We are always keen to get feedback from our users. We want to know what we are doing right, what services you value, and, just as importantly, what we are getting wrong. Are there things we could do better? Things we don't do at all that you would find useful?
To this end we have created comments boards at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries and we are inviting you to leave us some feedback.
Good or bad, we would really like to know what you think about the services we offer, the resources we buy on your behalf and anything else relating to the library service.
Next time you come in please have a look at the feedback we are being left and if you have a minute, tell us what you think (you don't have to leave your name unless you would like us to respond). After all, it is your library service...
All of the libraries will be open as normal up to Friday the 22nd of December.
Berrywood Hospital Library will be staffed from Wednesday the 27th until Friday the 29th of December, and then will reopen on Tuesday the 2nd of January.
Isebrook Hospital Library will be closed after Friday the 22nd of December for the Christmas period and will reopen on Tuesday the 2nd of January. Please contact one of the other libraries if you require any help during this period.
The Richmond Library at Northampton General Hospital will be staffed from Wednesday the 27th until Friday the 29th of December, and then will reopen on Tuesday the 2nd of January.
24 hour access will be available to registered users as normal throughout the Christmas period at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries.
We would like to wish you a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. We look forward to seeing you in 2018.
In order to carry out some preparatory work for the installation of Wi-Fi, the networking team will have to take the Richmond Library completely offline.
This will happen at 8 am on Friday the 15th of December and means there will be no internet or network access (including printing and access to our self-issue machine) for up to 30 minutes.
Designed to make important research evidence easily accessible to clinicians, practitioners and managers, the NHS National Institute for Health Research have set up a service called Search Signals as part of their Dissemination Centre Portal.
Each week they publish three or four new ‘Signals’ – short summaries of health research that have appeared recently in peer-reviewed journals.
This is a free, open access site and is fully searchable. Anyone can sign up on the website to receive a monthly update of all Signals that are published, or choose to receive Signals in particular categories.There is also an RSS feed available.
This summer the Dissemination Centre launched a new product: ‘My Signals’, which gives different readers’ personal perspectives on research published in the Signals format. The latest of these has been selected by two surgeons.
Search Signals is a great way to keep up to date with short summaries of the latest evidence and expert commentary. Highly recommended.
For all of December we are having a trial of the Wiley Medicine and Nursing Journals collection.
The collection features over 400 full text journal titles (you can find the full list online here) covering acute medicine, mental health, nursing and research with titles available including :
Birth
British Journal of Psychology
Cancer
British Journal of Surgery
International Journal of Dermatology
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Journal of Clinical Nursing
International Journal of Mental Health Nursing
Nursing in Critical Care
Prescriber
To access any of the titles in the collection all you need is your OpenAthens password (you can register for one here if you don;t have an account).
All of our journal content is available via two different routes:
If you are interested in viewing a particular title, simple go to the Journals A-Z list and log in. You can then browse or search for any journal.
If you are more interested in finding out information on a topic you will needs to use the HDAS (Healthcare Databases Advanced Search) Service and conduct a search (don't forget we can help you with that too).
The video below from our NHS library colleagues at Mid Yorkshire Hospital gives a great overview of the variety of content available (but please don't contact them if you have any problems!).
We have seen recently that NHFT staff don't always find it easy to access the systems they need when they are out of the office.
To try and make life a little bit better we have set up two of our computers at the Berrywood Library so that NHFT staff can use their own login and access clinical systems, shared drives and anything else they would normally find on their office PC.
You can also use the NHFT corporate WiFi at the Berrywood and Isebrook libraries if you have a mobile device.
If you need access when you are out and about, the library at Berrywood offers another place you can work. Best of all, if you register as a library member you can use this facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (and you may just find we can help you with other things too!).
"If only I knew how to find the right evidence..."
Need to find information to support your clinical practice? Need to make a decision but can't find the
supporting evidence? Starting a course but can't find the study material? Found the evidence but unsure what it means? Going through nursing re-validation? We can help.
Our courses are free to access for staff and attached students from Northamptonshire Healthcare and Northampton General Hospital.
They are aimed at both clinicians and managers who want to be able to find, evaluate and use the best possible evidence to support their decision making.
So what do we offer?
Tailored sessions
If you can't make one of our workshops we can arrange a one-to-one session with you, either at one of the libraries or in your place of work if it is suitable.
We can created a tailored session for your team or department and deliver it in any suitable location. From a 10 minute update on the library service to a full three hour training session, just let us know what you need.
Our scheduled workshops
The PreCourse Course If you are returning to study, or starting a formal academic programme for the first time, our PreCourse Course may be just what you need. This three hour workshop is designed to give you the information skills you need to make you studies that bit easier. The session cover things like finding the material on your reading lists, using databases and how to identify good quality information. It also covers searching for evidence and guidelines and how to access electronic journals. Everything you should need to get you started.
Literature Searching If you need to access primary research, our literature searching course may be the answer. This will enable you to effectively search a number of databases such as Medline, HMIC (healthcare management) or the British Nursing Index through the NHS's HDAS interface. We'll show you how to search, save your results and even access full text journal articles, straight from the databases.
