Workplace Education Program Fosters a New Generation of Health Librarians

Abstract

Libraries in health care environments play a major role in enabling evidence informed practice for patient care and medical research. Libraries make this contribution in the face of constant change where the power of the librarian is of utmost importance (1). With changes following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that librarians possess the competencies needed to support evolving digital libraries and meet the technological demands involved in supporting 24/7 seamless access to online resources, distance education and digital scholarship (2). Even with this scope of work, librarian positions in health environments are vulnerable to economic fluctuations in health care. This has been highlighted by staff loses and site closures, including librarian retirement (1,3). The latest census of Australian health libraries raises further concerns about the maturity of the health librarian workforce, which may undergo significant attrition and consequent loss of expertise in the next decade (4). Strategic planning is recommended to deal with workforce factors. As today’s graduates are the future of libraries in health care settings, planning should focus on creating opportunities for new librarians. Attention to workplace training programs in health care environments is essential, and the implementation of new library training programs will contribute to sustainable development of the professional workforce while also providing new learning opportunities for the existing workforce. This column depicts a current approach implemented in a health service in Melbourne, Australia. It outlines a Library Cadetship that has been designed for graduates as an entry level paid position coupled with a workplace training program. Reflections from the employer and incumbent Cadets point to the success of the program. This example provides evidence for new entry level positions, enriched by workplace training in health sciences libraries.