Objective: The hospital library subcommittee wanted to determine ways it could advocate for libraries in our region and then to provide products that could be used by other libraries throughout the region. Methods: The committee held lengthy discussions on the needs of hospital libraries in such areas as staffing, budget, support/advocacy, and marketing. From these discussions, it was determined that the committee would develop two toolkits: (1) a Hospital Librarian Orientation Toolkit that offers information from both regional and state-specific resources and (2) a Hospital Library Promotional Toolkit that provides a practical approach to promoting libraries in a hospital setting. A third function of the committee was to develop and execute a methodology for providing state and regional support to libraries in institutions that are planning to hire, downsize, or eliminate the librarian or library services. The methodology for providing support to endangered libraries has been developed, and testing has been ongoing. Results: The Hospital Librarian Orientation Toolkit has been completed and delivered to several dozen institutions that have provided evaluations and suggestions for revisions. The Hospital Library Promotional Toolkit was completed in April 2007. A sample of both toolkits will be on display. Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, May 2007.

The Hospital Library Subcommittee of the NN/LM NER Regional Advisory Council wanted to determine ways it could advocate for libraries in the region and then to provide products that could be used by other libraries throughout the region. The Hospital Library Promotional Toolkit is designed to aid hospital librarians in promoting their services to hospital administrators and the various communities within their organization. The tools considered for this kit meet three objectives: (1) to assist hospital librarians in their performance and reporting of services to management; (2) to help hospital libraries focus on promotion and marketing to meet specific educational needs of their institution; and, (3) to advance the growth and development of the professional hospital librarian. Table of contents: Sample Mission Statements: Draft your library’s Mission Statement from the sample drafts; samples are categorized by hospital type Sample Goals and Objectives: Draft your library’s goals and objectives from either the short-term (one-year) or long term. Always try to correlate the library’s goals and objectives with those of the institution Tips for Preparing an Annual Report: Use these tips for writing an annual report, demonstrating the value of the library program to hospital administration Sample Annual Report: Draft an annual report of the library function for hospital administration by making use of this sample Research/Literature Search Request Form: Capture the necessary information to perform literature searches and responses to reference questions. Completed form also provides librarian with record of resources used Foot Traffic, Door Count, Library Activities Form: Use these forms to count foot traffic, computer activity, and other types of library tasks Library Statistics and How to Report Library Activities: Use these forms (weekly and monthly) to capture a representative picture of the library's activities; and to report them to senior hospital administrators List of Suggestions for Expanding Use of Library Services: Refer to this list for suggestions to expand the use of library services Library Scope of Service Checklist: Use this checklist as a framework to create a Scope of Service for a hospital library. A “Scope of Service” is a document that concisely describes “who you serve” and “how you serve them”. Hospital administrators may require a Scope of Service for their departments to assist with surveys conducted by The Commission (formerly JCAHO) Selected Bibliography on Promoting Hospital Librarianship: Refer to this selected bibliography for articles and books to help you promote the library, offering suggestions for new services, as well as fulfilling your mission statement, goals and objectives

The Hospital Library Subcommittee of the NN/LM NER Regional Advisory Council wanted to determine ways it could advocate for libraries in the region and then to provide products that could be used by other libraries throughout the region. They developed the Hospital Librarian Orientation Toolkit to provide orientation information to hospital and health science librarians in New England. It offers information on (1) library networking resources and (2) information to advance the professional growth and development of hospital librarians.