Our Apprentice Library Assistant, Jack, represented Knowledge and Library Services in the Olympia Exhibition Centre, London on the 11th November as part of a panel at the ‘What Career Live’ expo. He shared his experience working as an apprentice and advised potential future candidates considering a career in the NHS (and library services!) why they should apply. Thank you to Alison Day, Deputy Head of NHS Knowledge and Library Services (South – East/West), for inviting Jack to be part of the event!
Organised by the Research and Library teams at Dorset County Hospital, the Lunch and Learn programme, starting in September, aims to provide taster sessions throughout the year at 1-2pm via Microsoft Teams.
With speakers from:
Bournemouth University Research Design Service South West DCHFT Research Department DCHFT Patient Research Ambassador Team DCHFT Library Team
the programme promises to be exciting, useful and relevant to those wanting to know about the research process and how to grow their research network.
See below for the full programme:
Please email library.office@dchft.nhs.uk to register your interest in the programme or to book a place on any of the sessions.
Jack Welch, Library Assistant Apprentice, describes a recent visit to the Dorset History Centre.
Whether it is searching for your family history or seeking to understand a bygone era of Dorchester and its historic legacy, Dorset History Centre is the one stop service to find this information and more. Formed out of the now defunct Dorset Record Office and the County Local Studies Library, the centre hosts a vast collection of personal, journalistic and significant – as well as minor – materials that are largely accessible to the public. As part of my apprenticeship, some of my assignments are specified on archives and preservation of information, including digital records.
Along with members of the library team, we set off to the Centre for an organised visit, hosted by their Community Engagement Officer, Maria Gayton. With a guided tour around the building, we got a taste of the impressive Bankes Collection, a large-scale partnership which has been underway since 2015 (and still going from the volunteers who we saw cataloguing documents onto the system!) Like libraries, archivists have a role in assisting users to identify interest areas from members of the public who request to see documents, helping to direct resources and information which may not have been previously identified by the user.
Since the advent of COVID, and the growth of smartphones, demand and usage of documents has changed substantially compared to how they operated in the past. With the press of a camera shutter, people no longer need to spend long periods consulting documents in the facility, but rather take the information away on their phones and return the archived material. Another challenge is with any archived material that is uploaded onto social media channels, such as Facebook, the ownership of such records is difficult to hold and is not something that can strictly belong to the archive. However, digitisation itself is simply not feasible for all physical archives, which will be an unending task itself, and there is not just the capacity to take on this kind of work.
We were also taken into the strongrooms, which are the repository of many valuable archives that need to be protected from wear and tear across different forces. Upstairs in the centre holds the film and sound archives. Damp, pests and fire are just some of the risks which can cause lasting damage to documents that are almost certainly very fragile from being around for a lengthy period.
Air conditioning allows control of maintaining the materials and withholding any instance that can inflict humidity, which in turn promotes mould generation (which is never a welcome sight!) It’s an expensive aspect of running an archive with the energy costs, but one that is very much necessary. There are also solar panels installed on the roof to harvest those resources in a more cost-effective manner.
We were also shown the effects of the havoc that moisture and poor temperature control can lead to with one poor artefact that is now otherwise ruined.
One of the most fascinating processes is upstairs in preservation and the work which protects archived material and safe for hands to come into contact. Washi (otherwise known as Japanese Paper) is often used for conservation purposes, and it is with painstaking effort that archivists at the Centre have been making sure that recent railway related documents are preserved for the years to come.
The Centre has a publicly accessible catalogue online, which comprises of a rich and extensive range of archived material from research guides to oral histories and electoral registers. It is very much worth a look and browsing through the many centuries of history to be found Browse collections – Epexio (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk).
The visit to the History Centre was especially informative in light of the fact the service is distinct from our own here at the library. While we might be providing the latest in articles and reading materials, the past and historic documents are more likely to be of greater interest to visitors over there, where you can find plenty about the history of this hospital.
Morag Evans, Librarian, shares her reflections on organising the first Living Library at Dorset County Hospital.
The concept of a Living Library is not new. The first-ever Living Library (Menneske Biblioteket in Danish) was organized in Denmark in 2000 at the Roskilde Festival. The original idea had been developed by a Danish Youth Non-Government Organisation (NGO) called ‘Stop the Violence’ (Foreningen Stop Volden) as part of the activities they offered to festival goers. The aim of a Living Library is to challenge stereotypes, stigma, prejudice and discrimination. Please read more at https://www.coe.int/en/web/youth/living-library
A living library works just like a normal library: visitors can browse the catalogue for the available titles, choose the Book they want to read and borrow it for a limited period of time. The only difference is that in a Living Library, Books are people and reading consists of a conversation.
