Colleen Kenefick Visits the John Radcliffe Hospital Cairns Library, University of Oxford

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Darren Chase

On Friday, November 21, 2014, I (Colleen Kenefick, Health Sciences Librarian) spent the day at the John Radcliffe Hospital Cairns Library. This visit was very graciously coordinated in advance between Dr. Hagan Bayley (Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford Chemistry Research Laboratory) and Donald M. Mackay (Head of the Bodleian Health Care Libraries).

The Cairns Library is situated on level 3 of the academic center within John Radcliffe Hospital which is the largest of the Oxford University NHS Trust hospitals. The hospital houses many clinical and research departments of the Oxford University Medical School. It is Oxfordshire’s main accident and emergency site and provides acute medical and surgical services, trauma, and intensive care.

The library supports all staff and students working for both Oxford University and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. This library maintains two separate computer networks with different resources such as databases, ebooks, and ejournals on each network. Access to the various resources depends upon the library members affiliation with the institution (either Oxford University or NHS). Librarians explained that there can be overlap with some users having access to both networks since they have dual affiliations.

While at the library, I spent time with: Owen Coxall, Collections Manager; Donald M. Mackay, Head of Health Care Libraries; and Tatjana Petrinic, Outreach Librarian.

Owen Coxall is responsible for developing and maintaining the print and electronic collections.

The print book collection held within the library is generally for the latest ten years. Because of space limitations, many older materials have been placed into a new storage facility in South Marston which is capable of holding 8.4 million volumes on 153 miles of shelving.

Donald Mackay gave a tour of the library and explained how various areas of the library are used for educational purposes. Library admittance is limited only to library members by card swipe access at the front door. He explained administrative aspects of the library and that they are the library for medical students which make heavy use of the library. Since the library is located within the academic and research area wing of the hospital, they are frequently used by hospital staff and support hospital staff continuing education needs.

Tatjana Petrinic is an outreach librarian and embedded within various clinical departments. Her office is within the library but she spends considerable effort on behalf of faculty and students within assigned departments. The library is involved with many aspects of systematic review production for the university. Outreach librarians teach the EBM searching sessions for the renowned Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

Colleen Kenefick International Visit