New library facilities have opened at Doncaster Royal Infirmary to improve learning opportunities for staff and students based at the site.
Three pods have been created. These can be used as ’hot desk’ areas which offer quiet workspaces with ambient lighting and power points for laptops and mobile phones.
The pods will be open during the library’s opening hours, and have so far mainly been used by students who need a quiet spot for studying or for colleagues who may need a temporary workspace.
The library also has a new IT suite where staff can deliver training to colleagues things like finding and appraising clinical and medical evidence.
Finally, there is a reading area, which features a dedicated corner of self-help and other mindfulness and wellbeing books, and comfortable seating.
The upgrade is part of Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) health and wellbeing offer for colleagues, which aims to provide support for mental, financial and physical wellbeing.
The library has also started hosting social activities, including a book club and a 'blind date with a book' project.
The library services are available for patients too, with books provided by Doncaster City Council. Trust volunteers deliver a library trolley service to the wards.
The new facilities were officially opened by trust chair Suzy Brain England, who said: “Our library facilities are one of the many things about DBTH which attract students and learners to completing their qualifications with us. We are exceptionally lucky to already have such high-quality services. These new facilities and the new information technology will give our library colleagues the infrastructure to bolster these already fantastic services.
“The new IT facilities are particularly important as it will allow for further training for our people, enhancing our commitment to development – something that is exceptionally important as we work towards our goal of becoming a university teaching hospital trust in the future.
“Thank you to our library team for their efforts in making these new facilities possible and to our estates team who have facilitated their ideas and finished the area beautifully.”
