CILIP HLG Conference, 24TH-25TH July 2014, Oxford Examination Schools, Oxford
The biannual Health Libraries Group (HLG) conference 2014 was held on the 24th-25th July at The University of Oxford Examination Schools. The conference is of professional interest to information professionals supporting healthcare in a variety of different organisations. Thanks to a generous bursary from HLG I was able to attend, and I found the two days informative, inspiring and thought provoking.
The key themes of the conference focused on the information professional, and the core skills needed to positively impact upon patient care and health research. The keynote from Annie Mauger (CILIP) stressed the importance of ‘stepping out of the library’ and embracing opportunities to meet the needs of users. Also highlighted was the need for information professionals to demonstrate their impact and value. Quantifying this impact has often been a challenge and this was highlighted in an interesting session presented by MA student Archana Deshmukh and Tom Roper, Clinical Librarian at Brighton and Sussex NHS (BSUH) Library and Knowledge Services. Archana’s research measured the impact of the clinical librarian service at BSUH as part of her MA dissertation. Her research highlighted the difficulties in evaluating clinical librarian services using purely quantitative methods. Archana’s research demonstrated the opportunities that library and information studies students can be involved in as part of their dissertations, and as a student whose dissertation proposal is due early next year, gave me lots to think about.
New opportunities
Both the plenary sessions and presentations provided examples of the importance of relationship building and finding creative ways to meet the changing needs of users. The sessions I attended highlighted the role of the librarian as teacher and illustrated the diverse opportunities for health librarians to shape and influence the quality of health research. The EQUATOR network is one such example. The EQUATOR network (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) was set up by the Centre for Statistics in Medicine to combat deficiencies in health research reporting. Shona Kirtley, Senior Research Information Specialist at EQUATOR provided an introduction to an area of health information that I knew little about. Shona demonstrated the opportunities for the health information professional to develop healthcare research through training, and encouraging the use of guideline information. The EQUATOR network is currently producing a librarian’s toolkit to help library staff teach clinicians about the importance of reporting guidelines. Updates about reporting guidelines can be found on the EQUATOR website: http://www.equator-network.org/
Highlights
There were a few sessions which I found especially relevant, both in terms of informing my academic work while I complete my MA in Library and Information Studies and in my job as a library assistant. The first was Steve Glover and Anne Webb’s session on supporting research and development at The Christie School of Oncology. Steve and Anne discussed how their institutional repository project has strengthened the research process at their trust, and enabled the library service to play a central role in this process. The session covered how library staff implemented a hosted DSpace repository, and managed the workflows. Their session demonstrated the benefits of implementing an institutional repository within an NHS trust, and the impact that embracing open access can have in the healthcare environment.
The second session that informed my future practice was Lisa Burscheidt’s case study detailing the development of information skills training as part of a recovery college project at North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT). Lisa’s project provided a great example of how NHS library staff can work in partnership with public libraries to make quality health information visible and accessible, to aid the recovery of mental health service users.
Aside from being a great opportunity to explore and reflect upon developments in healthcare librarianship, the conference was a perfect opportunity to meet and network with other professionals. As a first time attendee, I found the atmosphere friendly and I left feeling informed and inspired, and very glad to be starting out in the profession.
You can find the presentations from HLG 2014 at the following link: http://www.cilip.org.uk/health-libraries-group/events-conferences-and-seminars/conferences/hlg-conference-2014/hlg
Amy McEwan, Library Assistant, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and MA Library and Information Studies Student, UCL