become more integrated in the university as a whole. In the end,
...the Waring [library/archives] successfully paired traditional archival administration with innovative digital outreach to show that historical collections can be used effectively by alumni affairs, marketing, and development offices for fundraising, recruitment, and promotion. The Waring has shown that a library can be an indispensable campus resource by actively developing new uses for traditional historical materials and innovative ways to deliver those materials. (Welch, Hoffius and Fox, 2011)
Again, this is but a taste of what specialty repositories of the history of medicine and allied sciences is capable of. This Information Age we find ourselves in is allowing for a vast empowerment and evolution of library and information services. As stewards of this knowledge, librarians and archivists are poised to be the 'information super heroes' who holistically heal the ailments of our global growing pains.
Bibliography
Henige, D. (2008, July). The alchemy of turning fiction into truth. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 39(4). doi:
10.3138/jsp.39.4.354
Ritman Library-Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. (n.d.). Paracelsus [Image].
Retrieved from http://www.ritmanlibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/onpage-paracelcus.jpg
Welch, J.M., Hoffius, S.D. and Fox, E.B. (2011, Jan.). Archives, accessibility, and advocacy: A case study of strategies for creating and maintaining relevance. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 99(1). doi: 10.3163/1536- 5050.99.1.010
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