Graham Breckon from Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides us with an example an important role which libraries deliver within their organisations.

As library staff we often have a good working knowledge of the organisation, particularly with regard to departments, key contacts and internal processes.  We are often asked about this by staff or students who are new to the Trust and still trying to find their way around the organisation. I was working on the enquiry desk when a junior doctor approached and asked where the ‘Audit Department’ was.  I explained that, rather than having a dedicated Audit Department, each division in the Trust has a Clinical Governance Co-ordinator whose role includes assisting junior doctors with their mandatory responsibility to complete an audit. I directed the doctor to the appropriate Clinical Governance Co-ordinator so that the doctor could contact her and arrange to meet with her.

On the library desk we are often an approachable and accessible point of enquiry and are frequently asked these kinds of questions.  Although this is a small example, it’s an illustration of how the library service quite often helps to match the right person to the right knowledge.

Tagged: Enquiries, Knowledge management