Some time during 2016, shortly after joining Health Care Libraries Unit North (HCLU), Linda Ferguson casually dropped into conversation the expectation that members of the team obtain Fellowship with CILIP. “Yes of course, maybe next year” I replied in a confident fashion. In truth my thoughts were quite different. Had I done anything that had made significant contribution to the profession? Probably not. Chartership is one thing but surely only people like David Stewart or Andrew Booth are worthy of Fellowship?…

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If you have worked in information for any length of time you are likely to have encountered Ranganthan’s Laws. They have been described as, “for librarians… timeless objectives that put our profession’s goals in perspective” There has been an array of alternatives presented since their first appearance such as Gorman’s ‘Five New Laws of Librarianship’. However Ranganthan’s laws - although almost 90 years old - still resonate today. But how relevant are they to modern libraries – in particular to health libraries?…

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This Hop Tu Naa (the Manx version of Halloween), there’s been a few spooky changes in Keyll Darree Library. There’s an old adage that Manx people aren’t fond of newness, but our library team always feel better for a refresh, so we’re bucking the perceived trend!…

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I was invited onto this course at Keele University by a physiotherapist whose CAT (Critically Appraised Topic) group I’d joined earlier this year to help them find the evidence they need for their CATs. For those of you who haven’t heard of CATs, they are basically clinical questions arising from daily practice. My group meets roughly once a quarter to discuss their chosen specialist areas, progress being made and any possible gaps in the evidence.…

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Recently Health Education England funded me for a two-day course at Henley Business School on Advancing your Change & OD Practice. Their purpose was to support the Knowledge for Healthcare agenda on knowledge mobilisation. My purpose was to understand where we fit in the Trust’s OD agenda. Over the last couple of years we’ve given increasing amounts of support to our OD department and chatting to our head of OD has revealed that we’re both interested in the same kinds of subjects.…

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Being a musician by training, one might wonder how I’ve come to librarianship as a career! After completing my PhD in Music in 2016, I realised that whilst I wanted to continue my activities as a researcher, I also wanted to pursue something else as my daily job. As a student, I really enjoyed working as a writing mentor and helping other students gain more confidence in key skills. So working in libraries really appeared to provide what I was looking for.…

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2018 was a big year for me. After deciding to pursue a mid-life career change away from higher education teaching and research, I started my professional journey as a librarian by enrolling in a Library and Information Management postgraduate course at Manchester Metropolitan University.…

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Having been in my Library Assistant post since 2016, I was keen to find a way in which I could develop myself professionally [outside of the various Library Assistant study days and general CPD activities]. A colleague told me about CILIP Certification and after doing some of my own research I knew this was the route I wanted to take.…

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June 2019 saw the annual LYNFEST – a celebration of arts and music at Bradford District Care Foundation Trust’s (BDCFT) Lynfield Mount Hospital. This year’s festival had its widest-ever range of activities and events, including displays of service-user artwork, stand-up comedy, open mic, freestyle rap, performance poetry, musical drama, a gardening competition, a pottery workshop and lots of live music, not to mention a ceilidh! BDCFT library have proactively supported the festival from its inception in 2016 and for the second year running we were privileged to be involved…

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In July this year, I was lucky enough to receive a HCLU sponsored place on the Knowledge Management Advanced Course in Henley-Upon-Thames. The course was facilitated by KM Master, Chris Collison and I joined a diverse group from the likes of KPMG to the National Lottery, to learn about knowledge management.…

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