Charlotte Teboul, Associate Librarian, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
(Note: This piece was originally published on the NHSE blog)
After two days in Leicester, on the train back home, these are the immediate reflections I had on the ICLC.
- You are not alone!
One of the main themes was networking or the community of librarians.
It is important to keep in touch with other libraries from other hospitals so we can learn from each other, share best practices and support each other – we are never alone, even a lone clinical librarian, because the librarian community is always here to support all of us.
- Librarians are very resourceful
The very positive thing about attending a conference with a lot of other clinical librarians is discovering how much is done by each and every one on different levels:
“Your library level (like a book club in an acute hospital) to the regional level (Trusts in Lancashire teaming with public libraries to develop a health information hub for the public), the national level (creating a pathway and self-assessment tool to support librarians with systematic reviews), or even international level (randomised coffee trial for nurses between UK and US)!”
Lots of the initiatives taken are started in the background. Most of us are not aware of all the amazing ideas other librarians may have to develop their service and shine – that’s why presenting them at conferences such as the ICLC is a good idea! I now know, for example, that Sarah Gardner, from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, is working on this pathway to help librarians gain confidence in their literature search skills, which sounds great!
However, no matter if your initiative is visible or not – take centre stage or stays in the background – the message is the same all the time:
“Supporting each other and Helping each other, so we can always deliver the best service possible to our users.”
- Research!
Yes, we librarians are the specialists, the professionals in the research field… for others!
So fellow librarians, grab your pens and brains, and go into research to keep the profession evolving with the times – don’t be shy!
- Librarians are a very friendly bunch
Librarians are definitely a friendly bunch, always ready to help and support either their users or fellow librarians, but also nearly all of us lack confidence in our skills and suffer from imposter syndrome, questioning our abilities and the reasons why we are here.
Could it be because there is very little public recognition from our institutions?
“Maybe… but we have amazing skills, being often jack-of-all-trades – so let’s put ourselves in the light and be proud of everything we are accomplishing in our everyday job!”
- In the end
The conference was a great opportunity to discuss with other clinical librarians from other Trusts and see what is done and how: For example, we all do literature searches for our users, but in different ways! Some of the surveys that have been shown, such as the Current Awareness bulletin from the Royal College of Surgeons, emphasized the need to gather feedback and data, or the Tea Trolley initiative in Oxford meant that users who can’t come to the library, have the library services come to them, etc.
The workshop about peer review was very interesting by enabling us to compare how we are doing literature search – a different point of view can give new ideas or just give us this little extra knowledge on literature search, which might prove useful one day.
- The talk I will remember
I can’t do a summary/feedback of the two days without mentioning Lucy Wells, from the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. Hats off to her as she did live literature searches at the Trauma and Orthopaedics Symposium!
“If it’s not already hard to do literature searches, doing it live, in front of an audience, is taking it to the next level.”
Although I can see the benefits of it, as it helps in showcasing the importance of library services in a hospital setting for medical staff, it is a huge undertaking – if not – madness, to be live literature searching!
- For next time? Food for thought
What would probably help for next conferences – might they be the HLG, ICLC or any other – is to give more context. Presenting the library where the speaker is working, what is the size of their Trust, of their team, etc., which will, I think, gives a clearer view of the topic presented – for example, you might be able to offer more help to your users with systematic reviews if you have a team of 8 Band 6s, all of whom are Knowledge Specialists; in contrast, a smaller team might not be able to do so if there is only one Band 6, who is managing the library service whilst taking on some literature searches.
Health Libraries Group 