Over the last 25 years, health library collections and working practices have shifted in response to an increasingly digital world. As a result, there is a need to examine the continuing role of physical library space in health care environments. There is also a need to consider changes made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic when health librarians found themselves providing essential information services from home, disconnected from physical libraries, at a time when health professionals urgently needed reliable and high-quality information. This study examined the impact of the pandemic and recent evidence about library space in health care settings. We explored the role of physical libraries in health care settings as we emerge from the pandemic into a new normal.

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent stay at home orders, libraries in health services across Australia moved to virtual service models with limited or unstaffed physical libraries. This article considers the impact of the pandemic on physical library space in clinical environments. To investigate, seven interviews were conducted with library leaders from the Australian health care sector at the end of the momentous year of 2020 – as the country caught its breath following the initial waves of the virus.