NHS librarians play a crucial role in supporting healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients by providing access to reliable information and resources.
Some of the main areas of work for NHS librarians include:
Access to resources: Health librarians go beyond simply providing space to house medical knowledge. They act as facilitators, empowering users to take charge of their health and navigate the vast amount of information available examples of which include:
- Books and electronic books: Offer a comprehensive collection of medical textbooks, reference materials, and patient education resources.
- Digital tools & platforms: Navigate the evolving landscape of health information by providing access to online resources, apps, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and other digital tools that support health research and education.
- Medical journals and databases: Unlock the treasure trove of medical journals and databases, providing healthcare professionals, patients, and the public with the latest research and information.
Collection development: Librarians are responsible for developing and maintaining collections of books, journals, databases, and other resources that meet the needs of healthcare professionals, researchers, and ultimately patients. They evaluate collections and select new resources based on relevance, quality, and cost-effectiveness.
Critical appraisal: Health librarians offer training and resources to develop critical appraisal skills.
What critical appraisal support do they provide?
- Debunking misinformation: Help users identify and avoid misleading or inaccurate health information circulating online.
- Developing evaluation tools: Craft clear and user-friendly resources that simplify the process of evaluating health information.
- Individual consultations: Guide researchers and the public through the critical appraisal process for specific studies or information sources.
- Training workshops: Equip users with the skills to assess the credibility and reliability of health information, from research studies to online resources.
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP): NHS librarians support evidence-based practice by enabling and assisting healthcare professionals in accessing the latest research and evidence-based guidelines. They help clinicians and researchers find relevant studies, systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines to inform decision-making and improve patient care. They produce literature searches, evidence summaries and current awareness bulletins for staff.
Fostering wellbeing: Health librarians foster wellbeing through the provision of resources, support and physical spaces, that empower individuals and communities to thrive and collaborate.
What resources are available?
- Community Engagement Initiatives: Organise workshops, support groups, and events that foster social connection and promote a sense of belonging, tackling issues like loneliness and social isolation.
- Healthy Lifestyle Resources: Provide resources on nutrition, fitness, stress management, and preventive health, encouraging individuals to make healthy choices.
- Mental Health Resources: Offer access to reliable information and support services on mental health and well-being, promoting mental health literacy and positive coping mechanisms.
Health Information Technology (HIT): With the increasing use of health information technology in healthcare settings, NHS librarians may be involved in the selection, implementation, and management of electronic resources and AI (Artificial Intelligence), including clinical decision support tools, and online databases.
Health literacy: NHS librarians often work to promote health literacy by providing easy-to-understand resources and materials for patients and the public. They may develop educational programmes, create health information guides, and assist in navigating health information.
Information management: NHS librarians play a role in managing and organising information resources within healthcare organisations. This includes cataloguing and classifying books, journals, and electronic resources, as well as developing strategies for information access and retrieval.
Knowledge management and mobilisation (KM): NHS knowledge specialists are involved in the capturing and sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge across their organisations bridging the gap between research and practice to improve healthcare outcomes. Activities undertaken might involve Randomised Coffee Trials, Living Libraries, and other KM tools. Health libraries provide knowledge mobilization support,
What is knowledge mobilisation support?
- Connecting research to action: Identify relevant research findings and translate them into actionable insights for healthcare professionals and policymakers.
- Developing knowledge translation tools: Create resources and strategies that make research findings understandable and easily implementable in healthcare settings.
- Facilitating knowledge exchange: Foster communication and collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders to ensure research informs real-world practice.
Literature/evidence searches: Health Librarians provide literature/evidence search services to users. What’s involved?
- Evidence-based practice: Support healthcare professionals in finding the latest, most reliable research to inform their clinical decisions and improve patient care.
- Targeted searches: Craft precise searches using advanced techniques to unearth the most relevant medical literature or evidence for specific needs.
- Time-saving efficiency: Help researchers and practitioners navigate the vast ocean of medical journals and databases, saving them valuable time.
Patient education and support: Librarians assist patients and their families in finding reliable health information to help them make informed decisions about their healthcare. They may help in understanding medical terminology, locating resources on specific health conditions, and evaluating the credibility of online health information.
Quality improvement support: Health librarians are actively involved in quality improvement initiatives. Helping to empower healthcare professionals to deliver the best possible care.
What is quality improvement support?
- Data analysis and interpretation: Help healthcare teams analyse data and identify areas for improvement in patient care, safety, or efficiency.
