NHSCloses in 6 days

Clinical Librarian

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

Canterbury, CT1 3NG

Salary

£39,959 to £48,117

Contract

Permanent

Hours

Not specified

Closing date

8 September 2026

6 days left

Job description

The Library and Knowledge Services team are looking for a new Clinical Librarian to work with us across the Trust. The Library and Knowledge Services ...

  • To work alongside clinical staff to provide timely, highly specific evidence to inform patient care.
  • To use expert skills in searching online databases to provide comprehensive literature searches to clinical teams.
  • To use highly developed appraisal skills to select and evaluate relevant information, and present this as appropriate, including digests of evidence and literature reviews as required
  • To promote the Library and Knowledge Services to all potential users.
  • To undertake appropriate professional work across all Trust libraries, according to service needs.

You will work alongside the Head of Library and Knowledge Services to deliver the Clinical Librarian service at EKHUFT. This will involve attendance at departmental meetings, journal clubs, ward rounds and any other sessions addressing patient care, research or clinical effectiveness issues.

You will be proactive in establishing information needs and conduct advanced searches using a wide range of local and national online and printed resources.

You will undertake complex literature searches to support patient care, research and improvements in services. You will provide full articles, abstracts, citation lists or summaries of evidence to meet needs based on careful selection and appraisal of available evidence to suit end-user requirements, and use various forms of dissemination to suit a wide user base.

You will pass less complex searches to other members of the team, and use your own skills to help others develop. You will ensure ongoing quality of searches conducted by members of the team.

You will promote available current awareness services such as Knowledge Share to all clinical staff and make search results available via these platforms where possible, and market relevant services and resources to the wider organisation on behalf of the library team. You will deliver inductions to staff and students joining EKHUFT.

You will be part of the senior management of the library services at EKHUFT and will contribute to the delivery of strategic aims of the service, including the delivery of the Quality and Improvement Outcomes Framework.

You will be a signatory for financial payments.

You will deputise for other LKS staff, where appropriate, including the staffing of the service on any site. You will take responsibility for the safety of library stock and equipment when working on any site, and ensure the safety of users working out of hours.

Accountability - You will be expected to work independently to further develop the Clinical Librarian role within the Trust, establishing KPIs, evaluation and impact measures to ensure the ongoing success of the service.

Communication and Relationship You will work with key stakeholders to encourage take-up of the service. You will use excellent communication skills with staff at all levels to promote the value of the service. You will work in liaison with similar post-holders in other organisations to share good practice.

You will use highly developed analytical skills to select and present the best results to the right audiences.

You will deliver reports, presentations, statistics and evaluation of the Clinical Librarian service as required. This may be to internal stakeholders or to the wider library community via study days, regional and national meetings, conferences.

You will work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals across the organisation to enhance the Library and Knowledge Services within the Trust.

Planning and organisational You will use highly developed organisational skills to plan your time in order to attend all relevant meetings. You will be able to work to tight deadlines, prioritising the needs of the clinicians you work with. You will contribute to the delivery of the Library & Knowledge Services Strategy and the Annual Business Plan.

You will maintain ongoing statistics from the start and work with the Head of Library and Knowledge Services to demonstrate the impact of the service

You will use these results to make recommendations for the development and potential expansion of the service.

You will contribute to the evaluation and development of the Library and Knowledge Services in general by participating in user survey development.

You will be able to travel and prepared to work across the whole Trust, as well as attending Health Education England events, meetings and training across the local health economy. You will have excellent IT literacy skills.

Responsibility for policy/service development As a member of the management structure of the service, you will be expected to attend and contribute to quarterly Manager's Meetings and full Team Meetings, and have direct input into service development and improvement initiatives.

Management Responsibility You will be expected to train staff of all levels and professions across the organisation in a range of information, study, and searching skills. Your training will need to be adapted to suit all types of learners, with differing needs and required outcomes. You will also be expected to use your expertise to increase the skill-base of Library & Knowledge Services Staff. You will be expected to deputise for the Head of Library & Knowledge Services alongside the other Band 6 Librarians, supervising junior staff as appropriate.

