News
Events & courses mapped to 8 health librarian competencies (Mar 2025)
An extensive list of courses and events that map to the eight HLA Competencies are now available Many can be done anytime online Useful to progress from: A health librarian caterpillar 🐛, to A fully-fledged beautiful health librarian butterfly 🦋 Less entomological but...
JoHILA – 1st 🥇 issue of 2025 now available for your reading pleasure
The brand new shiny 1st edition of 2025 is now available Various articles of interest including an overview of 22 AI tools, State updates, request management and more There is an Archive available and you can also search for past articles
Quiz – 📚 Library 💑 Lovers 🌞 Day (Submit answers by Fri 21 Feb)
Happy Library Lovers Day for 2025. While health libraries are usually stuck with displays of “Hurst’s the heart” , this year something a little extra. A quiz, of sorts, from Health Libraries Australia. Below are nine appalling arrogations of famous love poems or love...
The ALIA Connection: Reflections of the ALIA Leadership Bursary
Report from the recipient of the ALIA / HLG Leadership Bursary which is part of the HLG Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2024-2025 from the UK
HLA Competencies 👉 3 Minute Survey (closes 2nd Dec)
We need your help! (for just a few minutes ...) We are updating the ALIA HLA Competencies (2018) to reflect current and likely future requirements for the specialist health librarian and health library technician workforce, and to ensure they are compatible with the...
Why I Love Being a Hospital Librarian! – 2 Recordings 🎦 Now Available (US + AU)
1. US Version Thanks to the MLA Health Libraries Caucus View Recording Passcode: !HUG9msT Speakers: Michele Matucheski, Caroline Marshall, Amanda Schwartz, Mary Beth McAteer, Amy Six-Means, Helen-Ann Brown Epstein, Tomi Gunn Note: "The transcript contains errors that...
CPD
🎦 Video creation made easy in Canva (1.00 – 2.00 pm AEST, Thu 1st May via Zoom)
🌏 Where: Online via Zoom (link to be sent day prior) 👯 Trainers: Eunice Ang - Medical Librarian, Northern Health Keren Moskal - Clinical Librarian and Education Lead - Monash Health 💰 Cost: $35 ALIA members; $65 Non-ALIA members. Another reason - along with...
Introducing scoping & systematic reviews: An Open Education Resource (27 May)
Event Description In response to student and staff needs, librarians at Federation University created an Open Education Resource to introduce a complex topic in an easy to understand, step by step way. This lunchtime session will describe the process of creating the...
How to Peer Review Search Strategies (Julie Glanville & Carol Lefebvre, 5 & 9 June)
Note - this is not an HLA Event Registrants will be able to view recordings / slides after the event (as times involved are not Australian friendly) More details available here This course provides a comprehensive guide to peer reviewing search strategies, essential...
CAUL Exhibition Events (Free – Brisbane / Melbourne / Adelaide in June)
🌍 WHERE & WHEN Brisbane: Monday June 16, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Bank, BrisbaneMelbourne: Wednesday June 18, The Events Centre, Collins Square, Melbourne CBDAdelaide: Friday June 20, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide CBD...
Call for Abstracts – ALIA HLA Conference (Aug 21-22, 2025, Sydney, NSW)
✅ Theme: The 2025 HLA Conference theme is: Innovation, Transition, & Growth: Thriving in a Shifting Health EcosystemHealth libraries and librarians are continuously adapting to an evolving landscape of healthcare, technology, and information management. How can we...
Here I am! Making the invisible library visible in healthcare (🎦 video now available)
👩 Presenter - Lori Korodaj 🕐 Feb 19 / 1:00 PM / Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney 🎦 Video can be viewed on the HLA Videos page CHS Library and Multimedia supports Canberra Health Services and ACT Health staff in providing evidence-based healthcare and research development...
About HLA
Health Libraries Australia (HLA) is the national professional organisation representing librarians and information professionals working in all health sectors including: hospitals and other clinical facilities, research institutes, regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government departments, regional health services, professional colleges, universities, cooperative research centres, not-for-profit and community organisations, and parts of public library services. The vision of Health Libraries Australia is that all Australians benefit from health library and information professionals’ expertise that is integral to evidence based health care.
Who are Health Librarians
Health Librarians are health information professionals who focus on the services and systems that deliver research-derived data, information and knowledge to healthcare clinicians, managers, policy-makers, educators and researchers. They contribute to the development of knowledge through research services, from reference consultations and literature searching to advanced forms of evidence synthesis. They manage the research knowledge base published in all formats, as well as grey literature. Their responsibilities extend to advancing the application of evidence-based practice through health literacy and teaching, knowledge management and translation services, facilitating the links between clinical decision-making, policy/guideline/protocol development, and health research, i.e. translating evidence into practice. Health librarians are responsible for the delivery of services that are the only dedicated, secure, permanent and trustworthy source of authoritative information, critical and fundamental to an organisation’s information governance structures.
HLA Executive Committee
The HLA Executive Committee brings the work of ALIA Health Libraries Australia Group to the fore at Board level. The members of the committee advise the ALIA Directors about topics of interest and concern to health libraries and nurture relationships with allied associations, in Australia and internationally. HLA Executive – Contact Information / HLA Executive – Terms of Reference