It is a strange time to start a new role. When I was offered the role of LKS Development Manager back at the end of February, I didn’t imagine that I would start the job sitting in our spare room/office surrounded by the kids old toys. However, here we are! Like everyone else, I am adjusting to our new ways of working and that includes changing roles by swapping laptops. However, despite the difficult circumstances, I am very much enjoying the new role and I have been made to feel very welcome. I was also impressed that my laptop arrived on time and my IT access was set-up without any delays, so it is all systems go!

In my role of LKS Development Manager, I am part of the LKS North team. I will specifically focus on two key areas:

Offering professional guidance and support to services across Yorkshire and Humber.
This part of the post feels most familiar to me, as I have seen things from “the other side” as a service manager! I am also familiar with the networking side of the role through my time as chair of YOHHLNet. However, there is still plenty for me learn and hopefully share with you in due course. I’m looking forward to learning about library services from a strategic point of view and offering professional support where I can.

Representing the north on the Resource Discovery Workstream.
This side of the role feels more “unknown” to me but is a very exciting area to be involved in. The resource discovery elements are wide-ranging and include collaborative purchasing, discovery, delivery infrastructure and core content. As you are probably aware, the resource discovery team are currently investigating a single national discovery system so it is a great time to join the team. I’m sure that I will be able to provide more updates in this area in the near future – watch this space!

I am in the fortunate position of knowing many LKS staff across the north due to my previous roles. Many of you will know me from my role as Library Manager at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust and prior to that I had also worked at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust. I therefore have very recent experience of working in an NHS library service, so can relate to many of the challenges you might be facing. If I haven’t met you before, I’m really looking forward to working with you in the future.

Under normal circumstances I will be based in Leeds but I am currently working at home in Bradford! However, I am still here to help so please do get in touch by e-mail (becky.williams@hee.nhs.uk) or phone (0113 8871729).