LKS Library and Knowledge Services · The Library and Knowledge Services (LKS) ... 4 3.1. Usage of library ... These figures cover all library usage

LKS Library and Knowledge Services

annual review 201314 Last updated: 01/07/2013

Library Services Annual Review 2013/14

Summary The Library and Knowledge Services (LKS) aim to improve patient care and promote evidence based practice, decision making, research and lifelong learning by providing all staff and teams with access to the information and knowledge they need to carry out their work and the skills to make best use of it. During 2013/14 the LKS continued to deliver high quality services, meeting all performance targets and maintaining 98% compliance against the Library Quality Assurance Framework. Annual surveys showed that most searches and training carried out by library staff had an impact on patient care and/or CPD. Case studies showed that the library staff made a unique contribution by improving the range of evidence identified and retrieved to aid decision-making. The LKS continued to support staff and teams in their workbases. This included outreach visits, particularly to mental health teams in Shropshire; and further ‘clinical librarian’ work, including visits to Brocton Ward in Stafford, regular support for selected meetings and working with project groups including those on psychological interventions on inpatient wards and the observation policy. The library encouraged staff to use evidence-based information sources through an App of the Month feature in the Trust newsletter and on the corporate screensaver; and by developing an individual critical appraisal training course. Demand for searches increased, both in terms of volume and average length (largely due to the team carrying out a number of lengthier searches to support Trust projects). More staff also signed up for the weekly Be Aware e-mails on topics of interest. However demand for some services, including book loans, article requests and training, fell. Overall, the greatest usage of the services was by psychologists, mental health nurses, community nurses and occupational therapists. The main library area in Stafford was refurbished and computing facilities for service users, carers and SSOTP staff improved. Two vacancies amongst the librarians towards the end of the year gave the opportunity to restructure the service, leading to a formal Management of Change process that will result in a reduction to two libraries (with Lichfield library likely to close in September 2014), but enabling improved opening hours at Redwoods and more reliable staffing levels on both sites. The current vacancies have inevitably meant the progress against the Library Strategy is now behind schedule. The main challenges for the forthcoming year include keeping the service operating effectively, despite reduced staffing levels for the first few months, then implementing the Management of Change proposals at the same time as continuing to develop the service to make it more responsive to remote users; and taking advantage of technical developments that can make it easier to access the evidence base.

LKS Library Services Annual Review 2013/14

2 Annual Review 201314

Table of Contents Library Services Annual Review 2013/14 ........................................................................................ 1 Summary.......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Aim of this review ................................................................................................................... 3

2. Key achievements, developments and challenges ................................................................. 3 3. Review of library activity and its contribution to Trust activities .............................................. 4 3.1. Usage of library services ........................................................................................................ 4 3.1.1. The figures .......................................................................................................................... 4 3.1.2. Key points ........................................................................................................................... 5

3.2. Impact of library services ....................................................................................................... 6 3.3. Review of library performance standards ............................................................................... 6 4. Action points and priorities for forthcoming year .................................................................... 7 5. Conclusions............................................................................................................................ 8

Appendix 1 – Statistical review of 2013/14....................................................................................... 9 1. Literature searches ................................................................................................................ 9 2. Search Skills Training .......................................................................................................... 10

3. Library membership ............................................................................................................. 12 4. Book loans ........................................................................................................................... 13

5. Document supply including article requests ......................................................................... 14 6. Library induction ................................................................................................................... 15

7. E-mail updating services ...................................................................................................... 15 8. Electronic resources usage .................................................................................................. 16 8.1 ATHENS membership .......................................................................................................... 16

8.2. ATHENS usage .................................................................................................................... 17 9. Outreach and clinical librarian work ..................................................................................... 17

a. Outreach .............................................................................................................................. 18 b. Clinical librarian .................................................................................................................... 19

Appendix 2: Impact of Library Services on Patient Care and other Trust Activities in SSSFT and SSOTP South Division 2013/2014 ................................................................................................. 20

Appendix 3 - Library Evaluations and Consultations ...................................................................... 24 Appendix 4 - Progress against annual delivery plan and library strategy ....................................... 25 a. Annual Delivery Plan 2013/14 .............................................................................................. 25

b. Library Strategy 2013 – 2016 ............................................................................................... 27 Appendix 5 – Partnership Working ................................................................................................. 29



1. Aim of this review

This report aims to review library service developments and achievements over 2013/14, as well as providing a picture of who is using what aspects of library services and how that usage is supporting Trust activities. This overview also provides analysis to identify areas for future development and issues to be addressed in future library strategies and delivery plans. For more detailed statistics and analysis, please see the appendices and additional documents.

