The shaping of information professionals to act in health area: competencies’ identification

Abstract

This work presents the findings of a research supported by CNPq, which has had as main objective identify the required abilities of an information professional who intends to work in the health area, according to new informational and educational demands. The qualitative method was used, with exploratory field-work involving an intentional sample of 36 subjects from the city of Campinas (SP, Brazil), from the Health, Education and Information Science areas, who were interviewed. The search pointed out, among other results, the basic disciplines that should be contained in a program of such a nature, its place in the curriculum, as well as the essential abilities needed by the health information librarian.