Clinical Librarian

Job overview

The Library and Knowledge Services team are looking for a new Clinical Librarian to work with us across the Trust. The Library and Knowledge Services team provide expert knowledge, evidence and support to empower staff to provide the best care, treatment and services. The service has recently changed direction and we need new team members to join us on the journey. This is an opportunity to contribute to established work and help create a service to fit the future of EKHUFT.

PLEASE NOTE - WE CANNOT OFFER VISA SPONSORSHIP FOR THIS ROLE. If you hold a Graduate/Post Study work visa, you will only be able to work this role fixed term until the expiry date of your visa.

Main duties of the job

• To work alongside clinical staff to provide timely, highly specific evidence to inform patient care.
• To use expert skills in searching online databases to provide comprehensive literature searches to clinical teams.
• To use highly developed appraisal skills to select and evaluate relevant information, and present this as appropriate, including digests of evidence and literature reviews as required
• To promote the Library and Knowledge Services to all potential users.
• To undertake appropriate professional work across all Trust libraries, according to service needs.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will work alongside the Head of Library and Knowledge Services to deliver the Clinical Librarian service at EKHUFT. This will involve attendance at departmental meetings, journal clubs, ward rounds and any other sessions addressing patient care, research or clinical effectiveness issues.

You will be proactive in establishing information needs and conduct advanced searches using a wide range of local and national online and printed resources.

You will undertake complex literature searches to support patient care, research and improvements in services. You will provide full articles, abstracts, citation lists or summaries of evidence to meet needs based on careful selection and appraisal of available evidence to suit end-user requirements, and use various forms of dissemination to suit a wide user base.

You will pass less complex searches to other members of the team, and use your own skills to help others develop. You will ensure ongoing quality of searches conducted by members of the team.

You will promote available current awareness services such as Knowledge Share to all clinical staff and make search results available via these platforms where possible, and market relevant services and resources to the wider organisation on behalf of the library team. You will deliver inductions to staff and students joining EKHUFT.

You will be part of the senior management of the library services at EKHUFT and will contribute to the delivery of strategic aims of the service, including the delivery of the Quality and Improvement Outcomes Framework.

You will be a signatory for financial payments.

You will deputise for other LKS staff, where appropriate, including the staffing of the service on any site. You will take responsibility for the safety of library stock and equipment when working on any site, and ensure the safety of users working out of hours.

Accountability - You will be expected to work independently to further develop the Clinical Librarian role within the Trust, establishing KPIs, evaluation and impact measures to ensure the ongoing success of the service.

Communication and Relationship – You will work with key stakeholders to encourage take-up of the service. You will use excellent communication skills with staff at all levels to promote the value of the service. You will work in liaison with similar post-holders in other organisations to share good practice.

You will use highly developed analytical skills to select and present the best results to the right audiences.

You will deliver reports, presentations, statistics and evaluation of the Clinical Librarian service as required. This may be to internal stakeholders or to the wider library community via study days, regional and national meetings, conferences.

You will work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals across the organisation to enhance the Library and Knowledge Services within the Trust.

Planning and organisational – You will use highly developed organisational skills to plan your time in order to attend all relevant meetings. You will be able to work to tight deadlines, prioritising the needs of the clinicians you work with. You will contribute to the delivery of the Library & Knowledge Services Strategy and the Annual Business Plan.

You will maintain ongoing statistics from the start and work with the Head of Library and Knowledge Services to demonstrate the impact of the service

You will use these results to make recommendations for the development and potential expansion of the service.

You will contribute to the evaluation and development of the Library and Knowledge Services in general by participating in user survey development.

You will be able to travel and prepared to work across the whole Trust, as well as attending Health Education England events, meetings and training across the local health economy. You will have excellent IT literacy skills.

Responsibility for policy/service development – As a member of the management structure of the service, you will be expected to attend and contribute to quarterly Manager's Meetings and full Team Meetings, and have direct input into service development and improvement initiatives.

Management Responsibility – You will be expected to train staff of all levels and professions across the organisation in a range of information, study, and searching skills. Your training will need to be adapted to suit all types of learners, with differing needs and required outcomes. You will also be expected to use your expertise to increase the skill-base of Library & Knowledge Services Staff. You will be expected to deputise for the Head of Library & Knowledge Services alongside the other Band 6 Librarians, supervising junior staff as appropriate.

Physical effort – Some moderate physical effort may be required if handling library stock.

Mental and emotional effort - This post will require high levels of concentration and an ability to move between complex search platforms in order to locate the best and most appropriate evidence. Attending clinical meetings and responding to information requests to support patient care and clinical decision making will require emotional effort, sensitivity and the ability to work with information in a confidential manner.

Responsibility for R&D – You will not be expected to undertake direct research activity beyond the library remit to actively support all R&D activity being undertaken within the Trust.

Working conditions - This post will have a base at William Harvey Hospital Library, but the post-holder will be expected to attend clinical meetings, ward-rounds and other activities across the trust in order to carry out daily duties, working alongside clinical teams as they care for patients

General - It is core to Department of Health strategy and to the NHS Plan that the NHS becomes a knowledge-based service and that NHS health care staff have access to, and use, appropriate knowledge to support their practice, their learning and development and their research. To this end, NHS libraries provide services for:

• Accessing the international knowledge base of health and social care and allied disciplines
• Clinical decision making by health professionals, patients and carers, enabling the highest possible standards of patient care and safety
• Commissioning decisions, service development and health policy making
• Research and innovation
• Information and clinical governance
• Lifelong learning by health professionals
• Training the workforce to acquire and develop relevant information literacy and knowledge management skills