2. Key achievements, developments and challenges

Main library achievements and developments 2013/14:

Improved the physical environment in the library at Stafford, replacing the mobile shelving with lower fixed shelves and improved lighting

Improved access to the evidence base by developing a mini e-learning module to show how to find journals online

Continued to supply material rapidly by meeting whole-year performance targets for article request, literature searching and enquiry services

Raised awareness of quality health information apps by a monthly ‘app of the month’ feature in ePod and on the screensaver on Trust computers

Bought a range of e-books to improve remote access to resources, particularly for those outside South Staffordshire and Shropshire

Improved library services to Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership NHS Trust by working with North Staffordshire Health Library to provide a more unified approach to library services

Carried out outreach visits to teams in their workbases, with a particular emphasis on mental health teams. These led to the library carrying out evidence searches to inform individual service user care plans, ad hoc training on finding the evidence and regular tailored updates on a topic of interest to the team

Improved Trust staff’s ability to critically appraise research articles by developing individual critical appraisal training sessions

Continued to provide weekly e-mail alerts on a range of topics by migrating the service to a new combination of software tools (following the withdrawal of the existing platform). Uptake of these services increased during the year.

Continued to work in partnership with other health libraries, with benefits including collaborative purchasing and document supply, to maximise resources available to library service users within budgetary constraints (see Appendix 5)

Maintained a 98% rate of compliance against the Library Quality Assurance Framework (national standards for NHS library services)

Contributed to working groups examining Trust policies and clinical activities, including a group looking at psychological interventions in inpatient wards and another reviewing the observation policy



Developed a new policy about Library Services for Service Users and Carers that clarified the library’s role in providing information to these groups

Library staff continued to develop their skills to allow the modernisation of library services, with particular emphasis during 2013/14 on increasing the range of information sources used for literature searches and on improving critical appraisal skills

Main challenges:

Reconfiguration of the shelving on the Stafford site involved reducing old journal holdings and moving some from Stafford to Redwoods

Departure of the Redwoods Site Librarian in January 2014 (followed by the Lichfield Site Librarian in April) led to a period of staffing shortages (making it hard to provide a reliable service across three sites) and a need to go through a Management of Change restructuring process

Encouraging staff to make the effort to use library services and evidence based online resources as opposed to going to Google and rarely looking beyond what is immediately available – this has been reflected by a drop in usage of the article request service

Developing library services and staff knowledge to encompass new forms of information and technology, whilst maintaining the ‘traditional’ book collections and facilities that are still in demand

Getting social care journals set up online for SSOTP library users

For a full review of progress against the library strategy and annual delivery plan, see Appendix 4.

3. Review of library activity and its contribution to Trust activities

This section provides some ‘headlines’ of trends in library usage during 2013/14. For a more detailed analysis, see Appendix 1.

3.1. Usage of library services

3.1.1. The figures

These figures cover all library usage (i.e. by both Trusts served).

Service area Usage Trend Notes

Library membership 1321 4% drop Probably due to clearing backlog of expired membership records

Book loans 6789 13% drop Continues ongoing trend; probably exacerbated by conversion of

Case Study

Scenario: Community Alcohol nurse with client with dual diagnosis requested literature search What the library did: Provided information on treatment of schizophrenia Outcome: Clinician’s improved understanding of interaction between alcohol abuse and schizophrenia symptoms led to better treatment of alcohol abuse and a more confident approach to negotiating improved multidisciplinary support for client’s longer term mental health issues.



Service area Usage Trend Notes

Lichfield to an e-library and reduced availability of book stock during Stafford refurbishment

Document supply 1550

25% drop Probably linked to growing trend for staff to use instantly available information rather than waiting for more relevant/higher quality information not immediately available (see Library Survey results 2013)

Literature searches 235 2% rise

Search skills training (staff no.s)

65 35% drop Figure includes formal training only – 32 library users also provided with ad hoc training (CF 82 during 2012/13) Greater emphasis will need to be placed on increasing take-up of library training during 2014/15

Be Aware weekly e-mail update subscriptions

2352 23% rise

ATHENS (e-resource) current accounts

1038 3% rise

E-resource (via ATHENS) usage

7590 7% drop CF 2% increase overall across Staffordshire

3.1.2. Key points

Demand for literature searches remained stable: during 2013/14 a higher proportion were requested for study/course work and research, but just under 50% still had patient care, guideline development or service design as their main purpose. On average, literature searches took longer to carry out, due primarily to a small number of particularly comprehensive ‘management’ searches, typically supporting working groups or policy or practice reviews.

