Thinking outside the classroom: providing student-centered informatics instruction to first- and second-year medical students.

With the increasing amount of health information available, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommends that medical students be proficient in information management. Librarians can and should play a role in teaching students these skills. Medical information management instruction is most effective if integrated into the curriculum. However, if options are limited for librarians to teach within courses, there are ways to reach students outside the classroom. This article describes strategies librarians are implementing, outside the curriculum, to teach Texas A & M Health Science Center's first- and second-year medical students how to use library resources.