Library mixes a range of learning ingredients
Library at Central Gippsland Health Service (Sale)
Librarian, Helen Reid, introduces the Sale library which encourages lots of noisy discussion, coffee and pizza.
Through the night, all weekend and of course across each weekday, the lights are on in the library at Central Gippsland Health Service (Sale).
Daytime observations reinforce after-hours access reports of a cross section of disciplines and tiers of students and staff individually and in groups sharing this research and study space.
Library staff encourage food, noise, talk. Group forays for take-away coffee are common as are after-hours deliveries of pizza to the Library door. The water cooler use is a constant. Sustenance is necessary for long day and late night research and study.
Noisy talk is group learning; or communication and teamwork. Quiet study is through ear-plugs and surround sound head-sets.
The food culture and noise enhances sharing across groups and disciplines. Knowledge sharing from group to group (pharmacist to medical student, intern to registrar, home support to nurse, business analyst to allied health practitioner) quickly evolves. Groups meet, mix and move amidst an ethos of knowledge, professional development and ad hoc tutoring. New staff and placement students rapidly become socially engaged and discover collegially the offers of regional learning and living.
Clearly the outcomes are positive. The Sale experience provides opportunity across disciplines to taste the offerings of a regional health service. Many in the mix remain and others consistently return to Sale.
The experience gives method to the full patient care recipe; albeit the occasional spilt coffee or empty pizza boxes.