New ways of working, including outreach visits and clinical librarian work with teams, led to 29 requests for literature searches and 11 extended enquiries. Outreach visits generated less library use than in previous years

913 members of staff received library inductions, via 107 individual sessions and 38 group sessions (including library attendance at corporate inductions)

Usage of ATHENS authenticated electronic resources dropped amongst SSSFT and SSOTP staff despite rising slightly across Staffordshire as a whole, with a particularly significant fall in usage within SSOTP. Delays in the availability of new social care journal subscriptions meant that planned promotional activity within SSOTP did not happen within the 2013/14 financial year. However, further work needs to be carried out during 2014/15 to increase usage of online journal subscriptions, possibly by improving the integration of their content into the Be Aware service which continues to be well-used.

Overall the heaviest users of library services are psychological therapies staff



3.2. Impact of library services

The impact of library services on day to day Trust activities during 2013/14 was demonstrated by surveys investigating how staff used information gained from literature searches and from library search skills training. The chart below illustrates the impact on patient care and a wide range of Trust activities, as well as formal and informal learning.

Aspects of patient care influenced ranged from care of an individual (e.g. choice of treatment, diagnosis) to service wide impact (e.g. development of guidelines and pathways and service redesign). The most common use was advice to service users and carers followed by guideline and pathway development. Other Trust activities influenced by search results included research, service development, cost effectiveness initiatives and audit. In addition, more detailed case studies were developed illustrating how library supplied information had informed specific instances of patient care or other Trust activities. Interviewees felt that using the library had saved them valuable time (that they could spend on further clinical activities) and that the library retrieved a wider range of information and could source material not immediately available online, thus improving the evidence base on which decisions were made. A full report on the impact of library services during 2013/14 is in Appendix 2.

3.3. Review of library performance standards

The library service works to a range of performance standards covering article requests, literature searches and enquiries. Performance against these is reviewed on a quarterly basis. The full year’s performance is detailed in the table below:

Case Study Scenario: Student health visitor requires background information to prepare for Premature Babies group What the library did: Provided research articles on premature and difficult births Impact: Student Health Visitor has better understanding of experience and needs of mothers of premature babies, increasing her confidence and enabling her to be more sensitive in her approach. Long term effect of improving mothers’ confidence in health visitors and willingness to engage.



Target Target

Year Performance

Year %

Travel (since last

report)

Previous year

Notes

% Article requests processed within 2 working days

>= 95%

100%

98%

% of requested articles supplied

>= 95%

95%

95%

% article requests from stock supplied within 2 working days

>= 95%

99%

99%

% external article requests supplied within 5 working days

>= 50%

96%

96%

% external article requests supplied within 10 working days

>= 95%

99%

98%

% of searches supplied within 5 days or timescale agreed with user

>= 95%

97%

96%

% of enquiries answered within 5 days or timescale agreed with user

>= 95%

100

%

92% All brief enquiries answered within target during sample week

Over the full year the library service met its performance standards in document supply and literature searches. Responses from the impact survey on literature searches showed that the results always arrived in time to be of use to the respondent. Consultation with library users via service improvement interviews showed high levels of satisfaction with the current performance standards: as a result, these will remain unchanged for 2014/15.

4. Action points and priorities for forthcoming year Action points arising from this review:

Publicise new social care journal titles to staff in both SSOTP and SSSFT, to improve awareness of resources available to social workers and social care staff in both Trusts served

Implement restructuring of library services including recruitment to two vacant posts. This will allow the library services to continue to implement the 2013-2016 Library Strategy and provide more reliable staffing levels on two library sites.

Place emphasis on clinical librarian approach during 2014/15, with outreach visits provided on demand (due to lower take-up of outreach visits during 2013/14).

Publicise newly developed 1-to-1 critical appraisal training, as part of drive to increase take-up of library search skills training.

