I became Chair of the Yorkshire and Humber health Libraries Knowledge Network (YOHHLNet) in May 2020 after a period of co-Chairing with Becky Williams. YOHHLNet is a network of health library and information services across East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.…
David Stewart’s association with Health Libraries North (HLN) is relatively recent compared to his involvement with the North West but it is by no means less significant.…
I started working in NHS libraries in 1997 as a volunteer at The Christie Hospital library following a placement from Manchester Metropolitan University. What inspired me to volunteer at The Christie was a talk given to students about a typical day in an NHS library by Nigel Rainford, a “Systems Librarian” who did searches for medical and nursing staff. Nigel eventually moved on to public libraries and I was fortunate to get the chance to be the full time Systems Librarian at The Christie in February 1999. A lot has changed since then.…
A personal view of the development of health libraries over the last twenty years? As it happens, I joined the NHS in spring 2000, so the development of health libraries and my career have travelled in parallel. Let me say now, I came into health libraries by accident; only moving across from business support because the DTI decided to close the Business Link network, and I needed a job. What that meant was that I came in as an experienced manager, but with no knowledge of or experience in health, and equally no baggage or preconceptions.…
I was invited to write about the development of health librarianship over the last 20 years from a national perspective. Handily, by June this year, I'll have been working in health libraries for 20 years, with 17 of those in a national organisation - it's like it's fate, or something!…
There are some moments in your life that are incredibly important but at the time feel like they are going to be incredibly trivial. Naturally as this is the David issue of Northern Lights I’m going to share one that involves him and probably one which he has absolutely no memory of.…
You are the same, the role is different. Times too Stepping up to management is always a challenge, but especially during COVID-19. I was appointed Library Manager at Bradford District Care NHS FT in June 2020. This is my personal experience transitioning from librarian to manager. There are two elements that helped me navigate this new role.…
