Hello everyone, I am James Ryan and I’ve recently joined the Library and Knowledge team at Stockport Foundation Trust as an Assistant Librarian. This is my first foray into the world of NHS libraries, and I have been made feel so welcome not only by Kieran Lamb and staff here at Stockport, but also the LIHNN network. On my first day, I received 15 welcome emails from LIHNN members which took me completely by surprise and certainly dissipated any worries that I may have had working in a new library environment.

I have traversed the library landscape from setting up a voluntary led library at the London Irish Centre, to routing around the rare book stacks at Senate House Library London, to setting up bingo clubs at a public library in Rochdale. What has struck me working in a health library, is the variety of the day to day where I am constantly learning and being challenged not only to develop myself but also the service. The intellectual pursuit inherent in literature searching and providing advice to readers on how to formulate search strategies has been fascinating and highly rewarding to know that your advice indirectly contributes evidence for clinical decision making.

I am passionate about promoting the importance of health, digital, and information literacy and I have teamed up with the development health and wellbeing Librarian at Stockport Central. We will be hosting a series of talks promoting and advocating the steps needed to become health literate. With that in mind, I am very excited to collaborate and share best practice with trusts throughout the North and farther afield also. You can contact me here at: - james.ryan@stockport.nhs.uk and on Twitter.
James Ryan
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust Stepping Hill Hospital