Further integrate the content of local and national online journal subscriptions into the Be Aware updating service.

Broaden the library’s approach to the range of information sources available, both in terms of inclusion in searching and search skills training and in terms of resources catalogued and signposted

Further develop library staff awareness and knowledge of mobile technology and ‘mobile-friendly’ information sources

These actions and priorities have been incorporated into the 2014/15 Delivery Plan.



5. Conclusions 2013/14 has proved a challenging year for Library Services, with the need to continue to provide high quality physical library services in parallel with developing services delivered outside the library, both online and outreach. However feedback from library users, performance measures, impact surveys and an external Library Quality Assurance Framework all showed that the library was providing high quality services that met user needs and supported the clinical, management, educational and research activities of the Trusts served.



Appendix 1 – Statistical review of 2013/14

1. Literature searches

The number of literature searches carried out during 2013/14 was virtually identical to those carried out during the previous two years.

Although the number of searches remained very similar in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13, there was an increase in time taken, largely due to an increase in the number of ‘management’ type searches (typically carried out to inform a working group, procedure review or development of a paper on Trust policy or practice, and so requiring a particularly thorough search). The majority of both literature searches and extended enquiries (longer enquiries or searches not involving a traditional literature search) were requested by SSSFT staff.



The main occupations requesting literature searches were mental health nurses, psychological therapies staff and OTs. The chart below shows the principal purpose for requesting literature searches and extended enquiries: compared to 2012/13, more searches are primarily to inform formal and informal CPD and research.

2. Search Skills Training

Search skills training develops the ability to identify and appraise quality health information and so is an important skill to support evidence based practice.



The total number of staff trained by the Trust library service fell substantially during 2013/14, reversing the upward trend of the previous three years. There was a drop in the number of staff receiving both formal and informal training.

The total number of courses provided also fell. Formal training sessions decreased from 83 in 2012/13 to 52 in 2013/14, while only 32 ad hoc training sessions were provided, compared to 82 in 2012/13. Each training session took an average of 1.66 hours of library staff time, including preparation and travel. The way in which library staff record the content of training sessions changed during 2013/14. This has led to better data about the most popular topics for training. The chart below shows that most training continues to cover conventional literature searching, but some sessions also incorporate an overview of other electronic resources. There was also limited demand for critical appraisal training.

Because of the low numbers of staff receiving training on an annual basis, the number from each occupation tends to vary substantially with few clear patterns emerging. The main recipients of training continue to be psychologists and psychiatric nurses, with a big fall in the number of OTs. There was an increase in the number of community nurses receiving training, linking into greater librarian involvement in SSOTP specialist practice student inductions.



3. Library membership

This refers only to members of staff who have registered to join the library and borrow books – members of staff do not need formally to join the library to use services such as the e-mail update services or electronic resources. Library membership dropped by 8% during 2013/14 (from 1383 to 1321 registered members). However much of this fall is likely to be linked to an improvement in administrative procedures, meaning expired memberships are followed up and removed from the membership database more promptly. 62% of members are SSSFT staff, and 28% SSOTP. The chart below shows library membership broken down by occupation. This shows a drop in membership in most categories, including mental health nurses, admin staff, OTs and doctors. However, there was an increase in the number of community nurses, students and physiotherapists registered. There has been a small increase in the number of social workers belonging to the library, but this should increase further once access to the new social work journal titles has been set up and the new resources publicised. Carrying out promotion of the new resources, as well as the library service, to social care staff will be an action for the library during 2014/15.



There were 354 new registrations during the year: 205 from SSSFT, 98 from SSOTP and 16 from Keele University. This represented a 12% rise in new members compared to 2012/13, suggesting that the drop on members could be due to improved efficiency in removing users who do not renew their membership from the database.

4. Book loans

Loans from Lichfield, Shelton and Stafford libraries decreased during 2013/14 to 6789 (including renewals). This included a large number of ‘in transit’ transactions as stock was moved between sites. 70% of loans were to SSSFT staff, with 12% being borrowed by SSOTP staff. The decrease in usage was predominantly in South Staffordshire (with a similar fall in usage by staff registered at Lichfield and Stafford libraries), whilst usage by staff registered at the Redwoods library increased by 16%. Part (but almost certainly not all) of the decrease in South Staffordshire could be attributed to the Stafford books being on remote access for three weeks during the library refurbishment.



