Catching up

The study tour went really well and I am proud to say I have established relationships with librarian colleagues in the States. However the trip really wiped me out. I have spent the last couple of weeks drafting my report which I have now submitted. I have also submitted an article to Focus on Library and Information Work as well as another piece to 23 Librarians England. I am really looking forward to seeing them published. In the spirit of professional development, I have submitted my revalidation portfolio. No point postponing the inevitable.

Life at work has brought about some change. I am doing a lot more presentating at inductions, training, clinical support and the literature search requests seem to have a steady flow. I am thoroughly enjoying interacting with users in the clinical setting. The phrase "library lady" is now considered a term of endearment (by me anyway).

I've also been invited to speak at the next CILIP International Library and Information Group Informal Event themed around Travelling Librarians. It's a free early evening event so save the date, 13th January 2016.

Off I go on a study tour

So I've been lucky enough to be sponsored by The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and The English-Speaking Union (ESU) to conduct a study tour on the Knowledge for Healthcare framework for NHS Library and Knowledge Services in England published by Health Education England. I will be gathering intelligence from health libraries in the Greater Midwest Region of the USA on how service provision is cascaded from national to regional and local levels. I leave next week and my visits, flights and accommodation have been sorted. I will be blogging about my adventures so do follow me. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

In the meantime, I have been busy conducting training and literature searches. I have also been visiting wards to offer support in a clinical setting. I spent the last few days familiarizing myself with our new current awareness system KnowledgeShare. It will allow us to provide users with personalised bulletins on the latest evidence and will be a base for all literature searches. It is web-based which is a relief as it makes working from home easier and it is NHS OpenAthens password protected.

I'll be focusing on my study tour and revalidation so it may be a bit quiet for a while.

Local strategic plans

I have had the Knowledge for Healthcare framework on the brain since the first time I read it in March. I just can't seem to shake it off and I'm unsure if it is the root of my current headache, strategic plans within local NHS Libraries to meet the vision of the framework. It is with great relief that I attended the London Health Libraries Strategy Workshop facilitated by Sue Lacey Bryant and Richard Osborn who kindly shed some clarity to the information stored in my scrambled brain. One of the most useful things I gained was the need to align organizational aims and objectives as well as CQC recommendations with the strategic plans of the library based on the primary drivers of the framework.


Some more highlights included:

• Rewording the themes of the framework  to reflect local principles.
• Collaborating actively on national programmes that may be implemented locally.
• Using the language of the organization's strategy (the purse strings) to talk futuristically.
• Finding ways to contribute to the restructure and financial stability of the organization.
• Finding ways to inform on decision-making in healthcare.

Am I sorted now? No. Am I where I was before the workshop? Definitely not. It was a very enlightning event which created the opportunity to discuss current issues with other NHS Librarians. It also contributed a lot to inform on my sponsored Study Tour which is starting to take shape.

Since my last post, I have been able to attend a Grand Round. It was great to see staff from different clinical departments discussing patient care. I was able to introduce myself to some people and assist with Athens registrations. I have been literature searching, training and representing the service at inductions. I went around the wards to introduce myself and promote the service. It turned out to be a useful exercise which I intend to continue. I am slowly plodding along with my revalidation which I hope to submit before the year runs out.

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Continuing Professional Development

Image (c) Creative Commons - ed_needs_a_bicycle

I take CPD very seriously not just because I should but because I find it very valuable. I have been trained on the Trust website content management system so I am now able to make changes and update the Library web pages. I have also attended a Critical Appraisal course run by CLIST and although a lot of what was said was familiar, I gained some ideas that could improve my training methods. The session helped me realise that a one size fits all session will not work for Critical appraisal so I intend to design a basic, intermediate and advanced level session and use the level best suited to each users competency on the topic. I also liked a feature which involved asking what people thought about the paper before and after the appraisal to determine if the session changes views. Encouraging appraisers to communicate gaps in research to the authors of the paper was also raised as a way of improving future research.

I continue to train and conduct in-depth literature searches for clinicians. The pilot for the pop-up library is going well and I'll be able to summarise what I've learned after the last session next week.