Healing reading for the bereaved – Bereavement Bibliotherapy booklet launch update

Information & Library manager Laura Rooney Ferris at the launch of the bereavement bibliotherapy booklet March 9th

The Therese Brady Library launched a Bereavement Bibliotherapy Booklet on March 9th during Library Ireland week. A very big thank you goes out to everyone who came along on the night to find out more about the Library’s collection and services. It was great to see representatives from both the library and the bereavement support community.

The booklet, which brings together lists of suggested titles and online resources around specific types of bereavement can be obtained in hard copy by contacting laura.rooneyferris@hospice-foundation.ie or can be downloaded from the Irish Hospice Foundation website (under bereavement/getting help) or by clicking HERE

Further details on the aims of booklet can be found in the feature Healing reading for bereaved people in the current edition of Irish Library News.

Creative arts in bereavement – Newstalk Podcast

“There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in…” Anthem, Leonard Cohen

As part of the ‘Why we write’ series Newstalk broadcast THIS feature, on March 27th focusing on creative arts therapy and it’s potential benefits in bereavement and at the end of life.

The documentary features interviews with Irish Hospice Foundation bereavement services manager Dr Susan Delaney, Training Officer Breffni Mc Guinness and communications manager Paul Murray which offer an insight into the work and philosophy of the Irish Hospice Foundation and an examination of the therapeutic power of creative arts and literature as a means of coming to terms with grief and loss.

The Irish Hospice Foundation offers workshops on creative arts therapies as part of its workshop programme -  further details of up coming workshops, including drama therapy, creative writing and art therapy can be found HERE

National policy on childrens Palliative care launched

Left to right - Eugene Murray CEO Irish Hospice Foundation, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Principle officer DOHC & Barry Andrews TD, Minister of state for children

The first national policy on palliative care for Children was launched by Minister of state for Children and youth affairs Barry Andrews TD at Leinster House on Wednesday (March 24th).

The publication ‘Palliative care for children with life limiting conditions – a national policy’ outlines a national strategy for paediatric palliative care in Ireland. The policy, developed following the joint Irish Hospice Foundation and Department of Health and Children (DOHC) 2005 study ‘Palliative care needs assessment for children’ outlines an initial investment of over 2.5 million by the Irish Hospice Foundation over the next five years for the employment of Ireland’s first paediatric palliative care consultant and five out reach nurses. A further three nurses will be employed by the HSE during phase one. Speaking at the launch Minister Andrews acknowledged the contribution of the Irish Hospice Foundation in getting the policy off the ground adding that  ’It is very encouraging to see developments such as this, particularly in palliative care services, where we have a solid bond between the statutory and voluntary sectors’ .

The full policy can be downloaded from the DOHC website HERE   and further details of the Irish Hospice Foundations investment in the project can be found HERE  

Dying Matters Week UK

This week the UK Dying Matters Coalition will be encouraging people to get vocal about death & dying issues during their dying matters awareness week.

Dying matters is a coalition set up through the UK National Council for Palliative Care which aims to raise awareness,  bring about greater public knowledge and encourage dialogue on death and dying.   

The events during awareness week aim to get the subject of death and dying out into  the public space and encourage people to think about and start communicating their feelings about death, dying and bereavement. The coalition believes that death should not be a conversation killer and that discussing final wishes  and planning for the end empowers the dying and helps those left behind cope with bereavement. Further details of dying matters awareness week can be found HERE  as can a short film depicting the benefit of open communication about death.

St Patrick’s Day -Closure

The Irish Hospice Foundation offices including the Therese Brady library will be closed for the St Patricks Day Bank Holiday on Wednesday March 17th.

We will reopen again at 9 am on Thursday March 18th.

Happy st Patricks day to all our library users!

Social Science Index & Health Business Index – Databases on trial

SocIndex & Health Business Full Text via EBSCO

Between now and April 9th the library has access to both Social Science Index with full text and Health Business full text on trial.

SocIndex with full text is an extensive sociology research database containing over 700 full text academic journals, more than 13,000 conference papers and proceedings and over 800 ebooks. Its coverage ranges from social psychology, research methods, gender studies, gerontology and social anthropology. Full details of title holdings can be found HERE  - Some titles of particular relevance are; Age & Aging – British Journal of Clinical Psychology – British Medical Journal – Clinical psychology & psychotherapy -  American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine -  Health Policy – Journal of  social work in end of life and palliative care.

