Health Professional Development Scheme

It’s possible to become a certified Health Specialisation professional. This entitles you to add post-nominals to your title and be listed on a website as having obtained this Certification

For more information, view:

ALIA Overview

ALIA Specialisations

HLA Overview

Competencies and Course Map

The 2026 ALIA/Health Libraries Australia (HLA) Competencies for Health Librarians and Health Library Technicians apply to all Australian health librarians and health library technicians, who are library and information professionals who have obtained qualifications from an ALIA-accredited, post-secondary educational institution and are eligible for professional librarian membership or professional library technician membership of ALIA.

The health specialist competencies build on and extend the foundational ALIA Framework of Skills, Knowledge and Ethics for the Library and Information Services Workforce (July 2025).

View the 2026 Courses List.

Health Specialisation Skills Audit (under review) will help you identify gaps in your knowledge and provide guidance for choosing your most appropriate courses

 

 

Resources for new health librarians

 

  • Join the aliaHEALTH e-list to stay up to date (overseas e-lists available also)
  • Attend a HLA event (details posted on the AliaHealth e-list, HLA social media, and this website)
  • Watch some videos on the HLA Videos page
  • Find a mentor – set up a monthly check-in with someone external to your new workplace for peer-to-peer learning
  • Read JOHILA – Journal of Health Information & Libraries Australasia (or even consider contributing a piece …)
  • Listen to Shoosh – a podcast about Health Libraries
  • Consider undertaking a medical terminology course to help you with the jargon!
  • Follow HLA social media
  • Join HLi (Victorian focus but have online events that can be attended from anywhere)
  • Read Early Career Health Science Librarian Resource Guide (US)
  • Communities of Practice (CoP). Join some HLA health library Communities of Practice. They are free, every group welcomes new members, and they can look good on your CV:

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Competencies Review and Comparison poster 2019

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Health Librarianship Competencies
Review project

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Creating the health librarian
professional workforce for the future by Ann Ritchie Presentation

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Creating the health librarian
professional workforce for the future by Ann Ritchie Notes

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

 

Past Professional Development (PD) Days

2021

2020

2019 Program

Living Evidence – Partnerships and technology for up to date, reliable evidence – Julian Elliott
Better Connections: The future of digital health – Angela Ryan (ADHA)
Being data savvy – What do health librarians need to know? – Liz Stokes
Polyglot Search Translator – Justin Clark
Your authors will love you – Classifying search results to reduce numbers to screen – Anne Parkhill
Using machine learning to semi-automate abstract screening in a systematic review – Leo Ng
Ask an informationist – Choosing Wisely at Austin Health – Helen Baxter / Michele Gaca
Research data management – is this a niche role for health librarians? – Patrick Splawa-Neyman
“I want what she’s got” – Providing a liaison librarian-supported metrics service – Chrissy Freestone
Bibliometric analysis of University of Newcastle systematic reviews – Debbie Booth
What we count to what really counts – Measure outcomes versus activities for your library using statistical evidence – Laiman Li / Jacinta Cloney (OCLC)
Advocacy for Health Libraries – Sue McKerracher (ALIA)
Digital health education strategies for a skilled healthcare workforce: Be part of the conversation and contribute to the future of digital health learning and capability – Angela Ryan (ADHA)
Work smarter, not harder: How to utilise data to build an efficient library service – Cameron Wu & Cindy Slater (EBSCO) / Helen Ried
Person-centred care and its role in health literacy: How librarians can champion its values – Lindsay Barnes
Using automation tools to improve the speed of searching for studies for a systematic review – Justin Clark

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2018

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2017

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2016

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2015

Satellite event for the EBLIP8 Conference, Brisbane, July 9th

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2014

Joint Collaboration Conference

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2014

Joint Collaboration Conference HLA News Collaboration Special Edition

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2013

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2012