Librarians. What on earth do we do?

So they let me write another one. Phew…

This week, now that introductions are out the way, and you know where we are, I want to talk about the jobs that the staff at the Healthcare Library do.

But wait Gareth, don’t you all just sit around reading books and tell people to “shhh” for a living?

Well in a dream world, that would be the plan, but too much shushing starts to wear on the throat after a while, and we all feel like this might be a misappropriation of Trust resources. Instead we carry out tasks that help keep the library running and most importantly, keep access to the resources you guys need available and easy to find.

Sounds easy right?

So, let’s break down our friendly staff into their job roles shall we?

These would be the Librarians and Library Assistants.

That didn’t take long.

Your faithful Library Assistant team at this particular Healthcare Library consists of  myself (Gareth) and my esteemed colleague Anne-Marie Fitton. Our particular responsibilities cover two separate sections of our physical and online resources.

 Anne-Marie is the Keeper of the Books. Not actually her job title but it sounds more dramatic... As well as the myriad of other tasks she performs in her role as our Library Office Manager, she is also the channel through which all our inter-library loans take place. She is an integral cog to our service, and resident expert on all things.

 (I didn’t miss a bit out here, she knows everything)

If you need a book and we can’t provide it from our stock, she can track it down. If you have any queries about the library service, she will know the answer. If there's something strange in your neighbourhood... You should probably call Ghostbusters, but Anne-Marie will give it a crack!

Although I’m still learning, my role is managing the journal stock both electronic and in physical form. This amounts to looking after the collection we have, and adding to it when possible. I’m also responsible for responding to other library’s loan requests, as well as making sure you have a pleasant visit and any issues you encounter are resolved quickly and effectively. I also write the Blog, state the obvious, and run the ScoopIt page.

We are both full-time, so if you are popping in on a weekday when we are staffed, you can be sure to find one of our delightful visages waiting to help.

The Librarians down here are Jenny Lang, Caroline Thomas, and Helen Clemow. When you think librarian, you think some old battle-axe peering down the length of her nose, tutting just loud enough to shame you as you remonstrate what a mistake it was to come to the library whilst still being an organic being that requires breathing to live. Shame on you.

I was apprehensive of having to work with such characters, as I too need oxygen to live, and was beginning to puzzle out a way of somehow oxygenating my blood through some kind of intravenous system. (Patent Pending)

Then I turned up in the library and had to scrap my design. They were extremely tolerant of gas breathing carbon beings! In fact, since I’ve been here I’ve not heard a single tut, remonstration, recrimination, scolding or a haughty sigh!

The librarians are really keen to get the best experience possible for your visits, and keep you coming back. After all, knowledge is power, and we want to empower you to do your job as effectively as possible. That’s our job.

No longer in the dark ages are we. Books are not closely guarded as means of keeping the riff-raff in line any more.

That’s all very well, but what can the Librarian do for you?

A good question and one that cannot be answered in the limited word count available to me. To see a full list of what we can do, click here.

The service that I wanted to tell you about, and possible one of the most valuable services this library provides, is the Literature Search. A literature search is a very simple thing to request. Simply fill in one of our forms at our website with as much detail as possible, and our Librarians will scour the internet and databases, finding up to date and relevant information, fully referenced and ready to go! Time saving extraordinaire!

So once again, thanks for reading and I hope this will inspire you to let us help you do less work.

Until next time…


New Books!

De Swiet's medical disorders in obstetric practice	Powrie, Raymond O	WQ220
Introduction to research	DePoy, Elizabeth	WB25
Communication skills in health and social care	Moss, Bernard	WLM816
Critical reading and writing for postgraduates	Wallace, Mike	L125
Nursing research	Munhall, Patricia L.	WY20
How to write a paper	Hall, George M.	Q50
Risk assessment in people with learning disabilities	Sellars, Carol	WM805
The good research guide	Denscombe, Martyn	HM20
Minor injuries	Purcell, Dennis	WD458
Innovating for patient safety in medicine	Lawton, Rebecca	WA55
Disabling barriers - enabling environments	Swain, John	WB600
Essential knowledge and skills for healthcare assistants	Rawles, Zoe	WY120
Research methods for clinical therapists	Hicks, Carolyn M.	WB25
Succeeding in literature reviews and research project plans for nursing students	Williamson, Graham R.	WY20