Reflections from New Zealand: Counties Manukau's COVID-19 journey

Murgatroyd, P. (2020). Reflections from New Zealand: County Manukau's covid-19 journey. <i>Journal of Health Information and Libraries Australasia</i>, <i>1</i>(2), 54-57.Link to full textIn the words of the NZ Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, we made an early decision to “Go hard and go early” and close the physical library to the public and suspend circulation and borrowing of print materials. We allowed library staff who were themselves vulnerable, or who had vulnerable family members, to work remotely before the country moved to level 1. In line with government directives, all staff that were able to work from home were encouraged to do so as soon as NZ moved into lockdown. We ensured there was still physical access to the print collection 24/7 for hospital staff and a simple process put in place for self-issue of materials. Library furnishings were rearranged and signage put in place to ensure social distancing and hand sanitisers and cleaning materials were readily available.Even though the library team was not physically present in the library space, library services did not cease nor was there any barrier to staff accessing any parts of our print or digital collection. Arguably the library team was busier than we had ever been and our value to the organisation more critical.We curated and disseminated the latest evidence to support the COVID-19 response to clinical leads and service managers and responded to a wide range of research questions to contribute to our organisational response to both clinical and service level decisions. As an organisation, there was a requirement to move fast, be agile in our thinking, and to embrace new ways of working to provide care across our community.