The chart above shows book loans by occupation over the past three years. There was a growth in usage by mental health nurses, admin staff and students. There were drops in usage by most groups including doctors, psychologists and community nurses. The increase in usage by mental health nurses could be linked to the outreach visits to mental health teams during 2013/14 that were intended to increase service usage by nurses in particular.

5. Document supply including article requests

The library uses a range of networks to obtain articles and books required by library users that are not immediately available within the library. The article request service also supplies scans or photocopies of articles from library stock. The chart above shows that demand for this service has dropped during 2013/14 compared to previous years. In addition to the 1550 items included in the chart above, 314 books were borrowed from other local libraries. This has reduced the number of books borrowed from the British Library, a more expensive option. 50% of article requests were supplied from the library’s own stock or online resources, compared to 55% in 2012/13. Many articles supplied could have been sourced directly by library users online. During 2013/14 a new ‘bite sized’ e-learning module has been developed to encourage users to access some of these articles for themselves – this will be publicised in the e-mails sent out to users requesting items available online. The chart below shows usage of the document supply service (including book loans from other libraries) by occupation. As in previous years, by far the highest level of usage of this service came from psychological therapies staff followed by OTs. There was a large increase in usage by admin staff and a big drop in usage by mental health nurses. 86% of document supply requests came from SSSFT staff, and 13% from SSOTP staff. The figures above include only requests the library was able to satisfy. The library was unable to source 80 requests for articles and 41 requests for books. This represents an decrease in unsupplied articles but an increase in unsupplied books.



6. Library induction

All new members of staff of both Trusts receive information about library services via the main Trust inductions, with a librarian attending sessions. In addition, library staff deliver induction sessions for groups of new students and junior doctors. Overall 913 members of staff received library inductions in 2013/14, via 107 1 to 1 sessions and 38 group sessions. This represented a 40% increase in number of staff receiving a library induction from 2012/13.

7. E-mail updating services

The library offers a range of regular updating services, including external e-mail bulletins circulated to Trust staff, and an internally compiled series of about 60 weekly e-mail updates called ‘Be Aware’.



There was a growth in sign-ups for both the external e-mail bulletins and the Be Aware e-mail updates during 2013/14. The most popular ‘Be Aware’ bulletins in terms of number of subscriptions were depression, anxiety and stress, leadership, vulnerable adults, dementia and self-harm, all with over 70 subscribers.

8. Electronic resources usage

8.1 ATHENS membership

The number of staff with current ATHENS accounts (enabling access to locally and nationally procured electronic resources) increased during 2013/14 in SSSFT but dropped slightly in SSOTP South. The charts below show that both the increase in SSSFT and the decrease in SSOTP are spread fairly evenly across the professional groups.



8.2. ATHENS usage

As the chart shows, usage of electronic resources authenticated by ATHENS dropped in both Trusts in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13. There was a drop of 17% within SSOTP and 5% within SSSFT. In comparison, overall usage across Staffordshire rose by 2% during 2013/14. The chart below shows that within SSSFT usage by all the main groups of staff fell. There was an increase in use by

‘Other’ (as well as an increase in registrations under this heading), suggesting that the occupational groupings are not clear to all staff. There was also an increase in use by social workers. In SSOTP there was a decrease in usage by nursing and AHP staff in particular, and only a small increase in usage by social care staff. It is hoped that there will be greater usage by social care staff in 2014/15 once access difficulties to the new social care journal titles are resolved.

9. Outreach and clinical librarian work



To respond to changing user needs, the library staff have been carrying out more work with teams and staff in their workbases, in order to increase awareness and use of the evidence base and library services by staff in their day to day practice. During 2013/14 the library staff continued with the outreach and clinical librarian work (including the ‘Evidence into Action’ project with Brocton Ward) and also became involved in project groups, including groups reviewing psychological interventions for inpatients, the inpatient observation policy and ‘Learning the Lessons’. The chart to the left shows that the amount of work generated through these new ways of working dropped

during 2013/14, mostly through a decrease in demand generated through outreach visits. The chart below breaks down the activity by strand of work: the ‘clinical librarian’ work covers work generated by librarian attendance at meetings such as the Physical Healthcare Group, Core Nurses Group and project work, whereas ‘Evidence into Action’ refers to work carried out as part of that specific project with Brocton Ward. More detail

about the different strands of work is given in the chart below.

