HLA  Advocacy, Research, Marketing and Awards

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.

Awards

Research and Projects

ALIA HLA is currently working on a number of projects including updating the HLA Competencies and the HLA Guidelines. They are also looking into running some Consumer Health pilot projects with Public Libraries.

International health library associations (including HLA) urge the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to seek information specialists as peer reviewers for knowledge synthesis publications, June 2020.

Medical College Accreditation Project

Work has been undertaken to demonstrate the important role health libraries play in Australian medical training programs. 👉 Here you will find an overview of the medical colleges and associations which have medical training programs with specific library requirements highlighted. Based on a review of documents with inconsistency and vague terminology, the below benchmark statement covers off requirements that Colleges and Associations should include as they update their accreditation requirements. HLA endorses the following Recommendations:

There is access to a curated collection of high-quality information via a health library with online access appropriately configured for physician training.

The health library is staffed by qualified librarians with expertise in literature searching and research practices who provide training and individualised support to trainees undertaking research.

The site shall provide access to a physical health library space with current and relevant resources, study space and computing facilities equipped with supportive software for research.

Update: This work has resulted in these two publications:

Time to set a standard for the standards: health libraries provide crucial support for Australian medical training programs, 2024 (Gemma Siemensma, Anna Griffith, Alice Anderson, Angela Smith)

A Content Analysis of Health Library Support for Australian Medical Training Programs, 2024 (Anna Griffith, Gemma Siemensma, Alice Anderson, Angela Smith)

Marketing and Promotion

Advocacy and Submissions

HLA works to develop a highly skilled and professional workforce with the capacity to deliver services and resources that support safe and quality clinical practice.

NSQHS Standards – Health Library Accreditation Guidance, Examples & Templates, (2024)

HLA Statement on Hospital Libraries (2024)

ALIA HLA submission to National Health and Medical Research Council’s consultation on the draft Good Institutional Practice Guide (2024)

HLA, ALIA and Australian Indigenous communities urge NLM to update their indigenous MeSH term (Jul 2022)

Submission in response to the Australian Government National Preventative Health Strategy consultation (Apr 2021)

International health library associations (including HLA) urge the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to seek information specialists as peer reviewers for knowledge synthesis publications (Jun 2020)

Response to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) National Health Information Strategy online consultation (Mar 2020)

Submission to the Digital Health Agency consultation discussing the value of Australian Public Library Alliance (APLA) and Health Libraries Australia (HLA) as partners in the provision of access to authoritative health information (Apr 2018)

Submission to the Teaching, Training and Research Costing Study Public Consultation Paper; Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA) (Jan 2015)

Submission to the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (Jul 2008)

View ALIA Submissions (all ALIA submissions)

Reports, Publications & Presentations