Eahil Dublin 2009 Workshop

Thursday 4 June 2009 14.00 - 15.30

Intended audience: All Health Information professionals – particularly those who see collaboration as an essential feature of their work.

Learning outcomes:

Along with many other professionally qualified people, our focus is often on technical excellence – mastery of a subject or of a particular set of skills. We make much of the fact that we work with people and seek to understand their needs. Yet few places in the professional literature or indeed our professional training, encourage us to focus on the personal skills so necessary to underpin all this activity – it’s either taken for granted, or perhaps not thought necessary. This session will be both informative and highly entertaining, as all participants begin to:

• Gain conscious awareness of the often unconscious skills and aptitudes we each bring to the process of collaboration, both person to person and within groups.
• Understand / Acqurie / Put into practice personal skills which foster collaboration with individuals, groups and communities
• Develop a basic reflective capacity which will enable participants to go on growing and developing as "collaborators".

Content and learning activities:

The session will be highly participative and be based around the skills and experiences of the participants.

The format for the workshop will include:

• Formal input – by way of asking questions and outlining practical exercises

• Practical exercises – these may be in the form of one to one, small group, whole group, role play and others – there will be a mix throughout the entire session.

• Observation, discussion and discernment – to ensure that outcomes are understood and learnt.

To work towards / meet both these and the learning outcomes outlined above, the following areas / competencies will be reflected upon

• Posture
• Use / Understanding / Modulation of Voice
• Active Listening
• Humility and Dealing with conflict
• Team vs. Hierarchy
• SMART questions
• Hope vs. Despair

Bernard Barrett has been a professionally qualified Librarian for over 20 years. He has also worked as a Teacher. He has worked in Public, Academic and School Libraries and for the last ten years in the health care information sector. His current post is as an Information Scientist/Research Officer within the National Office for Mental Health. He was Chairperson of the Irish Health Sciences Libraries Group from May 2000 to February 2008.

Niamh O’Sullivan has been a professionally qualified Librarian for over 20 years. She has worked in Public, Academic and Special Libraries in Ireland, England and the U.S. For the last ten years she has worked in the health care information sector in her current post as Research Officer/Librarian with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. She was Communications Officer with the Irish Health Sciences Libraries Group from 2000-2003.