Toward hospital library standards in Canada

A report is given on Canadian hospital library standards as recently developed and incorporated in a new Guide to Hospital Accreditation, 1977. The new Canadian standards are compared with MLA recommendations to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. Their development is sketched and the contribution from Quebec of a model of hospital classification is examined. This model provides differential minimal library standards based on the function of the hospital rather than on its size alone. Use of these minimal standards as a practical means of developing hospital libraries is discussed and their implications for accreditation visits are underlined.