Winning this award is the culmination of months of hard work and dedication from the ILS team. The award was presented at the WUTH Foundation Awards on Thursday 18th September 2008 at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight. Television presenter Fred Talbot presented the award to Eileen Hume, Head of Trust Integrated Library Service, commenting:‘The ILS is on the cutting edge of new developments in health libraries and in the past 12 months has led the way in delivering exciting and innovative library services. Notably, the Team has developed the ILS website to replicate virtually the services available in the physical library and implemented new ideas to engage library users among Trust staff and external partners. The staff have shown originality and commitment to their field to enable others to excel in theirs.’
The traditional business of library services has evolved into a ground-breaking and innovative service, with developments such as a successful shared library service with the University of Chester, significant developments in the ILS web pages to engage library users and the launch of the Read and Relax Collection, a recreational book collection to encourage non-traditional library users to utilise our services.
The innovation and pioneering work being undertaken by the ILS was recognised earlier this year when we were awarded a Level 3 under the Health Libraries and Information Confederation (HELICON) accreditation scheme. This is the highest level of accreditation possible, and the ILS was highly praised by the assessors for its excellence and innovation. In April 2008 the ILS has also received national funding from the National Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NIII) for funds to support the development of a Business Intelligence Service role for NHS Libraries.
