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HLG Conference 2016


Sunny Scarborough

In April of this year I was thrilled to learn I had received a bursary to attend the 2016 CILIP Health Libraries Group (HLG) Conference! I arrived there last week very much as a first-timer, it being both my first attendance at a health-specific library conference and also my first visit to Scarborough - England's second most visited tourist destination and home to the UK's oldest funicular railway, no less! (...thanks @RachelP for that funicular factoid!):

I've already spotted some thought-provoking summaries of the conference, including those from Abimbola Alayo and Alan Fricker (for further reflections, try the #HLG2016 and #UKMedLibs Twitter hashtags). In a departure from the more traditional post-conference blog post, those of us attending on bursary places were asked to feed back based upon the prompts below. I've had a crack at responding to each of these:

The most useful thing that I learnt...

One session leader suggested we are viewed by some people outside the profession as "highly paid administrators". As library and information professionals - whether within the health sector or not - we need to show the value in what we do, to take the credit for the work we do and to shout about our achievements. To give an example, CILIP Chief Nick Poole (pictured below) pointed out during his keynote address that the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) rely upon the collection and dissemination of quality information. In the specific case of healthcare, we inform decisions made in practice and as such the job we do makes a difference. Nick emphasised how we not only change lives as librarians but we can actually save lives too.

Health Education England (HEE) and CILIP have been working to create opportunities to help health information professionals show their worth through Knowledge for Healthcare (KfH). Patrick Mitchell and Louise Goswami of HEE spoke about this during their own keynote, explaining how KfH incorporates the Value and Impact Toolkit to help libraries assess and boost their value. Both speakers also encouraged health librarians to create new partnerships to maximise the impact of their services.

CILIP CEO Nick Poole addressing the HLG Conference during his keynote speech

My conference highlight…

Has to be the people I had the chance to meet and interact with in Scarborough. I was a bit anxious before arriving at the conference that I'd barely know anyone there and would end up feeling like something of an outsider...but in reality I was made to feel very welcome; other delegates were keen to chat and it was surprising to see just how many had some connection to the Royal College of Nursing where I work. I also couldn't stop bumping into people I knew (the library sector being the small world that it is!) including some of those exhibiting and speaking at the event.

One thing I will be changing at work following attendance at this conference will be...

I will aim to improve the literature searches I produce for members. The Library and Information Health Network Northwest (LIHNN) session on the Literature Searching MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) was really useful to me as someone who has only just recently started doing these searches as part of my role. The online course ran last year but the course materials are still freely available online.

The hands-on MOOC session at #HLG2016

The workshop format was partly presentation based but also enabled participants to have a go at some of the quizzes and other interactive elements of the online course. I have already started to work through some of the materials to help improve my skills. As Michelle Maden pointed out, there really is not much in the way of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) learning material out there for library staff to learn specifically about how to conduct searches. I'm very grateful to the Library and Information Health Network Northwest (@NWPCTLIBSHS) for all the work that went into this invaluable resource. Whether it will run again at some point is currently under review but all being well the LIHNN team hope to expand the MOOC courses they offer in future.

The presentation that really struck me was…

Lynn Daniel from the South West Yorkshire Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust gave a keynote on the work we do from the patient's perspective. She has been suffering from a long term illness herself but has also been heavily involved in Wakefield's Expert Patients Programme (EPP). This is all about helping patients take control of their own illnesses, rather than letting their illnesses control them. Lynn's positivity in the face of adversity is truly admirable and it is clear that she is an inspiration to others ("...wake up every day and tell yourself you are fantastic!" she advises). It was encouraging to hear that the work health information professionals do in providing quality research feeds in to what Lynn does in helping others to achieve a positive mindset.

