INSIGHT HLG
A launchpad for early careers in health libraries
A
S an early career professional, perhaps without the breadth of skills and experience of more senior colleagues, stepping into a new job can be a formidable task.
Similarly, if you are thinking of moving sectors, how do you find out what tasks you would be expected to perform in that role? In CILIP’s Health Libraries Group (HLG), we understand that each and every sector seems to have its own unique terminology and different processes and procedures to learn, let alone a new skillset – so we have launched… ‘Launchpad’ to provide help with the topics an early career librarian can expect to undertake, and help make the transition into health libraries that little bit easier (https://
ciliphlg.com/launchpad).
Responding to HLG member CPD requirements Developing the content in Launchpad has seen us utilise the responses in our annual member CPD survey, looking at the particular areas that are most relevant to those that have responded. For example, many early career professionals indicate literature searching as one element that they would appreciate help with – we’ve thus developed a section on searching that goes into the various elements needed to construct and implement a search strategy (
https://ciliphlg.com/searching/). As you would expect, the resources we link to have been selected and quality assured by members of the HLG CPD Panel. Each section has helpful illustrations, and various resources, such as slide sets, videos, and links to different organisations. The information sources are curated to represent an appropriate introduction for early career professionals but also to provide further learning opportunities for those who want to investigate further. These links come from trusted healthcare organisations, universities, and the NHS. A similar structure brings consistency across each topic, starting with an introduction, a practical guide to the topic, links to further learning, and contacts for additional information.
Dr Paul Cannon, College Librarian Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences University of Glasgow.
Phillip Barlow, NHS Support Librarian, Chelsea and Westminster campus library, Imperial College London.
Launchpad – a complement to other networks
and resources Last year we created a shadowing network that allows people interested in learning about different sectors, workplaces, or job roles to visit and shadow fellow professionals (
https://hlisd.org/shadowing- network and introduced in the Spring 2025 edition of Information Professional). At our launch webinar (
https://youtu.be/f17SLHVcMwU), we heard from Barbara Roberts, a UCL student, who undertook a placement at the Royal College of Nursing Library and Museum in London. A discussion between Amy and Hannah, who were hosting the placement, and Barbara, helped elicit the experiences and skills that Barbara wanted to develop. This good practice helped Barbara have a fruitful placement. In similar situations, someone approaching job shadowing or a placement could look through the resources on Launchpad to get an idea of the types of topics that health libraries typically offer and undertake some initial training. This in-turn may help that person to understand important concepts, develop basic skills, and be better prepared when commencing their job shadowing or placement. Launchpad sits alongside a wide range of events and CPD resources that HLG offer in addition to those provided by other special interest groups (
www.cilip.org.uk/page/SpecialInterestGroup). For new and early career professionals, these resources and networks offer various training and careers guidance:
● CILIP career support (
www.cilip.org.uk/page/JobsandCareers): guidance, training, insights into job roles, and Information Professional Jobs,;
● CILIP training events (
www.cilip.org.uk/page/TrainingEvents): links to events run by CILIP, Special Interest Groups, and Member Networks;
● CILIP Branches and Networks: check out CPD events, library visits, and communities, such as CILIPS Student & New Professionals Community (
www.cilips.org.uk/branches-groups/snpc/);
● Non-CILIP affiliated networks, such as the Early Career Library & Information Resource (ECLAIR) Community (https://
eclaircommunity.wordpress.com/)
Launchpad has been designed to mine the collective knowledge of health librarians on a range of topics to help those of you just starting out in healthcare libraries. The topics have useful information for you to look at, and contacts that can help you as you navigate your way through the things you may need to know.
Copyright
Figure 1 – Launchpad homepage showing initial topics. Current Awareness
Inter-Library Loans / Knowledge Management Document Delivery
Promotions & Marketing Searching Winter 2025
Health Library Learning
Opportunities Train the Trainer
Future developments and your feedback We expect that these topics will develop overtime and reflect changes from our annual member CPD survey and other emerging trends. If you feel that there is a subject that you would like to know more about, we would love to hear your suggestions! You can contact us at
CPD.HLG@cilip.org.uk. Special thanks go to Lesley Allen and Lynsey Hawker (Co-Chair and former Co-Chair, respectively) for co-ordinating Launchpad and developing content for the website, and Emma Gibbs (Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust), Katrina Hall (Cardiff University), and Sophie Castle (Medway NHS Foundation Trust) for editing and updating each topic. We would also like to thank Cadence Ware from the ECLAIR Community for her feedback on Launchpad, and Hong-Anh Nguyen for assisting with the development of the website and content. Launchpad can be found at
https://ciliphlg.com/launchpad. IP
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
