Case study: The National electronic Library for Health NeLH Specialist Libraries

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Case study The National electronic Library for
Health (NeLH) Specialist Libraries

• An example of a Community of Practice

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What are Specialist Libraries?

• Specialist Libraries (SLs) form part of the
  National electronic Library for Health (NeLH).
• They are online information resources which
  contain collections of clinical and non-clinical
  resources within specialty themes.
• The SLs share the aim of the NeLH to provide
  health care professionals with the knowledge and
  know-how to support health related decisions
  (NeLH website)

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What are Specialist Libraries?In total there
are 24 SLs which cover a wide range of medical
and health related specialities. 19 of these are
active and 5 are currently in development. For an
example of the range of SL specialities, see the
list of active SLs below

• Cancer
• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Child Health
• Clinical Genetics
• Diabetes
• Emergency Care
• ENT Audiology
• Health Management
• Learning Disabilities
• Mental Health
• Screening

• Musculoskeletal Diseases
• Oral Health
• Respiratory
• Skin Conditions
• Women's Health
• Health Informatics
• Knowledge Management
• Public Health

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Communities of practice

• As we saw yesterday, Communities of Practice
  (CoPs) can be defined as
• Networks of people who work on similar
  processes or in similar disciplines, and who come
  together to develop and share their knowledge in
  that field for the benefit of both themselves and
  their organisation(s). They may be created
  formally or informally, and they can interact
  online or in person. (2)

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Specialist Libraries as a Community of Practice

• The SLs are a formally created CoP.
• The CoP was formed by the NeLH because despite
  the differences in medical and health related
  information that each SL provides, the SLs use
  common technology and follow common guidelines
  and quality assessment criteria for the
  publication of information on the SLs.
• Knowledge and good practice is shared in the CoP
  to ensure that those working on SLs are informed
  about SL related matters and to ensure that each
  SL provides information which is relevant, has a
  high standard of quality and has a high level of
  presentation.

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Specialist Libraries as a Community of Practice

• The CoP is particularly useful for SLs that are
  in the development stage because they are
  provided with the facility to learn from the more
  established SLs.

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Specialist Libraries Community of Practice
Stakeholders

• There are five main groups that are involved
  in the SL CoP
• SL Information Specialists
• SL Managers
• SL Clinical Leads
• The central NeLH Team
• SL Reference Groups

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SL Information Specialists

• Role in the CoP
• The Information Specialists share knowledge and
  good practice with each other to aid their
  day-to-day work on the Specialist Libraries.
• The Information Specialists also share knowledge
  about issues encountered during their day-to-day
  work on the SLs with the entire CoP to aid the
  development of the SLs.

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SL Managers

• Role in the CoP
• The SL managers manage the SLs and oversee the
  work of the Information Specialists (Sometimes
  Information Specialists or Clinical Leads
  function as the SL Managers)
• They regularly liaise with the senior managers
  within the central NeLH Team, the Clinical Leads
  and the Reference Groups in order to discuss SL
  developments

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SL Clinical Leads

• Role in the CoP
• Each SL has a Clinical Lead who is an expert in
  the topic of the SL
• The non-clinical SLs have Leads that are experts
  in the field of the SL speciality
• The Leads share their knowledge with the SL
  Information Specialists and the SL Managers to
  advise on the content and the quality of the
  information that is inputted into the SLs
• The Leads also liaise with the wider CoP members
  to discuss SL development issues

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Central NeLH Team

• Role in the CoP
• The central NeLH team is made up of the SL senior
  managers and the SL Information Technology (IT)
  personnel.
• The senior managers share knowledge with the CoP
  members to inform them about developmental and
  policy matters relating to the SLs.
• The IT personnel share knowledge by providing
  help and guidance to the CoP members regarding
  the technological aspects of the SLs.

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SL Reference Groups

• Role in the CoP
• Each SL has a Reference Group which is made up of
  representatives from external organisations that
  are of relevance to the SL topic.
• The Reference Groups share knowledge to guide
  the development of the SLs by
• ensuring that the content of the SLs is
  responsive to the needs of users within the
  specification set out by the NeLH programme and
• encouraging creativity and innovation in the SLs.
  

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Other CoP stakeholders

• The five CoP groups that have been discussed
  are common to all of the SLs. However, some SLs
  have extra CoP members such as
• Editorial teams (advise on the content of the
  SLs)
• Organisational groups (External organisations
  that are related to the topic of the SLs and work
  with the SLs in order to guide content so that
  the content meets user needs more effectively)

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Knowledge sharing facilities

• The members of the SL CoP meet regularly both
  online and face-to-face in order to learn and
  share knowledge.

