Hospital Librarianship By Jeff Mason Client Services Librarian Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region For LIS 591, June 21, 2007
Hospital Librarianship
By Jeff Mason
Client Services Librarian
Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region
For LIS 591, June 21, 2007
Goals
• Provide insight into hospital librarianship• RQ Health Sciences Library Overview• Challenges• Benefits• Research
• Get you to consider hospital libraries as a career.
About Me
• I am not from Saskatchewan!• BSc (Toronto) - 2002• MLIS (Western) - 2005
• 8 month co-op Taylor Library• Science & Tech• Instructional Strategies• EBM• Hired 1 month before last class
Why Regina?
• 4th interview
• Felt like a good fit
• Lots of opportunity
RQ Health Sciences Library
• RQHR• From Regina to Manitoba border• ~9000 staff (FT, PT)
• U of Saskatchewan College of Medicine• College of Nursing (SIAST)• College of Pharmacy and Nutrition
• Southern Alberta Institute of Technology• Respiratory Therapists
RQ HSL - 2
• 3 locations• Main, Regina General Hospital• 2 (3) professional librarians
• 1 professional archivist• 5 support staff• 1 co-op student
RQ HSL - 3
• Collections• Policy - Clinical & Current• E-Resources
• Saskatchewan Health Information Resources Partnership (http://www.shirp.ca)
• In-house collections• UpToDate• Natural Standard• E-Therapeutics/E-CPS• Lexi-Comp Online
RQ HSL - 4
• Other services• Reference
• They ask, we answer - >1000/year
• ILL• They want it, we get it.• SFX
• Instruction• Individual/group, planned/walk-in
My Role
• Liaison Librarian• Nutrition and Food Services
(Dieticians/Dietetic Interns)• Pharmacy• Respiratory Therapy
Challenges
• Information Technology• Library does not have own IT• Barrier - typical of health care
• Limited resources• We are lucky
• Administration• Need buy in• Understanding the political landscape
Challenges - 2
• Workload• Reference is repetitive, tiring• Finding balance
• Physician/staff demands• Don’t understand limitations
Benefits
• Real world application• My work helps improve patient care
• RQs• Committees
• Best databases• America’s gift to the world is MEDLINE• CINAHL, not far behind
• Stability• Health care funding increasing, not decreasing
Benefits - 2
• Diversity• Learn something new every day• Get questions from all areas of health care
• Do everything• Great way to get professional experience
Benefits - 3
• Opportunity• Associations
• Sask Health Libraries Association• Canadian Health Libraries Association
• Book reviews• Conference presentations
• Medical Libraries Association
• Multitype Database Licensing Program• Others
• How to Teach EBHC
Research
• Needs assessment• Surveyed physicians and staff• ~50% response rate
• Found areas in need of improvement• Access/use of electronic resources• Marketing of library and services
• We are doing a lot of things right
Google Project
• Presentation to CHLA 2007
• “Advanced Google Instruction as a Tool for Promoting Evidence-Based Practice”
• Drop-in course • Show users how to use Google more
effectively• Promote EBP by discussing limitations, etc.
Google Project - 2
• Good initial response to class
• Introduced survey to learn more• Why they use Google
• Why they attended class• Etc.
• Some surprising results
Google Project - 3
• Who attended?
• 188 usable responses
• 5 groups
• Health care providers• Health administrators• Allied health care providers• Educators/researchers (includes students)• Other
Google Project - 4• Current use of Google
• >50% ALWAYS use Google as their search engine.
57%36%
7%
Alw ays
Sometimes
New to Google
Google Project - 5
Use of Google for work information
Google Project - 6
• What Users Like About Google
• 28% - User friendly• 24% - Fast• 17% - Scope
Google Project - 7
• Opposite of Scope15% - Irrelevant results
• Opposite of User -friendly
21 % - Do not know how to use Google effectively
• Opposite of Scope38 % - Too many results
ObservationSurvey Result
• What Users Do Not Like About Google
Google Project - 8
• Where else do users find information?
1 – Google2 – Subscription databases
3 – Free databases4 – Other search engines 5 – Library staff
Google Project - 9
• Why users attended session
• 42% - learn to search better/save time• 30% - just want to learn
• Was the session useful?
• 57% - extremely useful• 8% - not useful
Google Project - 10
• Survey supports original ideas:
• Google is being used heavily• Is being used for health care decisions
• Staff do not use it effectively
• There is a need to provide this type of education
Google Project - 11
• Providing staff with a session they want/need:• Allows library to promote EBP by
explaining strengths and weaknesses of Google/Internet sources.
• Raises library profile, reaches non-traditional users
• Increases credibility of librarians
Conclusion
• Co-op opportunities• RQ, SHIRP, and Saskatoon HR
• Lots of exciting things coming• National Network of Libraries of Medicine• Integrating library into health record
• Hospital/special libraries great way to get started.
Thank You!
What questions do you have?
http://www.slideshare.net/jeff_mason/