Brief communication Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
A joined-up approach: how England’s National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) is working with librarians Alison Turner, Library Partnership Co-ordinator, National electronic Library for Health, NHS Information Authority, Birmingham, UK Introduction The NeLH (National electronic Library for Health) is a digital library developed within the National Health Service (NHS) in England. It is aimed predominantly at health professionals and managers in the NHS, although is openly available on the Internet (http://www.nelh.nhs.uk). Since its launch as a pilot in November 2000, the NeLH has been built on a foundation of partnership working. In Spring 2003, the NeLH emerged as a full service with long-term funding. Its strategy for 2003–06 moves the focus from simply organizing knowledge towards mobilizing knowledge to support evidence-based decision making. Partnerships have been developed with other knowledge services, in particular with health librarians, to encourage the integration of local and national knowledge resources. The NeLH team works closely with NHS Direct Online (http:// www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/), the electronic Library for Social Care and library services, under the auspices of the National Knowledge Service (http:// www.nks.nhs.uk/). The NeLH also works in partnership with other NHS and Department of Health agencies to help achieve their agendas, e.g. the National Institute of Clinical Excellence and the National Patient Safety Agency to implement policies, National Service Frameworks, and guidance; NHS Direct Online to promote and support Correspondence: Alison Turner, Aqueous 2, Rocky Lane, Birmingham B6 5RQ, UK. E-mail:
[email protected]
shared decision-making; and the Modernization Agency to support its work improving health care. The role of Library Partnerships Co-ordinator is to pursue partnership working with librarians in a range of settings and to ensure involvement of librarians in the development of the NeLH. Joinedup working offers a range of benefits including: • opportunities to better integrate NeLH resources with health library resources; • the promotion of resources as a seamless service; • shared risks; • improved synergy; • economies of scale; • and promotion of a knowledge-sharing culture. The NeLH has been designed to complement existing libraries; its aim is to concentrate on providing fast and easy electronic-only access to research evidence, clinical guidelines and critically appraised resources, whereas libraries offer access to the wider knowledge base, such as the primary research base. The remit of NHS and other health libraries is broader and the focus is different—libraries offer face-to-face contact and localized services. This brief communication focuses on some of the areas where the NeLH has worked with librarians. Librarians collaborating on building the Library The NeLH is co-ordinated by a central team, working in partnership with Specialist Library teams and other partners. The following are some examples of collaborative work with librarians. • Librarians as content developers. Librarians lead development of some of the major resources on NeLH, such as ‘Hitting the Headlines’ (a critical assessment of the evidence behind selected news stories), ‘Guidelines Finder’ (an index to UK national guidelines) and the Specialist Libraries for ‘Health Management’ and ‘Cardiovascular Diseases’.
© Health Libraries Group 2004 Health Information and Libraries Journal, 21, pp.55 –57
55
56
Brief communication
• Partner services. A key partner for the NeLH is the National Core Content Group, a group led by NHS librarians responsible for Englandwide procurement of bibliographic databases and full text journals.1 The NeLH development team is working in partnership with this Group to facilitate seamless access to and integration of resources. • Co-operation on major projects. Most recently, librarians have taken part in a consultancy project exploring the design and architecture of the NeLH home page. Through the Digital Libraries Network, the project consultant was able to spend time working alongside library staff in north-east London to gather feedback on the current design and draft plans. Previously, the NeLH has collaborated with librarians to test the pilot search engine; to design an intranet template and toolbar; and to evaluate the impact on interlibrary loans of the launch of Zetoc (British Library’s Electronic Table of Contents database). Joint promotion of the Library Promotion and training are key activities for 2003– 06. Given the size and nature of the health community we are targeting, the only feasible approach is to work in partnership with librarians, to unify and maximize our efforts. • Joint campaigns. The NeLH has worked with a number of NHS libraries, through Workforce Development Confederation leads, on joint activities. Examples to date include sponsorship of library cards in the south-west to coincide with the launch of a new knowledge management system; joint publicity with portals in the North of England and West Midlands; and a planned campaign in the north-east in early 2004. • A partnership network. Digital Libraries Network (DLnet) is an informal network established during Summer 2003. It is developing as a multidisciplinary network to bring together librarians, trainers and other professionals to collectively raise awareness of digital library resources, across the health community. DLnet is intended to develop as a community of practice to deliver marketing and training and to facilitate the sharing of ideas, materials, experience and
