It's All About Us: The Importance of Embedded Librarianship

Sometimes it is only with hindsight that you realise you’re going about things the right way, professionally speaking. Over the past year I’ve been reflecting on how the law library profession has changed over the last two decades. When I concluded that ‘I like to think of library services being an 'information centre'; we are at the centre of the firm and information revolves around us, whilst we ensure it gets to the right place’, I had no idea that I was describing embedded librarianship. Although I was actually referring to communications, the latest SLA event on the 20th April at the Sage offices emphasised the importance of physically being in the middle of things.

We heard two very different speakers; Jacqueline Beattie, Information Services Lead at Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd, and Genny Franklin, Clinical Librarian at Barts Health NHS Trust. Both offered a tale of embedded librarianship in their respective fields: geoscience and obstetrics and gynaecology. A brief overview of their roles and their employers will inevitably draw out differences between the two roles, but there are inherent similarities. And it was these similarities to which I found myself nodding my head.

The BMA Library: Mission Anything is Possible

Last July I went on a visit to the RCS Library and so when an opportunity came up to visit another high profile medical library, I was quite excited. CLSIG organised a trip to meet Jacky Berry at the British Medical Association for an overview of the services they offer to their 152,000 members.

The library is unmissible. As you go through the swish main reception area and security gates, arrows and a sign LIBRARY points you upward. As you head up the flight of stairs, you are met with a model of bright modernity, with low wooden shelving, open work spaces and plenty of natural light. A successful team of 13 offer a suite of services to their members, and they see themselves as 'a working doctors library' providing access to a diverse book collection - from clinical to business management. They provide journal alerts, full text doc delivery, electronic services, training to all, and they have a high profile within the BMA.  Last year they had 19328 visitors!

Effective Networking: From the recycling pile

Useful Connections

It's that time of year. The sunshine is finally strong enough to reach into the farthest recesses of the dusty bankers boxes on my office bookshelves. Looking at them blinking in the sun I realised I hadn't touched them in years. Despite a few office moves they have followed me around, so this morning I called their bluff and sorted them out ferociously. For the most part they contained old budget figures, meeting minutes, course notes, and various suppliers catalogues which I can now view online so my recycle bin is now bulging.

I thought I'd recycle some of the course notes in a different way, with one set from 2004 striking me as still very relevant and interesting. This piece uses 'Top 10 tips for effective networking' which was presented by Lesley Robinson (Oct 2004). Amazingly I still vaguely remember the seminar, partly because of the anticipative terror I experienced by the thought of having to actually talk with a large number strangers. As I recall we listened to her talk, then put her ideas into practice and it worked really well.