Community outreach library services in the UK: a case study of Wirral Hospital NHS Trust (WHNT)

Abstract

Aims and objectives : The study evaluates the Community Outreach Library Service at Wirral Hospital National Health Service Trust (WHNT). It considers the information seeking behaviour and information needs of primary care staff, and service effectiveness in meeting those needs. Methods : A literature review established the current context and areas of best practice. The investigative case study used postal questionnaires to 250 primary care staff and an interview with the Community Outreach Librarian. Findings : Themes emerged from the literature regarding information seeking behaviour, information needs, and meeting user needs through effective service delivery. Outreach services have value in terms of improving information skills and providing services at point of need. Time is a major constraint for both users and service providers. Conclusions : Investment is needed from appropriate funding sources to support the provision and marketing of outreach library services. Librarians benefit from sharing best practice. The continued evaluation of outreach library services is recommended.

Libraries as ‘everyday’ settings: the GlasgowMCISSproject

“…pharmacies (Maher et al, 2014); care homes (Krajic et al, 2014); sports stadia (Drygas et al, 2013); tennis clubs (Pluim et al, 2014); shopping malls (Haber, 2013); prisons (Caraher et al, 2002) and even 'virtual' social networking sites (Loss et al, 2014). In this context, libraries have recently emerged as another potential setting (Dowse & Sen, 2007), being seen as particularly accessible and equitable 'hubs' (Parker & Kreps, 2005) that can variously: provide access to health information (Linnan et al, 2004); promote health literacy (Chobot, 2010); link to 'signposted' services ) and ultimately foster 'empowerment' and 'social capital' (Johnson, 2010).…”

The impact of library services in primary care trusts in NHS North West England: a large‐scale retrospective quantitative study of online resource usage in relation to types of service

“…When we grouped services by type and averaged out the figures, the model of using an outreach librarian proved to be the most efficient in terms of percentage of WTE staff with an active Athens account and also number of session per WTE across all our measures. In 2007 Dowse and Sen 3 published a qualitative study that describes the impact that an outreach librarian has on the usage of online resources; this quantitative study backs up those findings.…”

“…There are a large number of papers on library services and primary care, most of which are qualitative, 1–5 and the small number of quantitative studies 6,7 have been with small sample groups. Postal surveys and questionnaires are popular methodologies but tend to return small samples.…”

“…Outreach librarians can target their efforts to reaching relevant staff groups without the administrative burden of staffing and resources of a collection‐based library service. Outreach librarians employ information skills training as a method of reaching their customers and literature has shown benefits of these services in the use of bibliographic databases and other e‐resources 1,3 . It should be noted at this point that some PCT libraries in the NW, such as Bury PCT and Western Cheshire PCT, have a library service and employ librarians in an outreach capacity.…”

“…This study aimed to evaluate the impact that the type of library service provided to PCT staff has on online resource usage. Many previous studies of the impact of library and outreach services on primary care in the UK have been mainly qualitative with relatively small samples 1–5 …”