Staffing changes
Margaret Scarce, Clinical Librarian, retired in July 2019 after 21 years working for the Trust. Following Margaret’s retirement we reviewed the team structure and created a new Assistant Librarian post. Kathryn Aylward was appointed to the new role and joined the team in February 2020.
New self-service machines and counter refurbishment
Our old 3M self-service machines had to be replaced as they were not compatible with Windows 10 which the Trust has been rolling out during the course of this year. We decided to change supplier and in August 2020 new machines from 2CQR were installed at both York and Scarborough libraries.
In November the long awaited refurbishment of the counter/staff working area at York was completed. The Library team are pleased with the new working area and we have also received positive comments from library users.
Health awareness campaigns
During the year the library assistants have been creating displays to feature information about health awareness campaigns. This is linked to our health and wellbeing work which has included the creation of a new virtual reading group and a recipe competition. The library team were recently nominated for a star award particularly for our health and wellbeing work during Health Information Week.
Collaborative Work on Junior Doctor Apps
For the past five years the Library has been working with Medical Education to develop and promote IGNAZ an App for Junior Doctors. Recently we have started to work on Doctor Toolbox which has been promoted by HEE to take the place of IGNAZ. We will be launching the new App in the January.
Current Awareness
This has been a good year for current awareness, with more pages being added to our Netvibes platform YorLIG and more requests for monthly bulletins.
Training
Our training programme and literature search consultations have moved online and are now delivered via WebEx in both 1:1 and group settings. Our content has been re written to facilitate slightly shorter and more focused sessions and to incorporate different sorts of interactivity (for example using chat, mutual sharing of screens and Kahoot . Feedback has been positive.
Literature searches
Our search and synthesis skills have been much in demand. This looks like it could be a record year with 80 more searches being completed at the time of writing than at the same stage last year.
Covid-19 Bulletin
Based on the search strategy created by PHE England, this (usually) daily roundup of research added to PubMed on all aspects of the virus goes to the Trust Covid, infection prevention and emergency planning teams and also to interested individuals who have expressed interest (40 plus in all). Links to curated collections on the topic and a Library Resource of the Day are also highlighted.
The Library Team
York Teaching Hospital Library