Having conducted some research into how other Trusts and organisations had organised their Living Libraries I decided to run one at Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust (DCHFT) where I work as a librarian.
The aim of DCHFT’s Living Library was to create a safe space for constructive personal conversations to take place between people who may not normally have had the opportunity to speak to each other.
It was hoped it would offer an opportunity to learn and understand better the diversity of roles and experiences of Trust staff and students and help to challenge some common stereotypes and prejudices.
The DCHFT Living Library’s objectives were to:
• Promote understanding and clarity around the work that people at DCH do;
• Provide an interactive experience that engages those who work at DCH;
• Promote respect across the Trust;
• Challenge common stereotypes and prejudice about experiences staff face;
Having recently completed a Project Management Lite course run by the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) I attempted to run the Living Library as a ‘project’ and this approach worked well.
As a project the Living Library did have a beginning and end but I had to think carefully about scope. The Project Sponsor was the chair of the hospital’s network for staff with disabilities, now called “The Without Limits” Staff Network. I produced a simple Gantt chart of the various activities, timescales and people involved.
I also had a marketing plan for the Living Library – how I was going to promote it and ‘sell’ the idea. The concept was advertised in the Communications bulletin which goes to all staff and an invitation to volunteer to be a Book was extended to all staff.
Ideally, we wanted about ten Books to start with. This was the easy part – ten enthusiastic “Books” were recruited quite quickly and I met with them to describe how the Living Library was going to work. Initially we planned to hold it in the hospital restaurant like a ‘speed dating’ event in November 2021. I asked the Books to write a short ‘blurb’ about their ‘story’ and to choose a picture or image which could go on the front of their Book. This was then added to the Living Library “catalogue” which I prepared in print and electronically on Padlet. This was then advertised and promoted in the staff bulletin and on posters.
Unfortunately, I contracted Covid two weeks before the event and we had to postpone the Living Library.
Meanwhile, talk about the Living Library had caught the attention of the Inclusion Lead and the Chief People Officer who both expressed an interest in the concept and encouraged me to run the Living Library in April but have it as a week-long event to allow time for people to “take out” their chosen Book. I thought this was a great idea. So we planned to have a week long Living Library during the week of 4th-8th April. Instead of one event we invited people to contact directly the Book they had chosen, to meet at a date and time which suited them both.
To say the Living Library was a “huge success” would be an overstatement. Only a few of our lovely Books were “read” as the week we chose turned out to be one of the busiest of the year. However, the feedback we received about the Living Library was very positive, especially from the people who volunteered to be Books, for example:
“I often tell people parts of my…story and talk a little about my experience as a carer, but it is not often these days that I have an in depth conversation about all that happened. I found it therapeutic…I met the [Chief People Officer] and one of the things that we discussed was the support that is available for carers at DCH – I hope that I can be involved in improving care for carers.”
“A very open and honest discussion with a great person.”
However, less positive feedback was around lack of information and promotion of the living library, for example:
“I am still awaiting to meet with my reader. I think the idea is fabulous; it is disappointing there has been little update on this – may be due to hospital pressures.”
The lessons I have learned from running a Living Library have been numerous. I have learnt how to use Padlet, loved meeting new people and enjoyed running a project from start to finish. The Inclusion Lead has recommended that the Books are available on a “Living Catalogue” and that we run the Living Library maybe two or three times a year to fully embed it within the Trust and with the Books’ permission this is what we are intending to do.
I have found that the best thing about running a Living Library is listening to, learning about and facilitating the sharing of different people’s stories – they are all inspiring and I thank them for their enthusiasm for and dedication to the first Living Library at Dorset County Hospital.
Today marks the start of National Apprenticeship Week and our very own Apprentice Library Assistant, Jack Welch, shares his experiences, learning and views about working at DCH Library. As you will see he is making great strides in the world of library work but the rest of the team at DCH Library are also benefitting from his enthusiasm and experience.
“Starting as the new Apprentice Library Assistant, there was certainly one expectation that was thwarted – our range of general fiction/non-fiction was smaller than expected! You can probably gather my knowledge about public libraries, as opposed to health libraries, was much greater. At the time of writing this, I will have been with DCH Library for four months now, which like most enjoyable pursuits has flown by without too much notice (and is always a positive sign). As part of a wider network of health libraries across the southern region, I have found we play a subtle, yet influencing, role in supporting effective healthcare for patients at the hospital.
Here is Jack at the Enquiry Desk in the Library
Alongside providing a range of textbooks, which has inevitably decreased in the internet age, we ensure members at this hospital and beyond are able to access scholarly articles with ease and swiftly respond to those requests when they come in. What cannot always be seen afterwards is the impact that might have after on our end, but the aim is geared towards the care of patients in practice. Secondly, and while it is not strictly part of the library function, we give extra assistance to staff who are having difficulty in logging onto their staff records and complete that all-important mandatory NHS e-learning!