Physical effort Some moderate physical effort may be required if handling library stock.

Mental and emotional effort - This post will require high levels of concentration and an ability to move between complex search platforms in order to locate the best and most appropriate evidence. Attending clinical meetings and responding to information requests to support patient care and clinical decision making will require emotional effort, sensitivity and the ability to work with information in a confidential manner.

Responsibility for R&D You will not be expected to undertake direct research activity beyond the library remit to actively support all R&D activity being undertaken within the Trust.

Working conditions - This post will have a base at William Harvey Hospital Library, but the post-holder will be expected to attend clinical meetings, ward-rounds and other activities across the trust in order to carry out daily duties, working alongside clinical teams as they care for patients

General - It is core to Department of Health strategy and to the NHS Plan that the NHS becomes a knowledge-based service and that NHS health care staff have access to, and use, appropriate knowledge to support their practice, their learning and development and their research. To this end, NHS libraries provide services for:

  • Accessing the international knowledge base of health and social care and allied disciplines
  • Clinical decision making by health professionals, patients and carers, enabling the highest possible standards of patient care and safety
  • Commissioning decisions, service development and health policy making
  • Research and innovation
  • Information and clinical governance
  • Lifelong learning by health professionals
  • Training the workforce to acquire and develop relevant information literacy and knowledge management skills

We are one of the largest hospital trusts in England, with five hospitals and community clinics serving a local population of around 800,000 people. Our vision is 'great healthcare from great people'. Everything we do is guided by our values: 'People feel cared for, safe, respected and confident that we are making a difference'. We have a new way of working at East Kent Hospitals, called 'We care'. It's about empowering frontline staff to lead improvements day-to-day. We're looking for compassionate people to be part of our improvement journey for the patients, families and carers we care for every day.

Please note that if you require a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK you must declare this on your application form, even if you currently have a certificate of sponsorship or a work permit for another role and are already working in the country. Please note we are only able to sponsor candidates for a Skilled Worker Visa for roles that are eligible at the time of application.

Qualifications and training

Essential

  • Library or information graduate qualification or Chartered member of Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)
  • Graduate

Desirable

  • Masters degree

Skills and Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working in library, information or research services
  • Extensive knowledge of IT, web, healthcare databases and resources.
  • Sound understanding of the concepts of evidence-based practice and clinical governance
  • Expert-level literature searching skills
  • Ability to review and critically appraise resources based on research methodology
  • Ability to write reports and summaries of evidence
  • Ability to record, analyse and present statistics
  • Ability to plan strategically
  • Sound knowledge of Microsoft Office applications

Desirable

  • NHS Library experience
  • Knowledge of the NHS
  • Experience of service development

Governance

Essential

  • Understanding of legislation with particular relevance to library work, such as copyright, intellectual property and data protection
  • Awareness of current issues impacting on Library and Knowledge Services provision

Personal / professional attributes

Essential

  • Highly developed interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate with all levels of staff both internally and externally
  • Excellent time management skills
  • Self motivated and ability to motivate others
  • Logical and methodical
  • Innovative and proactive
  • Flexibility to manage frequent interruptions
  • Excellent negotiation skills
  • Strong team leader and team player

Other requirements

Essential

  • Ability to move between sites/ travel offsite
  • Able to move books, journals and IT equipment
  • Prepared to cover for other staff and undertake basic duties, including the lone staffing of the libraries at any site.

How to apply

Applications are handled entirely by the employer on the original advert. We do not collect CVs, supporting statements or application data.

Provenance

Source

NHS Jobs

First seen

2 September 2026

Last checked

2 September 2026

Salary, closing date and description are taken from the employer's advert. The original advert always takes precedence.

About the employer

EKH
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

NHS organisation

This listing was structured from NHS Jobs. Vacancy details and the application process remain the responsibility of the original source.

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