Presentation given to the members of the Western Libraries community at the University of Western Ontario on April 7th, 2009.

1. Partnering with the Health
Disciplines: Challenges
and Opportunities
Robin Featherstone
April 7th, 2009
Presentation available at: http://uwohealthlibrarian.blogspot.com/

2. Topic
The Health Sciences Librarians at the Allyn and Betty
Taylor Library collaborate with research, clinical, and
teaching faculty in many health disciplines, students at
all levels, and librarian colleagues. These user groups
are located across the Western campus, in the
hospitals and on the distributed medical campus.
Please describe the challenges and opportunities that
are involved in establishing and maintaining effective
communication and productive relationships with
members of these diverse groups.
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3. Outline
 User groups
 Challenges
 Opportunities
 Sustainability
 Questions
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4. Users
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5. Undergraduate Programs
Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Bachelor of Health Sciences Basic Medical Sciences
Kinesiology Dentistry*
Nursing* Medicine*
Combined Programs (Medicine with
Engineering, Bachelor of Medical
Sciences with Business)
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6. Graduate, Postgrad &
Postdoc Programs
Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Communication Sciences and Clinical Dental Fellowship Program
Disorders
Health & Rehabilitation Sciences Dental Clinician Scientist Program
Kinesiology Internationally Trained Dentists
Nursing MD/PhD
Occupational Therapy Orthodontics
Physical Therapy Postdocs
Postgraduate Medical Education
Residency Programs
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7. Research Centres*
Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Canadian Centre for Activity and Canadian Research and Development
Aging Centre for Probiotics
International Centre for Olympic Canadian Surgical Technologies &
Studies Advanced Robotics (CSTAR)
National Centre for Audiology Centre for Pain Research
Centre for Studies in Family Medicine
Centre for Critical Illness Research
Centre for Vascular Imaging Research
*Not including dozens of other research groups, clinics, networks & units
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8. Educational Partnerships
Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Fanshawe College University of Windsor
Southwestern Ontario Medical
Education Network (SWOMEN)
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9. Clinical Education Settings
Faculty of Health Sciences Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry
Affiliated Teaching Hospitals
Clinical Education Suites
Clinical Skills Lab
Out-patient Clinics (both private and public)
Acute Care Hospitals
Long Term Care Facilities
Schools
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10. Clinical Experience Sites
Western Catchment Area for
clinical education sites:
Extends from Sarnia/Windsor in
the west, to Owen Sound in the
north and to Kitchener/Waterloo
in the east.
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11. Librarian Colleagues
 Southwestern Ontario Health Libraries Information
Network (SOHLIN)
 Western Ontario Health Knowledge Network (WOHKN)
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12. Health Discipline User
Overview
 Diverse & geographically dispersed
 Not heavy users of physical library spaces
 Early adopters of mobile/handheld devices (McAlearney,
2004)
 Early adopters of social software (Giustini, 2006) but less
likely to implement in professional settings due to privacy
concerns and standards of care issues (Hawn, 2009)
 View “traditional” library services as most important in a
liaison program (Tennant 2006; Yang, 2000)
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13. Health Discipline User
Overview
 Medical students, in particular, have packed schedules which
make course-integrated instruction difficult (Tennant et al.,
2006)
 Email is the preferred mode of communication from librarian
liaisons to users in the health disciplines (Glynn & Wu, 2003;
Tennant et al., 2006; Tennant et al., 2001)
 Nurses had the highest awareness (97.1%) of library liaison
services (Tennant et al., 2006)
 Medical residents had the lowest awareness (16.0%) of
library liaison services (Tennant et al., 2006)
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14. Challenges
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15. Challenge –
Remote Access
“Generally, electronic resources have made faculty and
students less reliant on liaisons for help with their
research [...]” (Glynn & Wu, 2003, p. 122)
“[Electronic access] has been highly appreciated by
clients but it has also changed the nature of the
relationship with them as it has reduced their need
to access the physical space of the library and
reduced the opportunity for contact between
them and liaison librarians.” (Rodwell & Fairbairn,
2008, p. 119)
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16. Challenge – Indirect
Communication Channels
Email 1: From Lucy V. to Fanshawe Help Desk – Nov 3
- Do you know how I can get access to articles from the Western site?
