Biblioteconomía y trabajo social: una combinación estratégica para enfrentar pandemias / Library science and social work: a strategic combination to face pandemics

Las intervenciones profesionales de los trabajadores sociales y los bibliotecarios durante la pandemia por COVID-19 convergieron en el empleo de las tecnologías de la información para satisfacer necesidades de información tanto de personal médico como de los pacientes y sus familias. La colaboración de estos dos profesionales reforzaría significativamente el equipo multidisciplinario de la salud a partir de la mejora de los canales de flujo de información que se llevan a cabo en el ámbito hospitalario, el fomento a la atención humanizada en salud y las acciones de inclusión social en las bibliotecas para brindar mayores y mejores oportunidades, así como recursos a población vulnerable.

The professional interventions of social workers and librarians during the COVID-19 pandemic converged in the use of information technologies to meet the information needs of both medical personnel and patients and their families. The collaboration of these two professionals would significantly strengthen the multidisciplinary health team by improving the information flow channels that are carried out in the hospital, promoting humanized health care and carrying out social inclusion actions in libraries to provide greater and better opportunities and resources for the vulnerable population.

Supporting, enabling and empowering.

When you think about a journal you probably think of it in terms of its interactions with authors, but relations extend beyond this and are embodied in the actions and values of the editorial team and board. The Health Information and Libraries Journal editorial team and board pride themselves in the support they provide to enable and build confidence in the contributing authors, and the referees who collaborate with them by providing constructive peer review.

A clinical librarian in a hospital critical care unit may generate a positive return on investment.

BACKGROUND: Timely information provided by clinical librarians can contribute to outcomes such as improved patient care and time savings for hospital staff. What is unknown is the return on investment (ROI) of a clinical librarian on a critical care unit. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the ROI, from the employer perspective, of placing a clinical librarian in a critical care unit in a large UK acute hospital. METHODS: Using a mixed methods approach, ROI was estimated by comparing the total costs with the total monetised benefits of implementing the clinical librarian intervention. Total costs included salary and equipment costs. Total monetised benefits included time saving for hospital staff, support for professional development and improved patient care. RESULTS: When total monetised benefits were compared with total costs, the 15-month clinical librarian intervention generated a positive ROI of £1.18-£3.03 for every £1 invested. DISCUSSION: Using outcome measures derived from previous research, this novel study generated promising results indicative for commissioners seeking to improve patient care and deliver value for money. To improve generalisability, multisite studies using standardised ROI tools are recommended. CONCLUSION: Employing a clinical librarian in a critical care unit can generate a positive ROI.

CILIP's Health Libraries Group-Shane Godbolt, lifelong member and supporter.

This paper from CILIP's Health Libraries Group (HLG) committee is written by the previous International Officer who worked in partnership with Shane Godbolt. It outlines Shane's contribution to the Health Libraries Group over several decades and focuses on the collaborative work on international visits.

Sport science librarianship = health science librarianship?

Does sports science librarianship differ from other aspects of health librarianship? Or are sports science librarians more likely to identify as generalist librarians? This editorial introduces the salutogenic approach to sport, factors that support human health and well-being, and highlights the challenge of resourcing the diversity of subjects covered by sports sciences. Highlighting key parallels with medicine and public health, it concludes by advocating for closer alignment between sports and health science librarianship.

Standing on the shoulders of giants: Shane Godbolt in the beginning and at the ending.

This paper introduces Shane's early life up to the point of her joining St Bartholomew's Medical College, London, as an Assistant Librarian. It tracks her links with her professional association and concludes with a cameo of her social life and contribution to her church.

Working in partnership to strengthen health librarianship - Shane Godbolt's legacy.

This paper focuses on Shane Godbolt's commitment to international librarianship and global health and her guiding principles for international working. The authors examine and celebrate how these have been applied in practice, impacting many.

The strong bridge between African librarians and international partnerships.

The paper highlights the experience of working with Shane Godbolt when she was a practising Medical librarian, her mentorship to younger librarians/information professionals, her personal and professional support to African librarians and the role she played as the Director of Partnerships in Health Information (Phi). These activities led to successful collaboration between Phi and African librarians. Indeed Shane widened the networks and opened up opportunities for many.

Fashioning the future: Shane Godbolt's leadership of the NHS regional library and information service in North Thames and London 1992-2003.

This paper reviews Shane Godbolt's work as the National Health Service (NHS) Regional Librarian in North Thames and London between 1992 and 2003. It was a challenging time for both the NHS and the world of health care librarianship, and this article describes how the opportunities presented by continual organisational change and new ways of working were fully grasped by Shane and her colleagues to move library and information services forward in the capital, working in partnership with NHS partners and Higher Education - and laying the foundations for today's NHS library and knowledge service.

Shane Godbolt: the Charing Cross years (1970-1991).