a. Outreach

Outreach work during 2013/14 was focused on mental health teams in SSSFT, as well as completing the visits to health visitor teams in SSOTP. In addition the librarians visited other groups on request or as opportunities arose. Visits to the mental health teams had a better take up



in Shropshire because it was possible to get a list of the most appropriate contacts in different teams. Once again, the outreach visits took an interactive approach – seeking to find out about a team’s information needs and providing tailored follow-up support to meet them, rather than simply talking about what the library has to offer. Follow-up work with teams included:

Training to improve staff search skills

Literature searches on particular topics, to inform the development of evidence-based care plans

Development of a regular tailored update to meet a team’s specific needs Less priority will be placed on outreach work during 2014/15 due to low staffing levels during the first part of the year.

b. Clinical librarian

This approach involves a librarian working more intensively with a small number of teams, attending meetings on a regular basis. The short term aim is for the librarian to take away questions arising from discussions on individual service users or general issues around care delivery, carry out a search and provide evidence based responses within a short enough timescale for that evidence to be fed back into clinical practice. The long term aim is to promote a culture of questioning and evidence seeking within the team that will hopefully continue beyond the period of the librarian’s intensive involvement with the team. During 2013/14 work continued on the ‘Evidence into Action’ project on Brocton Ward in Stafford. The project continued to lead to literature searches and enquiries to support patient care and/or provide information for service users. A report is being written on the project. Apart from the ‘Evidence into Action’ project, the same librarian has also continued to attend the Core Nurses Group and Physical Healthcare group on a regular basis. During the year librarians have also supported groups reviewing specific Trust policies or areas of practice, including psychological interventions on inpatient wards, the Trust observation policy and ‘Learning the Lessons’ from serious incidents and investigations.



Appendix 2: Impact of Library Services on Patient Care and other Trust Activities in SSSFT and SSOTP South Division 2013/2014 Background During 2013/14, Library and Knowledge Services carried out surveys to find out how their work contributed to patient care, continuing professional development and other Trust activities:

Recipients of literature searches were sent questionnaires between two and four weeks later asking them how they had used the results of the search (run over a six month period: October 2013 – March 2014)

People who had received search skills training from the library were sent a questionnaire two to four weeks later to find out how they had used the information they had retrieved using their new/improved search skills (run over whole year)

Breakdown of responses

Organisation Lit Search Responses Training Responses

SSSFT 27 10

SSOTP 15 7

Other 0 0

All the main clinical groups were represented amongst the respondents (AHPs, medical and dental, nursing and psychologists). Quality of library services 98% of respondents to the literature search questionnaire stated that the results were what they asked for, and 90% were able to make effective use of them (i.e. received in time, manageable number of results). The most common reason why recipients could not make effective use of search results was that there were not enough relevant results. No-one commented that the results had arrived too late to be of use. Impact of services Respondents reported that almost all literature searches and training sessions provided by the library services had an impact on some aspect of patient care, learning and teaching or other areas of Trust activities. This is demonstrated by the charts below:



Impact on patient care The chart below shows how literature search results informed many aspects of patient care, from overall issues such as guideline development and service redesign, to aspects of an individual patient’s treatment, such as diagnosis, length of treatment and choice of tests or treatment. The results from the training impact questionnaire showed that the search skills training had both immediate impact in terms of aspects of patient care already influenced within a month of the session, and longer term impact in that it would contribute to further changes in the future.



The strong contribution of evidence from literature searches to the development of guidelines and advice to patients and carers shows that the library’s impact extends far beyond those who use it directly. The chart below shows a similar pattern: information gained through library search skills training has an impact on many aspects of patient care:

Impact on CPD, research and other Trust activities In many cases literature search results were also used to inform teaching and supervision, and information gained from them was frequently shared with colleagues, again showing that many more staff benefit from library services than use them directly. Results also showed that library services had an impact on other areas of Trust activities including research (17 cases), audit (4 cases), and cost effectiveness projects (2 instances) (results taken from combined literature search and training questionnaire).