- Developing QI skills: Offer workshops and training sessions on topics like project management, change management, and data visualisation to equip healthcare professionals with the skills to drive QI efforts.
- Finding QI resources: Unearth relevant research, best practices, and QI toolkits to support healthcare professionals in their improvement initiatives.
Research support: Librarians provide research support services to NHS staff and researchers, including assistance with literature searches, systematic reviews, citation management, and accessing full-text articles. They may also collaborate with researchers on literature reviews, research projects, and grant proposals.
What kind of research support do they provide?
- Data analysis support: Assist researchers with navigating complex datasets and identifying appropriate data analysis tools and techniques.
- Literature searches: Craft comprehensive, efficient searches that unearth the most relevant and up-to-date medical literature for specific research questions.
- Research consultation: Guide researchers – from students to seasoned professionals – through the research process, offering tailored advice and strategies.
- Research skills training: Empower researchers of all levels by offering workshops and training sessions on research methodologies, critical appraisal, and reference management.
Supporting book & journal clubs: Health librarians facilitate knowledge exchange through the provision of support to book and journal clubs that fuel learning and collaboration. How do they support book and journal clubs?
- Provide guidance on selecting relevant reading materials, securing resources from the library’s collection, or obtaining interlibrary loans and articles for niche topics.
- Offer tips for facilitating discussions, fostering a safe space for members to explore diverse perspectives on healthcare topics.
- Help connect club discussions to real-world applications, encouraging members to critically appraise research and its implications for healthcare delivery.
Training: Librarians in the NHS frequently provide training sessions and workshops to healthcare professionals, researchers, and students on how to effectively search for and evaluate medical literature. This training helps users develop the skills necessary to find relevant information to support their work or studies.
What training do they provide? The possibilities are vast. Here are just a few examples:
- Critical appraisal skills: Empower users to evaluate health information for accuracy and reliability.
- Database searching: Unleash the power of research databases, helping users find the most relevant and up-to-date health information.
- Health information literacy: Equip patients, healthcare professionals, and the public with the skills to navigate the ever-growing world of health information.
- Knowledge mobilization: Help healthcare professionals translate research findings into actionable knowledge for improved practice.
- Quality improvement (QI) skills: Train healthcare teams on QI methodologies, data analysis, and project management to drive better patient outcomes.
- Research methods: Support healthcare professionals and students with research methodologies, fostering evidence-based practice.
- Software and technology training: Provide training on relevant software and technologies used in healthcare research or patient education.
Case study: Dorset County Hospital Library and Knowledge Service
Dorset County Hospital (DCH) was established in 1991 as part of a long–term project to bring together all the local services for acutely ill patients onto one hospital site. The hospital, just outside Dorchester town centre, was completed in 1997. It was awarded Foundation Trust status in June 2007.
DCH provides a full range of district general services, including an Emergency Department, and links with satellite units in five community hospitals. It is the main provider of acute hospital services to a population of around 300,000, living within Weymouth and Portland, the west and north of Dorset, and Purbeck. The hospital also provides renal services for patients throughout Dorset and South Somerset; a total population of 850,000.
Over 3,500 members of staff work across various locations, including the main hospital in Dorchester, GP surgeries, schools, residential homes, people’s own homes and in the community hospitals.
Dorset County Hospital has around 380 beds, seven main theatres and two day theatres, and has been designed with a major commitment to public art.
The library at DCH exists to provide staff and students with evidence, resources and training. It has a team of three staff members: Library Assistant, Librarian Knowledge Specialist and Library and Knowledge Service Manager.
While the physical library space is quite large, with over 1000 print books and PC and printing facilities, this is just the tip of the iceberg! Library users benefit from a range of nationally, regionally and locally purchased subscriptions, including the Knowledge and Library Hub, BMJ Best Practice, Royal Marsden Manual Online and many others. Access to online resources is available through an authentication “key” called NHS OpenAthens.
The library staff also offer training in a range of different topics including study skills, finding and navigating evidence, literature searching, critical appraisal, reflective reading and writing and health literacy awareness. As well as offering books, resources and training, the librarians also conduct literature searches and prepare current awareness bulletins and evidence alerts for users.
As a knowledge service the library team organise knowledge mobilisation activities for the Trust, including Randomised Coffee Trials, Living Libraries and Knowledge Cafes. These are intended to encourage the sharing of knowledge about different roles/workstreams and to increase networking.