About the learning and development needs of Knowledge and Library Services (KLS) staff.
The NHS KLS development needs audit is run every 2 years. The analysis helps us to identify the learning and development needs of different roles within the KLS workforce.
It was last run in late 2021.
357 colleagues took part representing an estimated 32% of the workforce.
Summary of findings
Overall
- Digital literacy.
- Health literacy.
- Expert searcher skills.
- Creation of high-quality organisational knowledge assets.
- Training skills.
- Marketing.
- Information literacy and patient information skills.
- Skills for supporting researcher.
- Synthesis and summaries for evidence reviews.
- Collecting and using impact.
Library assistants/paraprofessionals
- Digital literacy.
- Health literacy.
- Customer service skills.
- Library space: innovation and best use.
- Marketing.
- Research skills.
- Training skills.
- Promoting the service professionally.
- Expert searcher skills.
- Evidence based librarianship.
Librarian roles
- Expert searcher skills.
- Digital literacy.
- Training skills.
- Health literacy.
- Skills for supporting researchers.
- Synthesis and summaries for evidence reviews.
- Collecting and using impact.
- Information literacy and patient information skills.
- Finding evidence and knowledge to inform non-clinical decision making.
- Marketing.
Embedded/clinical/outreach roles
- Digital literacy.
- Expert searcher skills.
- Skills relating to clinical/embedded or knowledge specialist roles.
- Synthesis and summaries for evidence reviews.
- Creation of high-quality organisational knowledge assets.
- Collaborating with researchers on joint projects.
- Quality improvement.
- User journey mapping.
- Open access publishing.
- Thinking differently.
Knowledge and library managers
- Strategic planning.
- Creation of high-quality organisational knowledge assets.
- Health literacy.
- Senior leadership course.
- Developing an aligned evidence and knowledge mobilisation action plan using the self-assessment tool.
- User journey mapping.
- Collecting and using impact.
- Key Performance Indicators.
- Stakeholder engagement.
- Digital literacy.
Team requirements*
- Collecting and using impact.
- Marketing.
- Developing an aligned evidence and knowledge mobilisation action plan using the self-assessment tool.
- Quality improvement.
- Thinking differently.
- Digital literacy.
- Expert Searcher Skills.
- Evaluation and impact of knowledge mobilisation.
- Health literacy.
- Tools for knowledge transfer and organisational learning.
* As determined by knowledge and library services managers.
Full details may be found in the full report.
Workforce and development needs survey 2023
The next workforce and development needs survery for healthcare knowledge and library staff is taking place in 2023.
Page last reviewed: 18 July 2023
Next review due: 18 July 2024