The workshop that I found most useful was…

As well as the MOOC session from LIHNN, described above, the session on user experience (UX - with a capital 'X', kidz!) was really useful. I keep meaning to attend one of the full courses put on by the UX Libraries team. Jo Milton from the University of Cambridge gave a talk which was very captivating...and not because she used cats in her Powerpoint slides either! She embellished her presentations with real examples from UX studies (in Cambridge, students apparently want "pizza vending machines and a chaise longue"!) and she also encouraged audience interaction, with many participants keen to share their own stories.

Afterwards I felt keen to learn more about UX (the Futurelib blog is a good starting point) and hope to attend the 3rd UX Lib conference in Glasgow in 2017.

I would recommend attending the HLG conference because…

I've highlighted some of the benefits above but for me it was a useful way to find out about trends within the sector as a whole. Discovering what others are doing to help get their services out there and to demonstrate their impact is useful in informing our own work. Examples included use of a library app at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, creation of library videos with a particular focus on welcoming international students at Imperial College and advice on "writing a stupid book!" from Gil Young and Tracey Pratchett.

Pro tip: cat slides - always a winner at any library conference!

I should also mention the poster display which was on show throughout the event and included some really interesting materials, for instance an analysis of which databases are the most useful for systematic reviews (from Alison Bethel and Morwenna Rogers, University of Exeter Medical School) and a Department of Health poster on Developing the eArchive.

The most engaging speaker was…

Gareth Allen (@woburncoaching) - a triathlon coach - stopped short of getting us all to do star jumps but gave a motivational speech about the benefits of exercise to mental wellbeing. During the Bishop and LeFanu lecture (http://www.cilip.org.uk/health-libraries-group/awards/bishop-and-lefanu-lecture) he spoke about getting those who had fallen on hard times in their lives up and running. Like Lynn Daniel had done, Gareth was able to engage through his infectious positive thinking and it is clear the work he does genuinely does help those he coaches to overcome adversity.

I felt that the key theme of the conference was…

Knowledge for Healthcare featured heavily at #HLG2016. Again this was really about emphasising the value of what we do and how we can contribute to the "Knowledge Revolution".

A lot of what was said was very encouraging, particularly talk of opening up NHS library services to patients and making evidence from "the hospital bedside" available to the health information community. I do have to confess I was left a little bit baffled about how this translates to services at ground level (silence in the room when the audience was prompted for questions suggests I was not the only one). It should be remembered that KfH is still a relatively new thing and people are still getting to grips with it.

There seemed to be particular confusion how STPs (Sustainability and Transformation Plans) work in reality. One audience member helpfully signposted the King's Fund documentation on the subject to understand more. On a more positive note, Patrick Mitchell explained how HEE and CILIP are also providing training in leadership and other areas of health practice to help implement their grand plans.

The conference venue...

...was excellent! Scarborough Spa is a celebrated venue in the North East, used for concerts and shows from the likes of The Proclaimers, Bill Bailey and the mighty Ken Dodd (...yup - still very much alive, apparently!). OK, so we were a little unlucky with the weather, with dense fog descending upon the venue on day 1 and a fair bit of drizzle on day 2...but it felt different from an office or hotel conference-type setting and the circular sun court, with its checkerboard floor and deck chairs was a beautiful setting for the evening drinks reception. The Mayor and Mayoress of Scarborough even joined us afterwards for dinner and a bit of a boogie!

A misty Scarborough Spa on the 1st day of the conference

I am an HLG member because…

I value the work CILIP does and know HLG to be one of the most proactive of all the Special Interest Groups (SIGs). I joined HLG earlier in 2016 to help me keep informed about developments within the sector.

HLG's biennial conference is unique among these SIGs and I recommend anyone involved in health librarianship to try to attend at least once. Being granted a bursary to go made attending this conference all the more special for me - I encourage anyone who is eligible to do so to apply for a bursary as well next time around. I didn't expect to get a place but choosing to apply turned out to be one of the best decisions I made since joining the sector.

A huge thanks to @CILIPHLG for giving me the opportunity to attend!

HLG rock!

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