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/

jeff.mason@rqhealth.ca