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Volume 5 Issue 3
September 2012
EAHIL Conference 2012
Health Information without Frontiers
T
his years European Association of
Health Information Libraries (EAHIL)
conference was held in Brussels,
Belgium, at the University of Louvain. The title
of the conference was Health Information without
Frontiers which is reflective of the EAHIL ethos
with representation from thirty three European
countries and Australia, Brazil, Canada, Qatar,
Turkey and the US. The principle was to
develop and explore the ongoing sharing and
development of health information. It also
marked the 25th Anniversary of EAHIL’s first
conference in 1982, which was also held in
Brussels.
EAHIL Council
As one of two Irish Council members,
myself and Niamh Lucey from Tallaght Hospital
Library, boarded an early morning flight to
Brussels on July 3rd. The EAHIL Council meet
in advance of the conference programme, in
order to facilitate a full atten dance. The formal
work of the association is discussed at council
and any national issues are fed back to the
Executive Board. The work of the various
committees are discussed and fed back to
national representatives. It is an essential part
of the structure of the association.
Conference Programme
The conference programme started on
Wednesday, July 4th and ran to Friday, July 6th.
It was a very inclusive programme with a variety
of parallel sessions providing appropriate subject
themes. Our Irish group presented a presentation
on the SHeLLI Report in which Irish librarians
were involved over the past year. It depicted the
medical librarians role in a national project and
where this project would be developed.
The Teaching Librarian
The role of the teaching librarian was
explored and the changes this has brought to
the traditional role of the medical librarian.
In order to meet the challenges of new
teaching roles, university librarians at the
University of Leeds have developed a Lib Teach
Programme - an in-house staff development
package designed to equip liaison librarians with
the skills and confidence to support a broad
range of academic skills. They further developed
the online Skills Library programme to replace
traditional induction programmes.
Partnership programmes in the transfer of
health information were discussed in terms of
the tools available to promote transfer. These
included podcasting, use of social media, and
3D imaging techniques.
The Clinical Librarian
The continuing role of clinical librarian services
and proof of evidence based practices in their
environments was explored. Teaching
information literacy skills as part of curriculum
for 4th year medical students was particularly
relevant.
On a broader scale, e-resource licensing models
were discussed as a means of information sharing
and cost containment. The UK JISC collections
and its e-community formed the basis for one of
these approaches.
As always the variety of poster presentations
provide food for thought for further research
opportunities. My thanks to the Rotunda
Hospital and to the Health Sciences Libraries
Group Bursary Fund for funding my attendance
at the 13th EAHIL Conference, Health Information
without Frontiers.
A M. O’Byrne