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Online knowledge sharing

• In order to share knowledge online, the SLs
  utilise a knowledge sharing forum called the
  NeLH SL Online Community which is hosted by the
  Smart Groups server
• This forum is used by the Information
  Specialists, SL Managers, Clinical Leads and the
  NeLH central team.
• The advantages of the online community are that
  as the SLs are spread throughout England, the
  online forum enables the SLs to share knowledge
  with each other easily and on a regular basis. In
  addition, as information is stored in the online
  community, the forum enables members to learn
  from the messages or queries and answers that
  have been previously posted by other members

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NeLH SL Online Community
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Online knowledge sharing

• The online community enables the relevant CoP
  members to
• Provide each other with information
• Ask questions and receive answers about SL
  related matters

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Online knowledge sharing

• Types of knowledge shared
• News and current awareness
• Details of events
• Minutes and presentations of SL meetings and
  conferences
• Policy and guidelines
• Tips and advice
• Good practice
• Reports of and solutions for SL technological
  issues

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Face-to-face knowledge sharing

• Face-to-face knowledge sharing takes place in a
  number of ways
• SL working groups
• SL regional meetings
• Annual SL meetings
• Reference group meetings
• NB- Many of the face-to-face meetings also
  involve communication via the online community,
  email and telephone before and after the
  physical meetings have taken place

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SL working groups

• Small groups of SLs often meet and work together
  in order to test new or existing features and
  functions of the SLs (for e.g. navigation,
  searching functions, classification etc) in order
  to aid the development of the SLs
• Their findings are reported via the online
  community and face-to-face at annual meetings

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SL regional meetings

• As the 24 SLs are spread throughout England, it
  is difficult for them all to meet on a regular
  basis. Although the online community is
  beneficial for the sharing of knowledge, it is
  useful for the SLs to also meet face-to-face to
  discuss SL related issues
• Therefore, members such as SL Information
  Specialists, SL Managers and Clinical Leads from
  SLs that are located within the same region meet
  on a quarterly basis
• Minutes from these meetings are recorded and sent
  to the SL senior managers within the central NeLH
  team. Any queries or questions contained in the
  minutes are then answered by the senior managers
• Information of relevance to other SLs is made
  available on the online community

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Annual SL meetings

• Two national annual SL conferences are held each
  year.
• The first conference is held in July and the
  purpose of it is for the central NeLH Team to
  inform SL Information Specialists, SL Managers
  and SL Clinical Leads about current and future
  policy and technological developments regarding
  the SLs
• The second conference is held in December and the
  purpose of it is to enable the central NeLH Team,
  the SL Information Specialists and the SL
  Managers to discuss issues relating to the day
  to day work and the development of the SLs

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Reference group meetings

• SL Reference Groups meet the members of their SL
  (Clinical Leads, SL Managers, Information
  Specialists) and the central NeLH team once or
  twice a year.
• During these meetings, ideas about new
  developments for the SLs are shared and those
  working on the SLs are able to gain valuable user
  feedback about the SLs from the external
  Reference Group members

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Specialist Libraries as a Community of Practice
The background

• The current SL CoP model is based on research
  findings from the NeLH Communities of Practice
  Evaluation Report which was conducted by Alison
  Yeoman, Christine Urquart and Susan Sharp by
  request of the NeLH in 2002 (3)

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Specialist Libraries as a Community of Practice
The background

• At the time of the research, the SLs were still
  being piloted and were known under their former
  name, Virtual Branch Libraries (VBLs).
• Each of the VBLs had been created and developed
  individually and independently because they were
  not intended to be developed as CoPs (4).
• However, the NeLH came to realise that despite
  their differing topics, the VBLs shared many
  commonalities (4)
• The NeLH requested the research study to evaluate
  the effectiveness of the VBLs and to discover how
  the VBLs could collaborate as a CoP

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Specialist Libraries as a Community of Practice
The background

• The research study was based on interviews that
  were carried out with the VBLs.
• The researchers found that it was viable for VBLs
  to be utilised as a CoP and that all of the
  stakeholders (e.g. external organisational
  groups) involved with the SLs should be included
  in the CoP (3).
• The NeLH went on to create the current SL CoP on
  the basis of this information when the VBLs were
  re-launched as SLs in November 2002.

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Specialist Libraries as a Community of Practice
The background

• Other CoP improvements as a result of the NeLH
  Communities of Practice Evaluation Report (3)
• In accordance with the studys recommendations,
  in order to aid the creation of a CoP by
  branding or unifying the VBLs, the format and
  design of the VBLs was standardised when they
  were re-launched as SLs (4)
• As well as branding the SLs, the technical
  infrastructure of the SLs was also standardised
  through the adoption of the Resource Management
  System (RMS) and the Central Management System
  (CMS) for all of the SLs.
• This technical standardisation means that all of
  the SLs use the same technology to edit their
  sites and that the SLs can now be searched
  simultaneously using the National Library for
  Health (NLH) Single Search Environment (SSE)
  Function.
• As recommended by the research study, to aid the
  creation of the CoP, a quality standard has
  been developed for the SLs. A number of guides
  and policy documents have now been created for
  the SLs which provide guidance and advice about
  the content and quality of information that is
  published in the SLs (4).

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References

• University of Leicester. 2002. A quick guide to
  the National electronic Library for Health.
  Online Accessed July 2005
• NeLH Knowledge Management Specialist Library.
  2005. NeLH Knowledge Management glossary Online
  Accessed July 2005
• Alison Yeoman, Christine Urquhart and Susan
  Sharp. NeLH Communities of Practice Evaluation
  Report. University of Aberystwyth 2002. Online
  Accessed July 2005
• Alison Yeoman, Christine Urquhart and Susan
  Sharp. Moving communities of practice forward
  The challenge for the National electronic Library
  and its Virtual Branch Libraries. Health
  Informatics Journal. Vol 9, No 4, December 2003
  pp 241-251.

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Resources

• The National electronic Library for Health
  website.
• The NeLH Specialist Libraries