Examples of changes to practice Many respondents provided comments or examples to illustrate how they were using the information and/or search skills gained from the library. A selection is listed below:

Trust Example

SSSFT … results will feed into a training day for ward staff to increase their understanding of self harm/suicide and how to deal with this and refer appropriately on to other services

SSOTP Supported a potential service change to improve safety when patients or carers change their own wound dressings

SSSFT Understanding patient diagnosis and assisting in appropriate plan of care

SSOTP Backed up knowledge and increased my confidence to use the milk plan with patients. I have also shared this with colleagues

Conclusions The impact of library services on the most important NHS activities, from individual patient care through to overall service management, as well as their contribution to research and staff professional development is clearly shown by these results.



Appendix 3 - Library Evaluations and Consultations

Library evaluations and consultations carried out during the year included:

Impact survey to assess effectiveness and usefulness of literature search results (including separate identification of those arising from outreach and clinical librarian activity)

Impact survey to assess the effectiveness and usefulness of search skills training

Impact/service improvement interviews including adequacy of library standards for article requests, enquiries and literature searching

Impact of outreach and clinical librarian projects tracked by flagging up of additional activity (e.g. training, literature searches or extended enquiries) known to have been triggered by an outreach visit or clinical librarian work

Book stock reviews linked to four areas of NICE guidance, with consultation via an online survey form

The results of these were fed into the relevant service reviews and planning processes, including:

Development of the library Delivery Plan for 2014/15

Review of the library performance standards

Development of book stock in selected areas



Appendix 4 - Progress against annual delivery plan and library strategy

a. Annual Delivery Plan 2013/14

The table below shows that some progress was made against all actions from the 2013/14 Delivery Plan, that implements the library strategy. However, reduced levels of staffing and the need to take opportunities such as the refurbishment of the library at Stafford meant that not all scheduled projects could be achieved. Action no.

Library Strategy Objective

Deliverables Progress Status

13.01

Improve library support for the clinical workflow

Continued clinical librarian and outreach visits outside the library; improved librarian search skills

Improved librarian knowledge of range of evidence-based resources; carried out outreach visits, particularly to mental health teams; extended clinical librarian work to further project groups

DONE

13.02

Improve library support for lifelong learning and research

Search skills training provision updated to meet changing user needs; improved links between library and training teams

E-learning module developed covering e-journal access; individual critical appraisal training developed

Partially complete

13.03

Work with other Trust functions to improve the use of knowledge within the Trust

Improved access to internal and external information sources

Migrated Be Aware updates to new technological solution; work just beginning on integrating evidence base into clinical system

Partially complete

13.04

Work with other partners to improve the provision of information for service users and carers

Clear policy on library services for service users and carers; completion of patient information project on Brocton and updated interface for patient information leaflet database on Trust website

Policy for library services for service users and carers developed and approved; updated interface to patient information leaflets on Trust website completed; patient information project on Brocton - report still not complete

DONE



13.05

Redesign the provision of physical library services to balance the changing needs of library users and conflicting demands on the service

Updated IT, printing and photocopying facilities across libraries;

IT facilities updated in all libraries; Lichfield library converted to e-library; printing and photocopying facilities in process of being updated at Stafford; Stafford library also refurbished and physical appearance much improved

Partially complete

13.06

Reconfigure resource provision to respond to changing user needs, physical library provision, cost pressures and technological developments

Investigation of options for e-book provision; broader range of information sources signposted through library

E-book options investigated and procured; areas of library stock reviewed and improved; integration of wider range of information sources into library catalogue not completed

Partially complete

13.07

Improve remote access to library services and resources

Investigation of options for e-book provision;

E-book options investigated and procured

DONE

13.08

Keep up to date with developments in new technology

Updated library management and journal access software

Library management system not yet updated (work ongoing to identify best long term options for system hosting); work completed included six Apps of the Month, new national journals management software implemented, QR codes developed for easier access to journals

Partially complete

13.09

Adapt ways of working within the library team to meet changing service demands and resources

Team vision developed; policy on literature searching reviewed; further centralisation of back-office procedures implemented

Library team vision developed; centralisation of back-office procedures implemented; policy on literature searching reviewed but not yet rewritten

Partially complete

13.10.

Seek to continually improve the quality of library services

High level of performance against Library Quality Assurance Framework maintained; charging arrangements for services to external users reviewed

98% compliance against LQAF maintained; charging arrangements for services to external users reviewed but changing configuration of local health libraries means further discussions required externally

Partially complete

13.11

Continue to work in partnership with other local libraries and organisations

Renegotiated SLA with SSOTP; more co-ordinated service provision to SSOTP

SLA for library services to SSOTP South Division renegotiated; more co-ordinated provision of services to SSOTP achieved (with North Staffs Health Library)

DONE



b. Library Strategy 2013 – 2016

The chart below summarises progress against the main activities in the library strategy. For further details, please see the library delivery plan. Key:

Work planned in library strategy No work scheduled in library strategy

Work scheduled in Delivery Plan 2014/15 Work deferred/in progress

Work completed

Activity 2012/ 2013

2013/

2014

2014/

2015

2015/201

6

1. Supporting the clinical workflow

i. Outreach work

ii. Clinical librarian – more intensive working with a limited number of teams/ groups

iii. Increased support for management work within Trust

iv. Formatting of literature search results

2. Support for lifelong learning and research

i. Re-examine provision and promotion of training

ii. Review library support for researchers

iii. More systematic links between training and library

iv. E-learning

3. Improve the use of knowledge within the Trusts

i. Input into new clinical system, linking in evidence base

ii. NICE guidance

iii. Maximise use of internally generated knowledge sources within SSSFT

4. Provision of information for service users and carers

i. Wi-Fi internet access for service users in libraries inc via Trust-owned devices

ii. Policy re library role in provision of library services to service users and carers

iii. Other actions to be determined as opportunities for partnership working arise

5. Redesign provision of physical library services

i. Change Lichfield library to e-only provision

ii. Re-examine provision of IT facilities in all three libraries

iii. Re-examine arrangements for provision of photocopying and printing facilities for library users

6. Resource provision

i. Development of an e-book collection

ii. Signposting of users towards wider range of quality resources

7. Improve remote access to library services

i. Investigate development of an online ‘Ask a Librarian’ service

ii. Development of an e-book collection See 6.i above

iii. Investigate making more library services available electronically



Activity 2012/ 2013

2013/

2014

2014/

2015

2015/201

6

8. Keep up to date with developments in new technology

i. Evaluate aspects of new technology and implement where useful

ii. Keep abreast of best information sources regardless of format

iii. Library online presence up to date with way users want to access services

iv. Promote need for evaluation of information sources before use

9. New ways of working within library team

i. Continue the centralisation of library processes where possible

ii. Team building to develop single library team

iii. Development of library assistant skills to meet new ways of working

iv. Development of librarian skills to meet new ways of working

v. Encourage library users to access journal articles for themselves where these are directly available online

10. Provision of a quality library service

i. Improve performance against LQAF

ii. Develop framework and timetable for seeking user input/views on library

11. Working in partnership

i. Formalise arrangements with SSOTP for the delivery of library services

ii. Work with North Staffs library service to provide co-ordinated library service to SSOTP



Appendix 5 – Partnership Working The library continued to work collaboratively with partners locally, regionally and nationally to enhance access to resources and services for its users.

Activity Partners Outputs

Document Supply networks for journal articles

West Midlands; NULJ; PLCS

Improved access to evidence base within budgetary constraints for users of our library and those of other libraries in the networks

Shropshire and Staffordshire health libraries book lending

Shrops and Staffs Health Libraries

Improved access to book stock and so evidence base within budgetary constraints for users of our library and those of other libraries in the networks

Shropshire and Staffordshire Journal Clubs and shared learning events (e.g. Shropshire and Staffordshire Awayday on working collaboratively)

Other NHS libraries in Shropshire and Staffordshire

Improved use of the library evidence base within local service development; Shropshire and Staffordshire Awayday led to understanding of how to work more collaboratively together

Sharing of best practice through regular meetings

Shrops and Staffs Health Libraries

Improved performance against the Library Quality Assurance Framework

Collaborative working to provide library services to SSOTP

North Staffordshire Health Library

Less confusing and easier access to library services for SSOTP staff across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent

Regional projects (local administrators for ATHENS passwords and West Midlands document supply network; representatives for Shropshire and Staffordshire on regional groups)

Other West Midlands health and HE libraries

SSSFT library service contribution to regional initiatives to improve access to the evidence base through shared resources; and projects to share expertise and use a DOAS approach in areas such as development of search skills training and library staff training

Documents

LKS Library and Knowledge Services · The Library and Knowledge Services (LKS) ... 4 3.1. Usage of library ... These figures cover all library usage