Editorial

HLG Nursing Bulletin volume 35 (2) pp 4-6

Welcome to the latest issue of HLG Nursing Bulletin. As usual, we have a mixture of articles on a myriad aspects of library and information science, with which we hope you’ll pick up ideas and tips for your own practice, as well as perhaps stimulating you to put that idea you’ve been mulling over into practice.

As was noted in the previous issue, the work on the new edition of the Nursing Core Collection is well advanced, and now we are after your help in compiling the new list of books that will go to form the Fifth Edition. HLG’s Core Collections Coordinator Margaret Scarce has given the background into the project and, more importantly, the instructions on how YOU can add to the list with your choices of what YOU think should be added.

Literature searching is a task we all have to undertake, whether it be the information professional doing searches for users, or teaching users how to do searches for themselves. Ensuring that users have the skills to search databases and online resources properly takes on an even greater relevance when considering the Nursing & Midwifery Council’s guidelines on revalidation for nurses and midwives. Here, Gillian Siddall summarises an article written for the British Journal of Midwifery, in which she aims to make the whole process of literature searching less daunting for the user.

The issue of volunteers in libraries is a major one at present, with many local library services being taken over by voluntary organisations as a result of cuts to council provision. However, volunteers in the NHS form a major part of the general patient experience, supporting as they do many different aspects of a hospital’s life. In this context, Sarah Hennessy describes how she has begun a program to bring volunteers into her library service.

In our age of increasingly 24-7 information provision, there becomes an ever increasing desire for information to be constantly available to view as and when the user wants. In this instance, the provision of online, streamed videos for the purposes of teaching and training becomes an increasingly useful one, especially for the dissemination of reasonably standard information. Phillip Barlow describes how the production of such a video has taken place as a means of introducing a standard library service to users based not just within multiple sites, but also disparate NHS trusts.

The 2016 HLG Conference is in September in Scarborough. Registrations for the conference are now open, with full details available on the HLG Website. We look forward to seeing you there.

You may have noticed the increasing number of hyperlinks in this issue. The fact that the Bulletin is now e-only means that we are able to include more interactive content. Additionally, we are now able to also include images to a much greater degree. So, if you have an idea for our next issue, and it includes any images, web links, online videos or any other kind of media that can be embedded in your article, then get in touch to discuss it. But don’t let that put you off – even if you don’t have an article idea full of bells and whistles, get in touch, as we’re always after good ideas. Whether it’s a new resource you’ve come across, a new service you’ve introduced, an interesting event you’ve been to, a book you’ve read and would like to review, or anything else that you think will be of wider interest to the profession, and would like to write about it then get in touch. Remember too, that the Bulletin is a good stepping stone for anyone that hasn’t written for publication before, and would like to dip their toe in the water.

Phillip Barlow

HLG Nursing Bulletin editor