Developing a Strategic Plan for Transitioning to Healthcare Knowledge Services Centers (HKSCs)

Abstract

Faced with a negative trend in the form of downsizing, layoffs, and closures, a small committee of hospital librarians in New England formed in 2004 to provide library advocacy. Between 2008 and 2010, 23 hospital libraries closed in New England. In 2010, the committee shifted its focus from advocacy to a platform for change. This resulted in the creation of the Healthcare Knowledge Services Center (HKSC) Template. The Template is the basis for a three-phase, 5-year strategic plan to establish several regional pilots, transitioning traditional hospital libraries to healthcare knowledge services centers. This article focuses on phase one of the strategic plan: Development.

Keywords:

• advocacy
• healthcare knowledge services center
• HKSC
• KM
• knowledge management
• library closures
• strategic plan
• template

Acknowledgments

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHS-N-276-2011-00010-C with the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Notes

Comments and suggestions should be sent to the Column Editors: Dixie A. Jones (E-mail:[email protected]) and Paul Blobaum (E-mail: [email protected]).