Libraries for Nursing Bulletin volume 34 (3/4) pp 69-72
Lorrie Farrall
Clinical Library
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
lorrie.farrall@nhs.net
On 1st January 2015, a fundamental change to the nature of Libraries for Nursing occurred. As a result of changes in the way CILIP operates its structure of groups, specialist sub-groups of existing Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are no longer permitted to operate. As a consequence of this, Libraries for Nursing will no longer exist as a stand-alone sub-group of Health Libraries Group (HLG). However, this does not mean that the specialist support that LfN has provided to those employed in the nursing, midwifery and allied health areas will cease. LfN has now become fully amalgamated into the structure of HLG, and will continue to act as a working group, advising the HLG committee on matters relating to the provision of services to nursing, midwifery and allied health, ensuring that these areas are properly reflected in the services and activities provided by HLG to its membership.
So, what does this mean for LfN itself, and for LfN subscribers? Libraries for Nursing will firstly no longer exist as a separate entity; instead, the new working group will be known as ‘HLG Nursing’. Some of our social media activities, including our presence on Facebook and Delicious, will be closed. However, our Twitter feed (@libs4nurs) will be retained, suitably rebranded, allowing us to continue putting out news and current awareness as and when it happens. Also, LfN Bulletin will continue as HLG Nursing Bulletin, providing an outlet for people looking to write for publication for the first time, and a place to share thoughts about ideas, resources and methods of practice. From its first issue, HLG Nursing Bulletin will be e-only, and will be available to all HLG members alongside the other HLG publications, HLG Newsletter and Health Information and Libraries Journal. Additionally, we will still aim to run high quality study days and training events as we have done in the past.
For those that have subscribed to LfN, the fact that it will no longer be a separate sub-group means you will no longer have to pay the additional subscription cost; if you are already a member of HLG, then access to the Bulletin will form part of your overall access to HLG’s resources. If you aren’t a member of HLG but are a member of CILIP, then you can get access to the Bulletin, plus all of the other benefits, by making HLG one of your two chosen SIGs. If you aren’t a member of CILIP, you can still join HLG and get access to all of HLG’s resources and services as a non-CILIP member. The change also means that those members of HLG that have never subscribed to LfN before will now have access to the Bulletin. Fig. 1 shows how the different categories of member will be able to access the Bulletin in its new form.
The last few months for LfN have been turbulent with the planning for this change, with one significant consequence being the ending of LfN’s formal committee structure. The implementation of our new incarnation as a working group, combined with the ending of our subscriptions, means that LfN’s committee as it was will disband. In its place however will be a core group of individuals who will serve on the working group that will become HLG Nursing. This core group will then, as and when asked to undertake work on projects that come down from HLG, be able to go out into the community of nursing, midwifery and allied health librarians, and find people with relevant experience to help turn the project into reality, allowing greater flexibility in the recruitment of people, and more opportunities for people that may not have participated in such work before, to give it a go.
Libraries for Nursing has changed. Whether it has changed for the better, only time will tell. But, we hope that LfN 2.0, as HLG Nursing might be described, will prove to be as successful in undertaking LfN’s main remit, to promote understanding and dialogue between librarians and the users they serve, as LfN has been.
Health Libraries Group 