Health Business Full Text covers over 130 full text titles in health management and administration as well as healthcare economics, personnel and marketing. A full list of titles is available HERE . Publications of note include; Harvard Business Review –  Behavioural Healthcare – Death Studies -  Total Quality Management

Access to these databases on site is cc via IP recognition but a username & password for off site access is available to external staff, researchers and students email laura.rooneyferris@hospice-foundation.ie  if you have not already received it.

Resource of the day

‘Theres an app for that’ is the theme of today’s resources so here are a few iphone apps for palliative care and general medical information

Pallimed blog App - Pallimed is a palliative care and end-of-life focused blog detailing research publications, news and current practice. All of this can be delivered to your phone with this app.

PubMed App  - PubMed content direct to your iphone.

Skyscape Medical Resources app - Medical resources and calculators

Librarian of the day

Since there is a ressurgence in  Alice in Wonderland inspired paraphenalia at the moment I thought I’d continue the theme with today’s librarian of the day. 

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) or Charles  Lutwidge Dodgson as he was born is best remembered for his literary output but was also a mathematician, a clergyman, a photography enthuasiast and…a librarian.

Following completion of his BA in mathematics at Christ Church College Oxford in 1854 Dodgson occupied the position of sub librarian there until 1857 when he began his MA in mathematics. It was during his time as sub librarian that Dodgson settled upon the pseudonym under which he would write the Alice books, the first of which ‘Alice’s adventures in wonderland’ was published in 1865.

To round up the librarian of the day feature here are a few more famous and infamous librarians from history - and a few we’d rather forget about.

 David Hume -  Described by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as “most important philosopher ever to write in English” served as librarian to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh from 1752 to 1757 when he resigned following pressure from religious zealots.     

Immanuel Kant - served as assistant Librarian of the Royal Castle Library in his native Koningsberg from 1766 to  1772.

Jacob Grimm of Grimms fairytales fame worked as librarian at Kasel Library, during which time he and his brother Wilhelm collected German folk tales.

And here are the ones we’re glad left the profession…

Mao Zedong - served as assitant librarian at Peking University before moving on to pursue ‘other interests’

J Edgar Hoover - Director of the FBI’s bureau of investigation from 1924 to 1972 worked as a cataloguer and clerk at the Library of Congress while studying at night.

Library quote of the day  ‘I’ve been drunk for about a week now, I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library’ F.  Scott Fitzgerald, ‘The Great Gatsby’  chapter 3.

Resource of the day

A few resources for general medical and health information today …

AIeHL - All Ireland electronic health library is a portal search site of Irish Health literature and reports. It features material from sources like the HSE, National Documentation Centre, Health Research Board and CARDI (Centre for Aging Research Ireland).

MedBioWorld – A general search site for medical information anf references.

Health EU - European Union health portal site covering health reports, symptom and disease specific information and healthcare policy and statistical documents from across the EU. Search results are broken down by country.    

MedTerms – A quick reference medical dictionary for locating terms.

Librarian of the day

Benjamin Franklin

American founding father, diplomat, writer, inventor and  face of the 100 dollar bill Benjamin Franklin, was also a librarian. Franklin left school at the age of 10 but he would become eternally linked to the pursuit of personal liberty and freedom of speech. After leaving school, Franklin was apprenticed to his half brother, a printer and publisher of the New England Courant. Franklin later acquired The Pennslyvania Gazette (around 1730) and between 1732-1757 his editorial skills and urbane writing style in the Gazette Magazine, General Magazine and the hugely successful Poor Richard’s Almanack initiated into common usage many well known American proverbs and sayings (largely on the virtues of frugality). Such titles heightened the distribution and popularity of serial publications. He would later attribute his ability to better himself to his time in the printing and publishing trade and among his achievements during this phase of life he is credited with establishing the first franchised printing shops. 

Franklin established America’s first lending library and the first free public library; The Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731 and it also served as the Library of Congress from the revolutionary war until 1800. Franklin served as its Librarian and then its secretary from 1746 to1757. His impact on the growth and development of libraries in America went further and he is also credited with contributing to the founding of America’s first medical library; The Pennslyvania Hospital Library, the Library of the American Philosophical Society and the University of Pennslyvania Library. He also contributed personal texts to the libraries of Harvard and Yale and at the time of his death in 1790 his personal library was said to have held 4276 volumes.

Library quote of the day;  ‘An original idea. That can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them’  Stephen Fry – The Liar (1991)