It’s evident that the role of medical libraries and librarians has changed considerably since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The degree to which this has happened is discussed by Siemensma with Rolf Schafer and Elle Matthews, Library Manager and E-services Librarian, respectively, from St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney.
image by Mika Baumeister. Photos used with permission.
“Health librarians really need to have a broad picture of the health environment to have an impact and connect all the dots,” says Gemma Siemensma, Library Manager at Ballarat Health Services (BHS), Australia. Librarians “need to continue to excel in reference consultations and literature searching to advanced forms of evidence synthesis and critical appraisal,” she adds.
Gemma Siemensma, Library Manager at BHS |
It’s evident that the role of medical libraries and librarians has changed considerably since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The degree to which this has happened is discussed by Siemensma with Rolf Schafer and Elle Matthews, Library Manager and E-services Librarian, respectively, from St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney.
A typical work day from 8:30am-5pm, Monday to Friday, as in the case of the BHS Library, is no longer the reality. “Our library has been on a rollercoaster ride”, says Siemensma. BHS “were told to close pretty early on and staff moved to working from home. COVID-19 numbers in Australia eased and we reopened briefly for a few weeks with one staff member being onsite whilst others continued to work from home. We then closed again as the second wave of COVID-19 hit Australia. We are now open again with reduced hours and staff doing a mixture of working onsite and from home”. By contrast, the library staff at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney weren’t permitted to work from home due to limitations on the availability of remote access tokens to IT systems and were therefore directed to maintain on-site services to support clinicians and researchers. Additionally, Schafer and Matthews were successfully redeployed to the Emergency Department (ED) and to the Health Information Services (Medical Records), respectively, after “a request for redeployment of non-clinical staff was issued in March 2020 by the Hospital Administration to increase the workforce during the lockdown and support the anticipated surge in COVID-infected patients.”
Elle Matthews, E-services Librarian at |
Rolf Schafer, Library Manager at |
As the coronavirus pandemic hit, many publishers began curating free content collections to support medical professionals. Opening up COVID-19 research and specific resources (such as infection control) by publishers allowed the BHS Library access content that may have been previously inaccessible. Siemensma mentions that in order to disseminate the available open research related to the virus, the library set up a COVID-19 resources page on their website. This curated information included guidelines, statistics, evidence summaries, research article and literature searches.
Similarly, the library at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney “set up a dedicated widget on our homepage providing links to various COVID-19 resources for the convenience of staff.” Schafer also points out that whilst in the ED, he arranged access to Lippincott Procedures Australia, including the Rapid On-boarding module for COVID-19, and promoted it widely throughout the hospital.
The coronavirus pandemic “has highlighted the importance of access to the evidence base. Conversely it has also highlighted the misinformation that is rampant globally. For me this demonstrates the importance of health libraries and the challenging and rewarding job we get to do day in and day out as an organisation’s only dedicated, secure, permanent, and trustworthy source of authoritative information”, says Siemensma when asked about a lesson from this year. Asked the same question, Schafer highlights that adaptability and being prepared for a whole new way of working is key. “Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone—you may surprise yourself how well you handle the new role and the various challenges that come along your way,” he concludes.
Gemma Siemensma, Rolf Schafer, and Elle Matthews provided an invaluable insight into the changing role of medical librarians in a COVID-19 world. It cannot be denied that, as Siemensma says, libraries are still in a state of flux with restrictions placed on hospitals. And this may be the case for a while. We are yet to see whether medical librarians and libraries will ever go back to their pre-COVID role, or whether there is a complete “new normal” around the corner for them too.
Anna Zminda is a Marketing Executive in the Library Marketing team at Oxford University Press.
Contributors are:
Gemma Siemensma , Library Manager – Ballarat Health Services. Gemma oversees Library Services for nine hospital and community health services in the Grampians region of Victoria, Australia. Her library provides expertise and services that enable access to high quality information for health care delivery, education, guideline development and research.
Rolf Schafer , AALIA CP Health, Library Manager - St Vincent's Hospital Sydney. Rolf’s main responsibilities are the strategic leadership and optimisation of the Library services across St Vincent’s Health Network Sydney including the provision of high quality Library services and resources to meet the information needs of clinical staff, students and management.
Elle Matthews , eServices Librarian - St Vincent's Hospital Sydney. Elle supports the Library service by managing online access to the Library’s resources. This includes the maintenance of onsite and remote access, designing and updating the Library homepage, analysing reports on resource usage, trialling and evaluating new online resources.
This post originally appeared on the OUPblog
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