Assessment of Library Services at Top-performing Pediatric Hospitals in the Southeast United States

Objectives: Compare and contrast the structure and function of librarians and library services using a convenience sample of pediatric hospitals in the southeast based on the rankings from the Regional US News Best Children’s Hospitals and Magnet status. This approach is intended to determine how librarians and library services at hospitals that are recognized by the above programs differ from those that are not recognized.

Methods: A convenience sample of participants chosen from the Children's Hospital Association directory. Hospital librarians or representatives on the list were e-mailed a REDCap survey for basic demographic information. The surveys were followed by telephone interviews to collect more detailed information on library services and how they function within the institution. Resulting information was benchmarked with the Canadian Hospital Library Association Levels of Health Library Service and the Medical Library Association Standards for Hospital Libraries. Results were compared and contrasted based on Regional US News Best Children’s Hospitals ranking and Magnet status.

Results:
Nineteen librarians were contacted in the southeast between November 2021 and February 2022. Ten librarians completed the survey and nine participated in follow-up interviews for a 52% response rate. Those librarians work in urban hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. All but four hospitals are ranked on the U.S. News and World Report list or have Magnet status. Academic affiliation and teaching hospital status are mixed. Seventy percent are affiliated with an academic institution, 60% are teaching hospitals, and only 3 have both. Regarding the MLA and Canadian standards, the ones that a librarian can control within their job scope are met. The ones that are driven by administration were not always met fully. Only one library meets all of the standards.

Conclusions:
The results are mixed. There are libraries in our sample who do not have rankings or designations yet meet the library standards and vice versa so it is difficult for us to confidently say that having these designations influences library and librarian services, or that librarians influence these designations. All librarians felt they were supported by administration and were meeting job requirements. Our findings show that librarians are truly trying to serve their clinicians to the best of their abilities as resources allow. When asked what they would wish for their libraries all respondents wanted more staff and more funding for resources.