Celebrating a Classic: Twenty-Fifth
Anniversary of Matheson Report

 

October 2007 marked the 25th anniversary of a special report published as a supplement of the Journal of Medical Education with the formal title Academic Information in the Academic Health Sciences Center: Roles for the Library in Information Management [1]. The report has become known as the Matheson-Cooper Report or the Matheson Report after its authors, Nina W. Matheson and John A.D. Cooper. The report defined a future role and changed paradigm for the academic library operating within the complex information environment of the academic health center (AHC).

 

The work was immediately applauded in the health sciences library community and described as "The appearance of a truly seminal work in the literature of librarianship…" and brilliant in forcefully stating the challenges of information technology to libraries [2]. The report's lasting significance and timeless value for libraries and other information stakeholders in the academic health center is not based solely on a description of a future library role or library changed paradigm, but on the challenges of thinking strategically and holistically about the critical importance of effective information management and the seamless integration of information resources across the AHC continuum in support of the various missions of the AHC.

 

The concepts contained in the Matheson-Cooper Report have influenced the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), National Library of Medicine (NLM), the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), and the broader health sciences libraries community for a quarter century. The report directly led to the establishment of the IAIMS -- Integrated Academic (Advanced) Information Management Systems -- grant program of the National Library of Medicine and influenced long-range plans of NLM. The Bulletin of the Medical Library Association published four IAIMS symposia from 1983-1992 [3-6] and beginning in 1998 NLM and AAMC undertook an evaluation of IAIMS which resulted in the publication by AAMC of "Next Generation IAIMS: Bringing Knowledge to Effective Action" in 2001 [7]. The Matheson-Cooper Report also influenced the publication of "Challenge to Action: Planning and Evaluation Guidelines for Academic Health Sciences Libraries" a joint publication of AAHSL and the Medical Library Association in 1987 [8] and the successor report to "Challenge" published by AAHSL in 2003 entitled "Building on Success: Charting the Future of Knowledge Management within the Academic Health Center" [9].

 

The Matheson Lecture held at the AAMC Annual Meeting was established by AAHSL and is now jointly sponsored by AAHSL and AAMC's Group on Information Resources. The lecture honors Nina W. Matheson (Director Emeritus, William H. Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins University) as co-author of the landmark Matheson-Cooper Report. Report co-author John A.D. Cooper, M.D. (1909-2002) became the first full-time president of the AAMC in 1969 and retired from AAMC in 1986. It was during his tenure at AAMC that AAHSL (at the time AAHSLD) was formed and encouraged by the AAMC to become a part of AAMC through the Council of Academic Societies. Matheson recognized Cooper's distinguished career and support of libraries in her 2002 obituary in the Journal of the Medical Library Association by stating "The health sciences library community is now - and will remain - indebted to him for his shaping vision and vigorous support [10]".

 

J. Michael Homan Mayo Clinic Libraries December 8, 2007

 

References

  1. Matheson NW, Cooper JAD. Academic information in the academic health sciences center: roles for the library in information management. J Med Educ 1982 Oct;59(pt. 2):1-93.
  2. Bishop D. Testing the model: some reflections on the Matheson report. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1984 Jan;72(1):31-2.
  3. Goldstein RK. Roles for the library in information management. Introduction. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1983 Oct;71(4):404.
  4. Broering NC, Hendrickson GL. Integrated Academic Information Management Systems. Introduction. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1986 Jul;74(3):235-7.
  5. Matheson NW. Integrated Academic Information Management Systems (IAIMS) model development. Introduction. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1988 Jul;76(3):222-3.
  6. Lorenzi NM. Introduction. Integrated Academic Information Management Systems (IAIMS). Bull Med Libr Assoc 1992 Jul;80(3):240-43.
  7. Florance V, Masys DR. Next generation IAIMS: bringing knowledge to effective action. Washington, D.C., Association of American Medical Colleges, 2001.
  8. Love E, ed. Joint Task Force of Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors and Medical Library Association. Challenge to action: planning and evaluation guidelines for academic health sciences libraries. Chicago, IL: The Associations, 1987.
  9. Brewer K, Homan JM, Messerle J, Yokote G. AAHSL Charting the Future Task Force. Charting the future: knowledge management within the academic health center. Seattle, WA: Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, 2003.
  10. Matheson NW. John A.D. Cooper, M.D., 1909-2002. J Med Libr Assoc 2002 Jul;90(3):363-4.