It is strange looking back on the past year in the current climate as things couldn’t be any more different for all of us now compared to a year ago. Despite the difficult times that we are currently working in, this update has provided a good opportunity to reflect on the past year.

Covid-19
We continue to offer most of our services but have reduced face to face contact with library users. Most of the team have been working from home since 24th March with some team members coming on site on a rota basis to deliver services that could not be provided from home without IT access. PCs have now been set up for all staff members so most of our activities are now being conducted remotely.

We have supported other teams by providing literature searches, publishing and reference checking trust documents, proof reading eLearning, laminating posters, providing admin support for the psychological well-being hot line and conducting interviews for bank staff. There are also two clinical teams who have moved into our IT training room and Quiet study room to make space on the wards. In order to further support library users we have developed a virtual library web page and a Live Chat function to provide virtual support.

Staffing
In summer 2019, Sinead English successfully completed her Masters in Librarianship and moved onto a qualified post at the Etihad Stadium Library working with Manchester University students. We were sad to see Sinead leave the team, but immensely proud of her achievements.  Julia Browne joined the team in October as a Library Assistant, but was head hunted to return to an Archive position at Lancaster University. Julia left the team on 9^th April whilst most of the team were remote working, so we are planning a get together post lockdown to give her a proper send off!

Strategy
We launched our new library strategy in January 2019 which is embedded within the Our People Plan 2018 – 2021, the Trust workforce strategy. Here is an update on our progress against each of our 4 strategic aims in 2019-2020.

Create library spaces which are welcoming, easy to use and support a range of interactions and requirements: We conducted space audits and completed a library survey (141 responses) to find out more about how our users use the library spaces and how we can improve them. We have taken some small steps to improve the space, introducing well-being areas and resources, re-covering the computer chairs and adding two screens to single use rooms. Key themes emerging from the results suggest that we need more study space, group areas, private areas, more pcs and more books. So no tall order with limited funds! This year we will review the findings to seeing how we can use spaces more effectively and creatively to meet user needs.

Embed the library service within organisational activities, ensuring the mobilisation of evidence and the use of internally generated knowledge: We have increased our support across the organisation by attending events such as the Big Plan Strategy launch, having a weekly library stand in the canteen and supporting the Critical Care Team on the ward round. Organisational learning was shared by producing case studies for the Continuous Improvement and Talent Management Teams and our manager is a member of the Learning to Improve Group. We paired up 40 people for the Randomised Coffee Trial and worked with research colleagues on public event to promote access and involvement in research and launched a successful critical appraisal training course. We continue to organise evidence and information, adding 218 items to our new publications database, expanding our contribution to the management of trust documents and producing a Legal and Regulatory Bulletin for the Board.

Deliver information services that have a positive impact on the health and well-being of patients, carers, the public and our staff: In partnership with the Lancashire Public Library team we promoted Health Information Week and have plans to present at a Dementia Champions Study Day, they also joined our Away Day to talk about their work. As members of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy Group, we provide resources, dedicated spaces, run the Summer Reading Challenge and attend staff and student wellbeing events. We ran two successful Living Library events with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead and developed a reading collection for young adult inpatients with help from HEE Funding. We shared our work with other teams at the It’s Great Up North Conference and a Health and Well-Being event in York.

Ensure the availability of resources, evidence and training for research, patient care, management and clinical decision making: Digital Libraries week in October 2019 showcased virtual educational resources alongside Browzine and Dynamed promotions. We also launched a new Learn at Lunch training programme and are collaborating with Cumbria and Lancashire Libraries to develop a shared e-book collection, which will be available to everyone across the patch. We continue to work closely with colleagues in other teams attending the AHP study day, developing book displays and lists to support medical students linked to weekly clinical topics and working closely with learner support.

We are currently reviewing our plan for 2020-2021 to see what we can deliver and to identify new areas of focus which will help us to deliver services that staff need in the changing climate.

Tracey Pratchett
Knowledge and Library Services Manager