Medical Librarian, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA

Posted October 5, 2017

Under the leadership of the executive- and administrative- director of the Brigham Education Institute, the Medical Librarian assumes full responsibility for the management of BWH Medical Library functions and works closely with BEI leadership to collaborate and integrate with the BEI Knowledge Center to support the informational & educational needs of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The BEI Knowledge Center provides a wide range of services and programs to the hospital in support of education, research, and patient care. The Knowledge Center serves the entire Brigham Health campus and reaches faculty, clinicians, researchers, trainees, and students. Programs include events such as speakers, workshops, and technology sessions focused on managing data and information for research, copyright and publishing, learning technologies, and scholarly research skills.

The Medical Librarian delivers innovative, responsive, and user-focused knowledge services to the Brigham community. This includes performing expert-level database searching, delivering instruction in both in-person and online environments, and cultivating partnerships with individuals and groups within the wider Brigham community. The incumbent will perform tasks and duties of this position in a virtual library setting and must be a dynamic and outgoing team player, demonstrating creativity, flexibility, and an openness to change and ambiguity. The incumbent must also have an entrepreneurial approach to developing new services and tools and a track record in implementing data and programs.

Management and Operational Responsibilities

• Works with BEI leadership to create and prepare the annual library budget, ensuring the library and educational services remains state of the art, and ensuring our staff has access to all it needs to be successful clinicians, administrators and researchers.
• Leads the development and enforcement of all policies and procedures pertaining to library services.
• Develops and advises on library educational program planning, including tools and services, in conjunction with the BEI leadership.
• Ensures the availability of a current electronic collection in the virtual library.
• Maintains professional awareness and contacts to ensure networking for resource sharing with other libraries and educational programs. Maintain current knowledge of information management.
• Optimizes storage and retrieval of information.
• Publicizes and markets the Medical Library through various hospital mechanisms.
• Interviews, trains and supervises any library staff, in conjunction and with oversight from the BEI.
• Oversees the selection and acquisition for all electronic materials.
• Designs, provides, and supervises the delivery of all services.
• Oversees the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Medical Library web site.
• Assesses library users’ needs through various tools.
• Acts as a liaison with Harvard Medical School Center for the History of Medicine to provide the necessary program details for the BWH Archives. Co-Chairs the Archives Committee.
• Acts as a liaison to Harvard Medical School Countway Library of Medicine and attends affiliated librarian meetings. 

Community Outreach, Reference Support, & Training

• Provides reference support to all Knowledge Center users, including but not limited to conducting literature searches, retrieving print and non-print materials, answering ready reference questions, locating materials, verifying citations, etc.
• Develops and determines needs for training, continually assessing and evaluating classes and activities to provide impactful services and events.
• Develops and provides training for physicians, residents, fellows, nurses and all other Brigham staff in how to use web-based databases, and other Internet resources, including the introduction of new technologies.
• Designs and coordinates a robust schedule of community-building data-related events such as showcases, howto’s, drop-ins, and pop-ups.
• Collaborates with internal and external communities, including Partners IS Knowledge Management, Partners Graduate Medical Education Office, BWH Center for Clinical Investigation, Brigham Research Institute, Harvard Countway Library of Medicine, and Harvard Catalyst to provide coordinated data-related information and services to the Brigham Health community.
• Maintains up-to-date knowledge about data tools and techniques and integrates that knowledge into building innovative services.
• Consults with other library and BEI staff regarding projects involving technology.
• Creates innovative ways to build knowledge sharing collaboration among hospital services, training programs, and departments.
• Creates and maintains communication channels (via newsletters, Twitter, Intranet, etc) to promote library resources, events, and opportunities.
• Promote collaborative tools to facilitate the sharing of ideas and work among internal teams.

Professional Growth

• Remains abreast of information management trends by participating in professional meetings, serving on committees, attending workshops and reading appropriate literature.
• Maintains awareness of the needs of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital by serving on appropriate committees, and attending management meetings and rounds. Contributes to Organizational Goals
• Works with BEI Leadership to establish Education and Library goals and objectives, compatible with the mission of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
• Remains attentive to cost containment in the provision of all services and the acquisition of all materials.
• Applies concepts of quality and performance improvement to overall management of the library and educational services.
• Remains flexible in establishing priorities to meet the changing needs of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
• Coordinates with the Partners Library Network to optimize the integrated management and delivery of information.
• Supports quality patient care by providing current information for all physicians and employees.
• Adheres to the principles of service excellence.
• Attentive to safety issues in all matters. 

Contact supervisor Jill Spring to apply, or contact Director Anne Fladger ([email protected]) for more information.