This article looks at the period in Shane's career when she was based in the library at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School (1970-1984) and then the Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (1984-1991), following the merger. The topics covered include audio-visual materials and new technology, user education, staff training and development, word processing and automation in the library and Shane's involvement and activities in the wider profession.

Teaching Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility in Dental Medicine.

Dental students need to be equipped as clinicians to treat diverse communities and to recognize oral health disparities that are rooted in the social determinants of health. Library instruction is frequently focused on information literacy topics. Within the health sciences this might include critical appraisal or evidence synthesis, and instruction centered on locating and using library resources. This paper details the unique experiences of two liaison librarians to the School of Dental Medicine who taught the topics of cultural competence and cultural humility to first-year dental medicine students. While the authors do not discuss typical information literacy instruction in this paper, they share strategies used to design the instruction sessions, reflections on teaching these themes, lessons learned, and suggestions for other liaison librarians who might have an interest in teaching about cultural competence or cultural humility.

Library Jargon Creates Barriers for Potential Users of Health Library and Information Services.

This paper is based on Helen Kiely's Masters dissertation on MA in Library and Information Service Management, successfully completed at the University of Sheffield in 2018. The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which users of a health care library service understood common terminology used by clinical librarians/information professionals. A survey was developed based on the terminology used for common services and was distributed to staff and students at an acute NHS Foundation Trust. One hundred and eight people participated over a four week period and were asked to provide definitions to the terms. Analysis of the responses for accuracy and common themes indicates that jargon can be a barrier to user access and recommendations are made with respect to the need for outreach to users and the language used in this practice for creating better accessibility. F.J.

Supporting the health library and information workforce.

As a prelude to his keynote speech at the forthcoming Health Libraries Group conference, Sean McNamara, Head of CILIP Scotland, provides an insight into the work being undertaken with health librarians in Scotland and considers how CILIP Scotland might support the health information sector in the coming years.

The mutual benefit and varied roles of librarians in supporting health care document management.

Tracey Pratchett considers the emerging role for libraries in facilitating document management practices within NHS organisations and reflects on her experience of supporting this work at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Humor in library instruction: a narrative review with implications for the health sciences.

OBJECTIVE: The review sought to gain a better understanding of humor's use and impact as a teaching and learning strategy in academic library and health sciences instruction and to determine if the most common techniques across both disciplines can be adapted to increase engagement in medical libraries' information literacy efforts. METHODS: This narrative review involved retrieving citations from several subject databases, including Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts; Information Science & Technology Abstracts; Library & Information Science Source; PubMed; and CINAHL. The author limited her review to those publications that explicitly addressed the use of humor in relation to some form of academic library or health sciences instruction. Studies examining use of humor in patient education were excluded. RESULTS: Scholars and practitioners have consistently written about humor as an instructional strategy from the 1980s onward, in both the library literature and health sciences literature. These authors have focused on instructors' attitudes, benefits to students, anecdotes, and best practices summaries. Overall, both librarians and health sciences educators have a positive opinion of humor, and many instructors make use of it in their classrooms, though caution and careful planning is advised. CONCLUSIONS: Commonalities between the library and information science literature and health sciences literature provide a cohesive set of best practices and strategies for successfully incorporating comedy into library instruction sessions. Health sciences librarians can adapt several of the most commonly used types of instructional humor (e.g., silly examples, cartoons, storytelling, etc.) to their own contexts with minimal risk.

Critical librarianship in health sciences libraries: an introduction.

The Medical Library Association recently announced its commitment to diversity and inclusion. While this is a positive start, critical librarianship takes the crucial concepts of diversity and inclusion one step further by advocating for social justice action and the dismantling of oppressive institutional structures, including white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. Critical librarianship takes many forms, but, at its root, is focused on interrogating and disrupting inequitable systems, including changing racist cataloging rules, creating student-driven information literacy instruction, supporting inclusive and ethical publishing models, and rejecting the notion of libraries as neutral spaces. This article presents examples of the application of critical practice in libraries as well as ideas for applying critical librarianship to the health sciences.

Delivering information literacy within a global health care degree: reflections from a health information specialist.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have a growing interest in establishing International joint degree programmes in developing countries. A Master's degree in global health care is an international joint degree programme run by two Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences and one Kenyan University. To provide students and staff members who live in Finland with an authentic experience of the circumstances in the developing countries, part of the programme involves delivering a two-week intensive course in Kenya. Health library services and information literacy training have a significant presence during this intensive course. In this paper, guest writer Marketta Fredriksson describes and reflects on the involvement of the health care library team in the development and implementation of this degree and delivery of the intensive course in Kenya.H.S.

New directions in health sciences libraries in China.

This article briefly describes the services provided by Chinese health science libraries and the factors which influence service provision. Driven by new technologies and national initiatives, the key services delivered by Chinese health libraries in the last 10 years have been research support services (such as research impact assessment, support for data management), evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, the promotion of health information literacy, and the development of institutional repositories. J.M.