Drug information skills for pharmacy students: curriculum integration.

For pharmacy students to provide optimal and complete pharmaceutical care, it is vital that they develop drug information skills. At the University of Southern California, the School of Pharmacy and the Norris Medical Library have established an interactive educational program. Library programs support an increasingly complex progression of information retrieval, evaluation, organization, application, and communication. Librarians are systematically involved in all four years of coursework for the doctor of pharmacy degree. Training and experience in computer literacy and online database searching are included in the library components. Description of the educational program covers its beginning a decade ago, current status, and future in an environment of rapidly advancing technology.