Bethany Courtney, Assistant Librarian, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
In June I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the University Health and Medical Librarians Group (UHMLG) conference at The Hive in Worcester. I’ve only been working as a librarian for 2 years, with my current role being my first professional post, so this was my first ever conference experience.
The theme of the conference this year was partnerships in libraries, and so hosting it in a joint public and university library space was very apt. I’d had the pleasure of meeting some University of Worcester colleagues last year at a study day, so I’d already been keen to visit this unique space, and the UHMLG conference was the perfect reason.
The agenda for the conference was packed across the two days and had a variety of subjects to offer from both NHS and Higher Education perspectives. This in itself made the conference exciting, as I rarely get the chance to meet with university colleagues and learn about their work.
Whilst every talk was engaging, there were three that particularly sparked my interest, and I found to be a particularly useful learning opportunity for me:
The first was a talk from Isobel Eddyshaw and Keith Nockels on US Government health information censorship. Isobel and Keith outlined the latest staffing changes and policy shifts made by the US government and the impact this is having on censorship of information. They focused latterly on changes within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), explaining that because the HHS produce PubMed, there is potential for health information to be censored globally. The impact it could directly have on my work was something I hadn’t previously considered and thus opened my eyes to the reliance we have on the US for global health information.
The second was a talk from Natasha Howard and Kaye Bagshaw on their collaborative project to deliver health literacy awareness sessions. As I lead on the Health Literacy work within my team, this talk was one I was particularly looking forward to and it was inspiring to hear how Natasha and Kaye took were able to work collaboratively across both their trusts to deliver health literacy awareness sessions and engage staff across their ICS. It was also brilliant to hear about some of the impact these sessions have had subsequently, such as health literacy being considered in public health local strategy.
The third talk that I wanted to mention was also the final talk of the conference: Dr Andy Searle’s presentation on learning experiences from dyslexic students. Andy’s talk focused on his research into dyslexic students’ experiences of academic references. He has since used this evidence gathered to improve experiences with changes such as increased library contact time on some courses, offering printed resources for students to take away and offering more hands-on sessions, with opportunities to practice and recap learning. This talk made me consider the accessibility of my own training sessions and I hope to utilise and embed some of this learning to make my own sessions more hands-on.
As well as attending talks, I also had to opportunity to deliver a lightning talk, alongside my colleague Catherine Trinca, on our training offer for Student Nursing Associates (SNAs). We spoke about the success of our initial pre-application sessions and how this has expanded into a wider information skills training offer, tailored to meet the needs of students writing at levels 3, 4 and 5.
This was an invaluable opportunity from a professional development perspective, as it increased my confidence in public speaking and my presentation skills. Plus, being able to share learning with such an engaged, supportive group of colleagues was also wonderful.
Overall, I found the conference an enjoyable and inspiring experience. Having the opportunity to network with other professionals – from both NHS and Higher Education backgrounds – and to share knowledge and learning with them was invaluable. The UHMLG committee were incredibly welcoming and supportive too. I would highly recommend attending any future events they hold, especially if you get the chance to share one of your projects too.
Health Libraries Group 