Knowledge and Library Services Manager

Job Overview:

The Ferriman Information and Library Service provides services to staff from North Middlesex University Hospital Trust, as well as students from St Georges University, UCL and Middlesex University.

Main Duties of the Job:

• Lead the strategic development and delivery of a multidisciplinary knowledge and library service enabling the Trust workforce to freely access proactive knowledge and library services that meet organisational priorities for high quality patient care and aligned to the vision of the national Knowledge for Healthcare strategy and NHS Libraries Quality Improvement Outcomes Framework.
• Create a compelling vision for the transformation of knowledge and library services, devising implementation plans, considering the strategic marketing of the service, evaluating and continually improving service performance.
• Provide services that meet the requirements of the NHS Education Contract and the HEE Learning & Development Agenda meet all quality assurance processes.
• Provide an efficient and effective service to staff, students and stakeholders from healthcare and education, and to customers from the wider health community, to support the delivery of care.
• Lead the knowledge and library service team providing line management support and professional leadership and strategically develop outreach services ensuring specialist information and knowledge skills are available at the point of need.
• Advise the Trust on developments arising from national and regional initiatives within the NHS and the wider library and information sector, leading on local implementation.

Working for our Organisation:

North Mid is part of North Central London integrated care system – consisting of the NHS and Local authority organisations in Camden, Islington, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey. As with other ICS's, we are working increasingly closely with partners and indeed many of our financial and performance objectives are measured at this system level. Whilst all organisations remain as standalone, statutory bodies we have an ICS infrastructure for making shared decisions and agreeing shared approaches.

We are proud of our staff and want to ensure their training allows them to provide excellent clinical care. We are also a training unit for medical students from UCL and St George's University Grenada, and for nursing and midwifery students from Middlesex and City Universities.

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities:

• Lead the operation, management and strategic development of the library and information service including the development of policies and procedures and involvement in quality initiatives in accordance with Trust and NHS priorities.
• Develop and deliver service improvement plans based upon consultation with senior stakeholders, users and non-users about their information, evidence, and knowledge requirements.
• Manage the setting and continuous evaluation of service objectives, ensuring regular and systematic monitoring and reporting of service performance to senior stakeholders against agreed standards.
• Deliver proactive knowledge and library services and provide line-management support.
• Ensure delivery of a high-quality enquiry service, using professional knowledge of appropriate paper, statistical and digital resources to help users make decisions based upon research evidence to provide high quality patient care.
• Manage library collections, space and facilities, maintaining a suitable learning environment to support study, research and reflection for NHS staff.
• Take responsibility for the overall library budget, including staff and non-staff costs, ensuring effective use of library funding to deliver value for money and preparation of business cases and funding bids to obtain additional funding for specific library projects.
• Responsible for the delivery, development and monitoring of service level agreements and quality standards. To provide appropriate data and evidence for quality assurance of the service including, the HEE annual statistical return and the Quality Improvement Outcomes Framework. Contribute to local and national evaluations on the impact of NHS knowledge and library services.
• Collect evidence on the value and positive impact of knowledge and library services on patient care and at the management of the Trust and share this locally and nationally.
• Ensure that services are available and promoted to all authorised users and that no individuals or groups are disadvantaged when accessing or using the service. This includes overseeing a programme of induction to library and knowledge services for all NHS staff and learners.
• Accountable for the development and implementation of library and knowledge service policies and procedures.
• Responsible for maintaining a suitable learning environment for staff at the library being mindful of health, safety and security concerns including managing the suite of open access computers. Undertake regular risk assessments and take necessary actions as required.
• Advocate for the service with senior stakeholders, identifying opportunities to contribute to trust objectives, proactively identifying evidence and organisational knowledge needs and developing services to meet these needs. This includes providing library services to meet the needs of internal and external course providers and learners attending appropriate departmental meetings and student forums.
• Manage all library services and systems ensuring swift resolution of any issues or problems to ensure service continuity. This includes providing suitable training for library staff to maintain the library management systems and taking responsibility for compliance with legislation such as the Data Protection Act.
• Manage and maintain delivery of the evidence summary and complex literature searching services ensuring staff have the skills and capacity to maintain quality standard. This includes responsibility for delivery of a current awareness service to enable all trust staff to keep up to date with new developments in their field.
• Approve the selection and purchase of appropriate stock, including e-books and e-journals and other digital resources and collections based upon users needs and ensure these are catalogued and classified to agreed professional standards.
• Accountability for the financial and physical resources of the library and to ensure through effective delegation and support the ongoing operation of effective ordering, invoicing, and financial management.
• Identify and evaluate new and existing electronic products, systems, and software.
• Produce business plans for the use of, and recommendations for the purchase of these products for submission to the appropriate decision-making persons.
• Responsible for overseeing the development and on-going maintenance of the department's intranet, Internet, and social media sites. This includes the evaluation of external web sites ensuring they meet criteria for high quality evidence-based information for their inclusion as links on our own pages.
• Informatics and knowledge management as it applies to libraries and all aspects of library practice, to inform service development and support the continuing professional development of the library team.
• To represent the Library & Knowledge Service at meetings, committees, and professional advisory groups to ensure a co-ordinated development of library services.