Shaping the professional landscape through research, advocacy and education - an Australian perspective.

Abstract

Health Libraries Australia (HLA) has undertaken a number of initiatives to demonstrate the value of health librarians and their contribution to the strategic goals of their parent organisations, and to align health librarianship with other recognised health professions in Australia, including creating a national competency framework for specialist health librarianship education and ongoing professional development. This article reports on progress in these areas, and points to some emerging trends and directions for health librarianship in Australia. The starting point of the analysis is a report completed in 2011 which looked into likely future workforce and education requirements for health library professionals. The authors trace the achievements since then, most notably in the areas of research, advocacy and education. Clearly, a great deal has been achieved leading to a greater return on investment. The authors maintain that the key to shaping the profession and enhancing the status of librarians is ongoing professional development. To this end, Australia is promoting a systematic, competency based health specialist certification. Finally, they identify trends impacting on health librarianship, such as the growing importance of research data management and consumer health literacy.