Standards
Contents
Standards and Competencies
Competencies 2018
HLA aims to help health library staff to identify courses and learning programs that will contribute to their professional development, and if desired to gain recognition as a Certified Professional (Health). The Competencies Review project was undertaken in 2018 by Ann Ritchie, and reported at the RAILS Conference (Melbourne, 28th November, 2018); see File:Ritchie RAILS HLA Competency Review 2018.pdf
View Competencies Review and Comparison Poster: File:HLA Competencies review poster 2019.pdf
Health librarianship courses and PD mapped to HLA Competency Areas
The Competency Mapping work has produced a list of approximately 110 health-related courses, events and programs offered in 2020 that are relevant to health librarians and technicians in Australia.
The courses are also mapped to HLA's eight competency areas: File:HLA Competencies 2018 - poster.pdf
Guidelines 4th Edition
Guidelines for Health Libraries (4th Edition) were published in 2008. Description: 'The challenge, particularly with a prescriptive document such as this, is to produce guidelines which are broad enough to encompass all health libraries but which detail an acceptable and achievable level of practice across those same libraries. To this end the Guidelines need to be flexible, adaptable and applicable irrespective of the size and makeup of any individual library service. It is hoped the fourth edition of the Guidelines for Australian Health Libraries achieves this desired outcome.' Access the guidelines here: File:Guidelines for health libraries 4th edition, 2008.pdf
Hard copy documents: Standards
About
Original documents are stored in ALIA House, Canberra, in a folder named Standards. Documents have not been converted to pdfs.
Contents of Standards folder
The table below describes the content of the hard copy items held in the archives.
| Year Created | Description / Title |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Standards for Libraries in Australian Hospitals Accompanying letter by George Franki, Biomedical Librarian, University of New South Wales. Sent with first issue of Australian Medical Librarians' Group Newsletter. Hospital librarians in Sydney cooperated in the preparation of these standards (which closely followed the Canadian Standards for Hospital Libraries, 1975) |
| 1982 | Anne McLean presented brief Terms of Reference for Standards |
| 1983 | LAA Medical Libraries Section, Victoria. Minimum Standards for Hospital Libraries - preliminary draft to supplement the Library Services section of the Accreditation Guide. Compiled by Standards Working Party, LAA MLS, Victorian Group. |
| 1984 | Queensland group of LAA Medical Libraries Section use Victoria's draft as a basis for Queensland standards |
| 1986 | W.A. Committee of Medical Librarians. Draft Standards for Hospital Libraries adapted from Victorian draft 1983 - aiming for national concensus. |
| 1986 | Progress report of Draft Hospital Library Standards emanated from a meeting of the National Executive and representatives from Standards working parties of Victoria, New South Wales and West Australia at LAA Darwin Conference 1986 |
| 1987 | 3rd and final Draft of ALIA National Minimum Standards for Hospital Libraries. Article published in Australian Special Libraries News 19(4) Dec 1986, p99-117 by Lindsay Harris (National Convenor, LAA Medical Libraries Section, Working Parties on Hospital Library Standards) includes detailed background and the full draft standards: Progress in draft hospital library standards. |
| 1988 | 1st ed National Minimum Standards for Hospital Libraries published by LAA. "This represents the culmination of six years of work by various working parties. It was significant as the first set of Australian hospital library standards to achieve acceptance by all health librarians in this country, at that time no small achievement" - excerpt from the introduction to the 4th ed, 2008. |
| 1995 | 2nd ed published, prepared by ALIA Health Libraries Section. Committee for National Minimum Standards for Hospital Libraries (final draft 1994 in Archive) "This reflected the growing impact of automation upon hospital libraries in the preceding years"- excerpt from the introduction to the 4th ed, 2008. |
| 2000 | 3rd ed published, Standards for Australian Health Libraries, prepared by ALIA Health Libraries Section Standards Working Party. This was drafted during the course of 1998 and 1999 and attempts to reconcile the demands between qualitative and quantitative standards for both the practitioner and lay administrator."- excerpt from the introduction to the 4th ed, 2008. |
