Panella, Nancy MaryIFLA Standing Committee, Library Services to People with Special Needs2021-05-052009-12-082021-05-052009-1297890778973930168-1931https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/633The need for this glossary first became strikingly evident during the development of the section's Guidelines for libraries serving hospital patients and the elderly and disabled in long-term care facilities.1 Within those guidelines, just the single descriptor, ‘hospital libraries,' was found to have dramatically different meanings in different parts of the world - in much of Western Europe, for example, ‘hospital libraries' almost always meant a library for patients, while in North America, it most often meant a library for health sciences staff. Those different meanings made communication and research in the field, especially research done through the literature, exceedingly difficult. They also had the potential to compromise findings.enSubject::Library services to people with special needsSubject::Library services to hospital patientsSubject::Disadvantaged personsFlagship PublicationsInternational Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)