I am very grateful to have received a bursary from YOHHLNet, allowing me to attend the HLG conference last month. I had an amazing time, learned a great deal, and had the opportunity to meet fellow NHS librarians from Scotland to Cornwall. I could also be there for the two posters I had submitted – a surreal experience to see them on the big screens! – which meant the sweat, tears and hair-pulling involved in the research projects to create them was far outweighed by the sense of pride at seeing my posters next to the amazing quality of work produced by other librarians.

A key highlight of the conference was, of course, the people. The HLG committee did an amazing job of providing a seamless experience and a fantastic line-up of talks, but the attendees really made the atmosphere one of inspiration and collaboration.

As a Trainee Librarian, I was feeling a little anxious about travelling and staying in London on a solo trip and was worried that I would feel severely out of my depth trying to chat with experienced librarians in the grandiose backdrop of the Royal College of Physicians. But I really had nothing to worry about! I should have known librarians would be some of the nicest people, but I am glad it has been confirmed. It was great to know once I stepped outside YOHHLNet and the North, everyone was still super friendly. The atmosphere was one of excitement, and surprisingly casual. I had an amazing time flitting between groups of people and hearing about everyone’s experience and library services – I find it fascinating how we deliver central services but have all made our different libraries our own. Gone was the veneer of polite distance, and I felt I was making friends with everyone I met – hopefully they didn’t mind the slight interrogation I gave them about their job and roles…

The line-up of talks was really varied, which meant the two days went by in a blur of information.

I loved the talks which showcased some of the great initiative’s services were spearheading, as I left with such a sense of motivation and an idea of how they could be practically delivered. For instance, Sarah Gardner’s talk on her ‘Curiosity Cafe’ to engage people in the early stages of research in their career was really interesting and reassuring that libraries can effectively promote themselves to busy medical staff  – with cake being a major component! Similarly, Anna Shipway and Preeti Puligari’s separate talks on how their services provide evidence search summaries laid out some excellent steps on how to do so, and a new angle on how non-clinical staff can be engaged with the library service. I also enjoyed Claire O’Conner’s lightening talk on how she applied UX methods to improve the layout of their library in Gloucestershire, which included great before and after pictures.

I will be completing my dissertation for the Library and Information Services Management Masters at Sheffield next Summer, and all of the conversations I had and heard has helped me begin to form a dissertation question from the nebulous thoughts I had floating around. Hearing about peoples experiences I have so many avenues to potentially go down: Is graduate traineeships the way forward for continuing the workforce? Is the Masters a golden ticket or a barrier? How do we resolve imposter syndrome in health librarianship? How can we best engage non-clinical staff in the library services, and do we have the necessary skills? These overarching questions are still very broad, but the conference helped narrow down some of these questions in my head with a bunch of interesting conversations with open-minded people.

Overall, the HLG conference was very inspiring, and meeting such a range of people face-to-face was amazing. I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend and hope to maintain contact with all the people I talked into scribbling their emails down! I have come away wanting to apply everything I have learnt to our library service at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, and to say ‘yes!’ to any opportunity that involves meeting people and collaborating.

Jodie Reeve

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust