Having graduated with a History degree, I decided very quickly that I wanted to work in a library or archive setting. I’ve previously worked mostly in archives, first helping to organise the newly formed collection at Greene King (the brewing company) before moving on to a graduate traineeship at the Oxford University Archives. I moved up to the north west recently to start studying a part time MA in Archives and Records Management at the University of Liverpool.…

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We have had jigsaws and mindfulness colouring, in the Library for a while now. They have encouraged people from different staff groups, like nurses, consultants and porters, to visit the Library and get involved.…

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This is a bit of a late ‘new starter’ post, as I actually started all the way back at the beginning of February! In my defence, it has been a very strange year…My name is Kathryn Aylward and I’m the new Assistant Librarian at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.…

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In October 2019, Andy Moore joined the team from Leeds Public Libraries. His new role is a two year post as Digital Projects Officer and he will be working on three projects: to create digital content that share key public health messages with workforce; to update the PHRC website; and to make improvements to the PHRC’s library management system. In December, Sally Hughes started as our Health Improvement Resource Assistant. Sally arrives from Leeds Public Libraries and her roles in the PHRC are dealing with customer enquiries, issuing stock, compiling leaflet & poster orders, promoting campaigns and running our Instagram account and then of course there will be lots of project work that will come up to get stuck into.…

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Back in November 2019, and following the example from Manchester, we had an Away Day under the rather grand heading of “Improving the health and wellbeing of citizens of Leeds: strengthening links between libraries in Leeds”…

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We are now a team of 4 people. Administrator (Matt Johnson), Knowledge Specialist:Liaison Lead (Rosalind McNally), Knowledge Specialist:Quality (Laura Jeffreys), Knowledge Specialist:Outreach (Stephen Edwards). Stephen started working with the team in December, 2019. Laura Jeffreys went on maternity leave in May this year. So our staffing is currently reduced. When the pandemic started a number of us also volunteered for the essential work created. At the time of writing we are now all back in our usual roles. In the last 12 months we have also had to respond to the changes at PCFT. The Trust no longer includes community services, and took the decision to become a Mental Health & Learning Disability Trust.…

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Given the significant developments of 2020 it is possible that the NHS Library and Knowledge Services Quality and Improvement Outcomes Framework, the new self-assessment process for how organisations make use of the skills and services of the library and knowledge specialist workforce may well have been moved down the list of priorities for Library and Knowledge staff.…

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The time has come to say my farewell, as I have finally taken the plunge and I am retiring from the NHS on 2nd September!…

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Like other services, we were running at full tilt, and then lockdown happened! However, we have not let this deter us. Here are some details of our activities over the last year:…

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It is challenging thinking back and to be honest it feels a little bit like a luxury. We talk about a ‘new normal’ but in reality, the library has always stumbled from one crisis to another. We have always adapted to the needs of the organisation. It will also continue to do so and what that looks like yet is still an unknown. What has been different for Covid, was despite being well placed; it still blew in and left us topsy turvy.…

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