Supporting the frontline during the Coivd-19 pandemic: the HSE National Library response
1. Supporting the frontline during
the Coivd-19 pandemic: the HSE
National Library response
Aoife Lawton
HSE Library
CILIP Ireland/LAI Joint Conference, April 2021
2. Supporting the frontline during
the Covid-19 pandemic: the
HSE National Library response
Friday 16th April 2021
Aoife Lawton, HSE National Health Service Librarian
3. Outline
• Background and Context
• Key Actions by HSE National Library Service
• What worked well
• What could be improved
• Learning lessons
4. 100,000 Employees
Remit: run all public health services in
Ireland
Dr. Stephanie O’Keeffe
National Director,
Strategic Planning & Transformation
Dr. Ana Terres
Assistant National Director,
Research and Evidence
Aoife Lawton
General Manager
NHLKS
Background
Research
& Development
Health
Intelligence
5. • 29 Physical Library Sites
• 26 in Acute Hospitals, 3 in other
settings
• Became a national service in 2017.
• First Strategy 2018-2023
• 58 Staff, 54.09 WTE, 39 Full-time
Context
9. Friday 13th March 2020
All HSE libraries closed
Staff redeployed to different areas
of public health:
• Contact tracing
• National Covid-19 helpline
• Occupational Health
• Health Protection Surveillance
Centre
10. Digital Knowledge Service
Keeping the digital lights on
• Virtual Reference Desk Team
• LiBot LAMA “Library Ask Me Anything”
• Rolling out National eHealth Library
Communication for staff
• SLACK
14. What worked well?
Leadership, Staff Response, Opportunities
Communication
• Ops: weekly management
team meetings in 2020
• SLACK
• 5 Nations Knowledge
Exchange
• Library Association of
Ireland
• MU webinar
Community
• Answering our National Call
• Agility and adaptability of
staff
New Partnerships:
• Clinical Design &
Innovation Office of the
Chief Clinical Officer
• Integration with R&D
• New Panel of HCP
• NDTP (Makerlabs)
15.
16. What could be improved?
Technology
Zoom… WebEx… MSTeams
Shared Drive
Wellbeing
WFH not for everyone
Redeployment
Matching skillset
17. Lessons
We are nothing without our staff
Resilience is key
Trust the evidence
Be Kind
We will get through this together and arise stronger
Editor's Notes
In this presentation I will give the background and set the scene of the Health Service Executive as an organisation and the position of the National HSE Library Service within it. I’ll outlined the key actions undertaken as part of the National response to COVID-19; Like all libraries and librarians we have embraced new ways of working. The pandemic has allowed given us all pause for thought and reflection. I’ll reflect upon what has worked well, what could be improved and lessons we continue to learn as a national service.
The HSE is the biggest public sector employer in the State. It is responsible for the management of all public health services in Ireland. In terms of positioning, the National Library Service is 1 of 3 units that make up Research and Evidence. The other 2 are R&D and Health Intelligence. There are 4 steps above the library service in the hierarchy of the overall management and governance structure of the HSE.
We became a national service in 2017. Prior to this, libraries were organised regionally, aligned to a pre-HSE era i.e. 2004. We are undergoing a major change programme.
Acknowledge work of Laura Rooney Ferris
Acknowledge work of Brendan Leen and volunteer librarians
3 of our 6 teams (very reduced) kept going:
Digital (Keep online services up and running & develop new ones)
Evidence (Covid-19 Evidence Response Team) (DoH weekly update)
Information Skills (online CPD for library staff & users)
The fact that we were and are a national service meant that there was better governance over the service and staff could be brought back from redeployment.
Priorities for 2021: Staff health and wellbeing (Covid-secure libraries)
Integration of service: events: Staff Engagement via 2 virtual townhalls, 1 wellness event May 2021
Efficiencies and effectiveness: Ops management team in place (centralisation to be discussed ILL/Document supply)
eHealth Library Rollout (funding, procurement, MoUs, BMJ BP launch, communication & EHR integration)
Branding (Feb 19th Virtual Townhall held, Focus Groups due March)
Innovation & new initiatives – MakerLabs, Wikipedian in Residence, New / Refurbished libraries