© EACH 2007/08

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) Library & Information Service

Delivering an online library service to long distance users: 6 month pilot

© EACH 2007/08

Background on children’s hospices• 42 Children’s hospices in UK – vary in size & services

• Majority of children have severe and complex health problems and disabilities

• Care provided over a long period of time - length of care can vary from days to 15 years or more

• 3 main elements: Short Break Care; End of Life Care, 3 year post bereavement support

• Variety of services & professions - nursing, music therapists, counselling, social workers, OT's/physiotherapists, play specialists

© EACH 2007/08

EACH Library Background• 3 site hospice – East Anglia Large catchment area and service

- Education Centre & Library Service from 2004 onwards.

• Only 2 known library services amongst 42 children’s hospices

• Small but specialist collection – approx 3,000 books and reports, + 20 journals. Access to NHS collections

• Staffing – 1 full time librarian + 6 hours of volunteer time a week

• Membership – EACH staff, NHS professionals, other voluntary sectors

© EACH 2007/08

EACH library developments 2009• Potential to provide long distance library service to all

children’s hospices in UK

• 2 obstacles – web site and library catalogue

• 2009 - New EACH web site launched – developed library web pages for long distance users

• 2009 Catalogue supplier offered web OPAC at no additional costs

• Very enthusiastic boss!

© EACH 2007/08

2010 - Pilot

• 2 hospices invited to use the library - 6 month period to gauge uptake and impact on EACH library

• Hospice One – 2 site hospice South East London/Kent, Hospice Two – 3 site hospice in West Midlands

• Presentation + demonstration given at each hospice

• Hospices paid £150.00 to cover promotional materials + postage & photocopying costs – to top up as needed

• Services – loans, ILL’s, work related literature searches, monthly Current Awareness Bulletin; advice on NHS electronic resources

• Limited service – no copyright licence

© EACH 2007/08

Use of library services – Jan – June ‘10

Hospice 1 Hospice 2 Total

Number of staff registered

89 31 120

Enquiries ie. Athens

1 3 4

Book loans 6 10 16

Literature searches

7 5 12

Journal articles supplied 7 5 12

Use of other libraries – BMA/BL

0 1 1

© EACH 2007/08

Exploration of low usage

• Many long term staff – never have had access to library services – unfamiliar with concept “keeping professionally up to date”

• Hospices predominantly nurse led services –numerous studies show nurses prefer information from colleagues rather than print or online

• Competencies – form majority of learning process for nurses in both hospices

• Voluntary Sector - no awareness of Athens/NHS electronic resources

© EACH 2007/08

Exploration of low usage

• Limited number of relevant courses in children’s palliative care nationally – experience of using library services low.

• Staff easily put off by IT issues and legal requirement

• Problems with proving eligibility to athens administrators in one area of the country

• Participating hospices reflect EACH statistics in terms of usage by staff group

© EACH 2007/08

Pilot Hospice usage by staff group

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1

Administrative staff

Clinical NurseSpecialists

Education

Managers

Nursing & Care Staff

Social Work & Therapies

© EACH 2007/08

EACH staff usage Jan – June 2010

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1

Clincal NurseSpecialists (6%)

Education (4%)

Nursing & Care Staff(59%)

Managers (2%)

Social Work &Therapists (13%)

© EACH 2007/08

What the pilot did demonstrate..• Mediated Literature searches particularly valued

• Staff in specialist/more autonomous roles use library resources to support their work

• Importance of presenting to all staff groups when visiting participating hospices

• Organisational culture takes time to filter down

• Online surveys not the best method to gain qualitative feedback

• Importance of regularly keeping in touch with long distance uses

© EACH 2007/08

Current situation

• 2nd phase of pilot. - 3 additional hospices using services

• Literature searches remain most requested service

• My role - raising profile of library service

• March 2013 – aim to roll out service to more hospices – establish membership scheme

© EACH 2007/08

References• Bertulis, R. & Cheeseborough. 2008. The Royal College of

Nursing’s information needs survey of nurses and health professionals. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 25 p 186-197.

• Billings, J. & Jenkins, L. 2011. A learning and development strategy for children’s hospices across London. Available at: www.kent.ac.uk/chss

• Callinan, J. et al. 2010. Analysis of library associated information needs of staff in a special palliative and gerontological care centre in Mid-West Ireland. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 27 p286-294

• Loy, J. 2005. Why don’t mental health staff use library services? A qualitative and quantitative investigation. Available at: http://conferences.alia.org.au/ebl2005/Loy.pdf [Accessed 25/06/12]

• Mills, J. et al. 2011. Rural and remote Australian general practice nurses’ sources of evidence for knowledge transmission: a cross sectional survey. International Journal of Evidence-based healthcare, 9 (3) p 246 – 251.