Email 2: From Lucy V. to Valerie W. (Fanshawe’s Support Services Officer) – Nov 5
- Help! How do I access articles from the Western site. Helpdesk was not helpful in this
case.
Email 3: From Valerie W. to Denice L. (Western’s Nursing Admin Officer) – Nov 7
-Hi Denice: Lucy V. is a Yr 2 Collaborative clinical teacher. How can I help her get access to
the UWO library?
Email 4: From Denice L. to me – Nov 12
-Hi Robin, are you able to help with this request?
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17. Challenge - Geography
Me again, Robin. What's the slickest, quickest, and
most expedited process for getting Ross-Kerr & Wood
(2003) book into Debbie's hands within 2-3
days for final N3322E assignment?
Doing so, that is, without her having to make a road
trip to London? Sarnia is the closest city to her. Thanks
for advising.
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18. Challenge –
Expectations
Do you think I can stop by tomorrow quickly and just
make sure I did my references right. My class is done
at 1030 and my paper is due at 4. So anytime in
between would be much appreciated.
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19. Challenge – Time
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20. General Observations
 Challenges:
Managing expectations
Opening communication channels
Making services and collections accessible to distance students
 Work depends on building personal relationships
 Effort to redefine the liaison role may not appeal to all
users
 Balancing act between innovation and maintenance
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21. Opportunities
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22. Opportunity –
Educative Task
“The complexity of the information environment has,
however, allowed liaison librarians to grasp the function
of information literacy as one of the ways to re-
integrate themselves with the faculties and their
clients.” (Rodwell & Fairbairn, 2008, p.119)
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23. Opportunity – Electronic
Communications
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24. Opportunity – Alternative
Communication Channels
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25. Opportunity –
Virtual Instruction
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26. Opportunity –
Faculty Partnerships
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27. Opportunity – Curricula
Development
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28. Opportunity –
Collaborative Research
 Health informatics
 International demand for electronic health records
 Increasing emphasis on EBP (Evidence Based Practice)
in clinical settings
 Interprofessional Education
 Health education is a signature area for research at
Western
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29. Opportunity –
Collaborative Teaching
 Leverage partnerships with hospital libraries to extend
information literacy and/or EBP into clinical practice
settings
 Academic librarians play a part in simulated clinical
practice
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30. General Observations
 Challenges are “good” – demand is there
 Opportunities are abundant (and growing)
 Opportunity to redefine library roles
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31. Sustainability
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32. Sustaining Innovation
 Emphasis on innovation and development of new ways
to operate with users in the health disciplines
“The social climate surrounding innovation has much to
do with how it is perceived. And perception has much
to do with the success or lack thereof of any innovation
[...]. A primary political area for reflection is that
of readiness: it matters a great deal whether or
not a public is ready for the innovation” (Deiss,
2004).
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33. What are users in the health
disciplines telling us?
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34. Conclusions
 Innovation needs to be coupled with continual
assessment
 Cannot assume with such a diverse user group
 Must be flexible – willing to change course
 Productive relationships will be built on innovation and
sustained through assessment and flexibility
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35. References
Deiss, K. J. (2004). Innovation and strategy: Risk and choice in shaping user-centered
libraries. Library Trends, 53(1), 17-32.
Giustini, D. (2006). How Web 2.0 is changing medicine. BMJ, 333, 1283-1284.
Glynn, T., & Wu, C. (2003). New roles and opportunities for academic library liaisons: a
survey and recommendations. Reference Services Review, 31(2), 122-128.
Hawn, C. (2009). Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning: How Twitter, Facebook, and
other social media are reshaping health care. Health Affairs, 28(2), 361-368.
McAlearney, A. S., Schweikhart, S. B., & Medow, M. A. (2004). Doctors’ experience with
handheld computers in clinical practice: qualitative study. BMJ, 328, 1162.
Rodwell, J., & Fairbairn, L. (2008). Dangerous liaisons? Defining the faculty liaison librarian
service model, its effectiveness and sustainability. Library Management, 29(1/2), 116-124.
Tennant, M. R., Cataldo, T. T., Sherwill-Navarro, P. & Jesano, R. (2006) Evaluation of a liaison
librarian program: Client and liaison perspectives. Journal of the Medical Library
Association, 94(4), 402-409.
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36. Questions?
rfeathe@uwo.ca
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