At the coalface of the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of the Counties Manukau Health Library

<p dir="ltr">A piece prepared by Peter Murgatroyd for LIANZA.</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.lianza.org.nz/at-the-coalface-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-the-role-of-the-counties-manukau-health-library/" target="_blank">Link</a></p><p dir="ltr">We made the decision to close our physical library early.</p><p dir="ltr">As one of the most beautiful spaces at Middlemore Hospital , designed for collaboration as well as respite from the stresses and challenges of working on the wards, the Counties Manukau Health Library is a popular space for all staff to work both together and alone. A place of congregation open to staff 24/7. Understanding that with our hospital cleaners being deployed to focus on priority clinical areas we could not guarantee the safety of the physical environment. We could not continue to promote the physical space as a place of coming together.<br><br>Moreover as a staff team , some with vulnerable partners and parents and others being the primary care givers for young children, it became clear very early on that we would not be able to maintain a continuous face to face library service on site. We needed to understand and respect the needs of our library staff and transition to a remote work environment.<br><br>For the foreseeable future we would offer a purely virtual library service.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">In many ways we had anticipated this shift long before it become a matter of necessity. Our large collections of journals and clinical texts are digital.</p><p dir="ltr">The demand for our services during the COVID-19 pandemic has never been higher. Responding with urgency to literature search requests from across the organisation has cast a spotlight on the expertise and dedication of our library team. Examples of the types of questions that my team of information specialists have responded to in the last couple of weeks include:</p><p dir="ltr">Redeployment of the health workforce in a crisis situation (ie pandemic, natural disaster, war, etc). Is there a framework for managing risks and capacity planning in these situations?</p><p dir="ltr">What are the postoperative risks or complications identified in patients with COVID-19 and how do we prevent/manage/treat this?</p><p dir="ltr">The team have risen to the challenge to be important contributors to our organisational response to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p dir="ltr">There is already a strong sense across the organisation that some of the ways of providing clinical care and support for patients and whanau both at the hospital and in the community will be forever changed by the dramatic shifts and changes forced upon us by COVID-19. I have a sense that the same may be true of the library service. The application of technology to both work remotely and collaborate across multiple teams and initiatives has proven to be highly effective and is certainly the way of the future.</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p>