NNLM Region 5 Blogs Highlighting Hospital Librarians

NNLM Region 5 spent National Medical Librarians Month highlighting librarians from throughout the region. Here's two of the posts highlighting hospital librarians in particular for your reading pleasure: 

From Nursing to Librarianship –Region 5 Blog about Frances Chu
From Nancy Drew to Literature Searches: the Case of the Medical Librarian – Region 5 Blog about Sola Whitehead.

More library and librarian profiles can be found at: News from Network Members – Region 5 Blog

Connecting with Our Users During Covid-19: ThedaCare Library

Thanks to Diane Giebink-Skoglind for sharing her story of connecting library servies with ThedaCare staff during COVID.

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Basically as a result of Covid-19 and special demands resulting from the pandemic, the library has had a chance to reach out farther and further within the organization.  Examples include:

• Working in Employee Health monitoring and transcribing employee call related to exposure, testing and next steps during the surge.

• Reaching out and connecting with the Infection Prevention team has kept me busy with literature searches/articles.   Also, I now regularly contribute to new provider and nursing newsletters, update more influential staff on resource updates, (as a result, information gets spread more effectively and wider), monitor various scientific websites like Nature, New York Times, The Atlantic, Scientific American, STAT News, Advisory Board, Becker’s, etc., to supply articles of interest. Due to kind call-out from the CMO, the library is experiencing more recognition and demand. 

•  In addition, I am presenting to on-boarding new physicians on library resources as part of that orientation team and augmenting pre-existing on-boarding of newly hired nurses.  Finally, I am providing nursing leadership with more resources and contributing to more committees and initiatives.

Connecting with our users during COVID-19: Advocate Aurora Library

This is the first in a series of blog posts showcasing how WHSLA members and their libraries responded to serving our users in creative ways during COVID-19. 

Advocate Aurora Library was amid a departmental merger when COVID-19 hit in March 2020. This offered us an opportunity to increase our virtual and remote services both within and outside the library. 

Here are some of the initiatives we implemented from March 2020-present. Many of these will likely continue, even after our library staff returns to work in-person later this year.

Online services:

• Added an online chat service, staffed M-F from 9 am-3 pm, using a free chat tool
• Switched to internet phone numbers for main line and individual staff. Main line is not specific to any one physical library
• Orientations for new hospital employees using Microsoft Teams
• Responding to social issues by creating a Diversity and Inclusion collection with links to articles, e-books, and more
• Marketing the library to new leaders with direct emails
• Continuing to serve on committees and work groups virtually
• Held a book club with the goal of providing an opportunity for Advocate Aurora team members to connect with one another

Physical spaces:

All eight Advocate Aurora Library locations remain open to employees; library staff have been working remotely since March 2020. We expect to go back in June 2021.

• Badge readers added to enable library access for employees. All libraries now either accessible 24/7 via badge reader or Public Safety entry request
• Rearranged spaces and removed some equipment to ensure safe social distancing
• Put up “tear off” sheets with library contact information including our new, online phone number (Cisco Jabber), and email address
• Library staff visit 1-2 times per month to check in and shelve books, fill up copiers, etc.

 

Socially distanced tables and work spaces

Contact information tear-off sheets placed around libraries

 

New Benchmarking Study of Hospital Libraries Published

This brand new Hospital Libraries Benchmark study just came out, written by our HSL colleagues Angela Spencer, Elizabeth Mamo, and Brooke Billman.  

Spencer, A., Mamo, E., & Billman, B. (2019). Benchmarking study of hospital libraries. Hypothesis, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.18060/23805     Available at:

http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/hypothesis/article/view/23805/22944  Accessed 5 December 2019. 

Many of the Hospital Libraries in Wisconsin (some of them WHSLA Members) participated in this study.  

Now we can see how we stack up with 180 other hospital libraries who responded to the 2017 survey.  The 19-page report contains multiple graphs and charts in a visual display of the survey data, along with a narrative explanation of the current state of Hospital Libraries.  

Take a look!