As an apprentice, 80% of the time I will spend inside the actual hospital and my workplace environment (COVID guidance permitting) and one day a week from home to concentrate on any apprenticeship related tasks. This includes monthly assignments, meetings with my tutor online and completing other learning tasks that form as part of my eventual qualification. The team I work with in the library have been a great source of help in providing the resources and information needed to complete my assignments with all the evidence needed to meet the criteria. Crucially, a big part of that is down to direct work experience and drawing on situations that we might encounter – some more often than others.
Settling into this position has allowed me to look at how we can also improve some of the library’s systems and improving the functionality of user PCs available. Since I joined, they now have the latest version of Microsoft Office and, hopefully soon, will be more secure with automated erasure of any personal files/information that can be accidentally left behind. I am also able to put on my creative hat at times and design new signage to inform our visitors of necessary messages – including leaving the windows open in the winter for ventilation!
Getting to know the wider team across my department, and others in our space, has also been reassuring and I’ve already started doing a bit of extracurricular activity, such as joining the internal ‘Without Limits’ staff network and our forthcoming Living Library week! I’ve even been giving a few website and IT advice to other colleagues in the building, when the need has arisen – I have several ‘hats’ which I can wear besides being a Library Assistant. There is much more I found I could contribute to beyond my immediate job responsibilities, which is always an encouraging sign for building new skills.”
DCH Library recently ran a competition inviting DCHFT staff and students to design the banner for our new-look website. The design by Charlotte Bidwell, Digital Projects Support Assistant, was chosen for its colours, cheerfulness and simplicity. Charlotte, on the right in the photo, received her prize of a £20 book voucher in the library. Well done and thank you, Charlotte! You can see Charlotte’s design on the heading banner above.
While most people immediately recognise that the image is of a row of books, some of us see in the design a row of beach huts – which reflects a wider geographical reach than Dorchester, where the library is actually based. Whatever you see in the design we liked the fact that the colours matched those of the NHS and the Trust and that its cheerfulness and effective simplicity reflect the helpfulness and friendliness of the library team.
Charlotte Bidwell (right) receives her prize from Morag Evans, Librarian
Study Skills Workshops 2021-22 – for students and staff up to Band 5 DCH library is running a series of two hour study skills sessions which consist of:
Preparing yourself for study
Planning your assignments
The basics of evidence searching
Tips on reading and notetaking
Understanding the structure of an assignment
Referencing
Reflective writing
Resources to help you from the library
Certificate of attendance
On the first Tuesday of every month at 10am-12pm starting in October on the following dates and venues in the Education Centre:
BMJ Best Practice is a clinical decision-making resource provided free by Health Education England to all NHS staff in England and particularly useful for medical students and newly qualified and junior doctors.
Rated as one of the best support tools worldwide, BMJ Best Practice includes step by step guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention as well as medical calculators, how-to videos and patient information leaflets. Content includes clinical expertise from over 1,600 international authors and 2,500 peer reviewers which means you have up to date references available at your fingertips, anywhere, any time of day or night.
Maybe you think of shelves of books? Well, although we love books (and by the way we do have shelves of books!) did you know this is a tiny part of what DCH library offers? Did you know there is a wealth of other resources and services available to you?
Here’s what you need to know:
As well as our print resources, clinical and medical staff also have access to clinical decision support tools like UpToDate and BMJ Best Practice (both available from the Trust intranet homepage) as well as a host of e-journals and e-books on ClinicalKey – https://www.clinicalkey.com/ and much more!
To access our e-resources you’ll need an OpenAthens username and password – self-registration is easy and available at https://openathens.nice.org.uk/
We can set up evidence alerts in your specialty/interests – let us know your professional interests and we’ll match these to the evidence base and send you fortnightly alerts with relevant high-level evidence. Sign up here
We also offer workshops on a variety of topics including:
study skills (first Tuesday of every month),
evidence searching,
basics of critical appraisal,
reflective reading and writing,
referencing
and health literacy
We also conduct evidence searches and summaries – just email us at library.office@dchft.nhs.uk with your question!
If we don’t hold a book or article that you are trying to get hold of we probably know a library that does and we are usually able to supply it to you. Our popular inter library lending and document supply service is quick and efficient as we belong to a large network of NHS libraries called SWIMS – you can view the SWIMS catalogue here
We also have a button on the Trust intranet homepage which takes you to our Discovery Service – basically you can search all our resources in one place – available here
There is also a small fiction section and a popular wellbeing corner and resources.
The Library is staffed between Monday and Thursday, 8.30am-5pm and Friday, 8.30am-4.30pm. But with your cotag you can access the library 24/7!