Things in the library 14 July

Hi Fran here, I'm the Illingworth Library's Intern.  I wanted to share with you some of the many things I've  learned about and enjoyed while interning at the Illingworth Library.

Things about dates with a librarian!
 When I started at the Illingworth I was quite intrigued by this poster! I needn't have worried, it  turns out it was a completely ethical way of promoting the many training services the library provides. These include sessions on critical appraisal - which I attended and I must say it challenged the way I thought about and evaluated journal articles. The library also runs sessions on keeping up-to-date and reference management. See here for details.

Things about literature searches 
Did you know the librarians are amazing when it comes to completing literature searches?
They perform several each week. I've really benefitted from learning a few of their secrets, such as how to construct a search and their strategies to find the most appropriate evidence for the Trust's staff.

Things about Cataloguing                                        

As a health library the Illingworth Library uses the National Library of Medicine (NLM) system of classification. It seems obvious writing this now, but I was surprised to learn that as the Illingworth Library is in Sheffield Children's Hospital not all of the classifications in the NLM are as relevant to paediatrics (they are designed for adult medicine).  I've really enjoyed learning about cataloguing and had the chance to practise this on some of the NICE guidelines.

Things about Knowledge Management 
I was very lucky during my placement to be able to attend training on knowledge management.

During the session we were encouraged to define the term "knowledge management", and as the room was full of health librarians, it was good that there were lots of similarities in the definitions. The session's focus was on the fact that the phrase knowledge management was problematic as it didn't mean the same things to health professionals and librarians. So it is being replaced with the phrase Mobilising Evidence and Organisational Knowledge or MEOK for short . It also led me to ponder the question:  where does knowledge come from?

Things about Librarian Stereotypes

Dr Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, spoke at last week's  CILIP (Chartered Institute Librarians and Information Professionals) 2017 conference and said that librarians are the most stereotyped profession! Would you agree?

With that in mind here's a number of portraits of librarians featured in the Guardian to challenge this idea...This is What a Librarian Looks Like

Things about skills
There are so many skills that I've developed
and activities that I've participated in during the course of the internship - some could be an entire blog post by themselves!
Instead here's a word cloud to illustrate some of them.



Things about cakes and a recipe

You might be surprised to hear that the library service pretty much runs on baked goods! Between the various muffins Sarah bakes for journal club, to a fridge that always seems to include some sort of chocolate biscuits.  So it would be rude of me not to include the customary recipe! Here's a delicious sounding strawberry cake recipe.





Thank you 
I feel so fortunate to have interned at the Illingworth Library. During this experience I have learned so much from the very knowledgeable and supportive  Library staff. I now know what it means to be a health librarian in the NHS. A big thank you to all the staff for sharing their expertise with me; it's been fantastic!
I'm off to work on my dissertation but this internship has opened up the world of health librarianship to me and I would be interested in working in this sector in future.