know-how. Librarians have been invited to sign up as ‘Representatives’, to act as ‘champions’ within their organizations, promoting digital resources and library services. Representatives are supported by an on-line resource (http:// www.nelh.nhs.uk/dlnet), a collaborative weblog (http://dlnet.blogspot.com), a central repository of materials, teleconferencing facilities and a professional development programme, co-ordinated by the NeLH. • Joining forces to target health professionals. Much of the activity within DLnet to date has focused on the Awareness Week (http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/ awareness) planned for November 2003. The first Awareness Week, held in 2002, demonstrated the power of a joint campaign, bringing together librarians, trainers and the NeLH, with the shared focus of promotion and training. A major feature of the week will be on-line training, delivered via a combination of teleconferencing and web resources in partnership with a group of library trainers, to over 400 health professionals. NeLH has invited DLnet Representatives and other librarians to sign up as Awareness Week Partners, by submitting marketing plans to run local events and activities. A small grant of £100 is offered to each library to cover expenses such as printing, food and incentives. • Areas for future partnership work include increasing involvement of non-NHS librarians in NeLH activities, by targeting library staff working in: higher and further education; professional associations; Ministry of Defence establishments; and the independent and voluntary sectors. The Library supporting librarians The NeLH has a dedicated programme to support librarian development, to tackle new demands on librarians and the shortage of protected time for learning and development. The NeLH works most closely with the NHS Library and Knowledge Development Network (NHS LKDN) and the CILIP Health Libraries Group (HLG). • Supporting key events. The NeLH regularly sponsors study days and funds delegate places at major events. In 2004, the NeLH will be sponsoring
© Health Libraries Group 2004 Health Information and Libraries Journal, 21, pp.55 – 57
Brief communication
two key conferences, the HLG conference in September and the Clinical Librarians conference in November; • On-line support. In 2002, the NeLH launched the ‘Health Librarian and Information Professional Portal’ (http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/librarian) in collaboration with the NHS LKDN, the HLG and the NHS Libraries Advisor.2 An editorial e-group, representing key groups and sectors of the health library community, was set up to take forward some of the ideas suggested to develop the portal. • Creative ways of delivering learning. In 2003, a pilot programme of on-line training was commissioned, titled FOLIO (Facilitated Online Learning Interactive Opportunity) and delivered by Information Resources, School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) University of Sheffield. At the time of writing, a tender to deliver this programme for 2 years, is in progress. The NeLH will collaborate with the HLG to design the programme and curriculum to ensure FOLIO meets the needs of librarians and does not duplicate existing provision. The programme will be informed by training needs analyses undertaken by colleagues in the NHS and the wider health community. • Priorities for the future. Previously, the NeLH has run a joint programme of training events with the NHS LKDN and is currently working on ideas for 2004–05 with both the HLG and NHS LKDN. Conclusion To achieve effective partnerships, communication is absolutely vital. The NeLH team has developed
a strategy for building and maintaining relationships through regular and targeted communication. Recently, we have explored teleconferencing as a means of keeping in touch with our partners around the country. Meetings can be set up at relatively short notice, with no travel required. However, there is no replacement for face-to-face and teleconferencing seems to work best when the participants are already known to each other. Not so long ago, I heard a speaker say (at a training event on virtual working) that the ‘half life of trust is about 3 months’. This saying has been attributed to Jeremy Scanlan, former manager at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), who was talking about why distributed teams need to meet face-to-face occasionally.3 What this means is that to build relationships we need to see people, meet them face-to-face, every 6 months or so. This brief communication has touched on examples of how the NeLH is working with partners in the health library community. The NeLH exists in a fast-changing environment faced with many challenges. Working in partnership with health librarians, the NeLH has established itself as a specialist provider in the health library community, complementing the broad range of services offered by librarians.
References 1 Hernando, S. & Gibbens, S. Guest editorial. Health Information and Libraries Journal 2003, 19, 129. 2 Turner, A. Joining the dots: developing a resource to support changing roles in health libraries. Free Pint 2002, 119. Available from: http://www.freepint.com/issues/ 220802.htm #tips. 3 Turner, A. Out of sight but not out of mind: virtual meetings. Freepint 2003, 147. Available from: http:// www.freepint.com/issues/161003.htm #feature.
© Health Libraries Group 2004 Health Information and Libraries Journal, 21, pp.55 –57
57