Critical Appraisal Skills Once you have found the evidence, you need to know what it means and if you can rely on it, and that is where our critical appraisal skills sessions come in.Our Introduction to Critical Appraisal workshop will take you through the statistics, terminology and process, while our highly interactive Critical Appraisal in Action session gives you the opportunity to appraise a research article in a group facilitated by one of our librarians.
If you are a nurse undergoing revalidation, try our Evidence into Practice course. It offers the opportunity to refresh (or learn) your skills in searching for the latest evidence, while finding information that is relevant to your day to day work.Come to the course with a question related to your scope of practice and go away not only with updated skills, but also with evidence to feed back in to your department. You will log 2 hours and 30 minutes of CPD time and at the end of the session will complete one of the 5 reflective accounts required by the NMC for revalidation, based on what you have learned.
Health Education England have organised a trial of the Ovid EMcare database as part of the plan to re-procure the NHS national core content (electronic journals and databases available to all NHS staff in England) in 2019.
Depending on the results of the trial HEE may decide to procure EMcare along side, or instead of, the CINHAL database currently available.
For the trial HEE are particularly interested in the database interface and how easy you find it to search (the full text content is not actually accessible).
Clinical Overviews are a quick and easy way to find evidence-based answers to your clinical questions.
Whenever you do a search in Clinical Key if there is a topic overview it will appear as the first result and also in a box on the right of the page.
Clinical Overviews are not book or journal content; they are concise, easily scannable summaries which include evidence-based information, current guidelines, and the latest advances on medical conditions. Clinical Overviews are tailored for clinicians.
The following topics have been added in November:
Anaphylaxis
Bronchiolitis
Choledochal cyst
Craniosynostosis
Digoxin, digitoxin, and other cardiac glycoside toxicity
Ethylene glycol toxicity
Lung cancer (non-small cell)
Mitral valve prolapse
Open-angle glaucoma
Viral meningitis
Books
Elsevier have also added new electronic books to Clinical Key this month, including:
Did you know the library has a number of different free apps available to give you easy access to lots of our electronic content?
Do you want to know more about accessing electronic journals, books or databases? Have you had problems with registering for an OpenAthens password? We can help.
The library is holding a drop-in session between 12 and 2 on Wednesday the 15th of November, in Seminar Room 1, Cripps Postgraduate Centre, Northampton General Hospital.
You can also bring along any problems or questions you may have about anything to do with making the best use of our electronic resources (or indeed anything else library-related).
To save time (and your data!), please pre-install the app(s) you are interest in on your device and we would be happy to help you set them up during the session.
If you have any questions please contact the Library. We'd be 'appy to see you on the 15th...
Due to staff training Berrywood Library will not be staffed until 10:45 on Tuesday the 7th of November (out of hours access is available as normal to registered members).
Produced by Public Health England, the Fingertips site contains a broad selection of health profiles
containing a large number of statistical indicators across a range of health and wellbeing themes.
The profiles allow you to:
Browse indicators nationally, regionally or down to individual CCG level
Benchmark local data against regional or national averages
The King's Fund have created a short video, How does the NHS work? An alternative guide, to give a snapshot of how the NHS is currently structured and the changes it is currently working on to improve both patient care and sustainability.
The guide gives you a clear overview of the structure of the NHS in 2017 and the wide variety of organisations that are involved in the management and inspection of services and the care of patients, as well as current changes and developments.
If you have every wondered what an STP or ACS is, or want to know more about the Five Year Forward View, this short animation will give you the answers.
Good news! All of our public workstations at the Richmond Library, Northampton General Hospital are going to be replaced with new computers.
There will inevitably be some disruption when this work happens, but it does mean our users should get greatly improved performance from all of our computers.
We will be letting everyone know as soon as we have a confirmed date for the replacement to start.
It's back! We are holding a sale of books recently withdrawn from our stock, starting at 9 am on Monday the 16th of October at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries.
On offer will be a variety of titles, including previous editions of textbooks as well as other items covering lots of different subjects and disciplines.
There are some real bargains to be had but they do tend to sell quickly so we advise you to get here early in the week for maximum choice. Everything must go!
The Stoptober site is a really useful site for anyone thinking of quitting and you even have the option of announcing your intention to give up via the social media sharing options.
Given that if you stop smoking for 28 days you are 5 times more likely to quit for good, Stoptober is the perfect opportunity to start stopping for good...
Phew! The Library Stampers have completed the 100 day Global Challenge so time to soak those aching feet in a big bowl of water and contemplate our achievements over a nice cuppa.
Collectively we covered 3,356 miles by walking, swimming or cycling and we arrived at our final location of Warsaw in Poland…which has the world’s tallest four faced clock tower!
Along the way we completed several mini challenges for example taking 75,000, 100,000 or 125,000 steps in 5 days. Several of our team even completed over 1 million steps each and as a team we completed over 7 million steps; that’s a lot of walking!
Reflecting back on the Challenge, it was fun to be part of a team and to give and receive encouragement from others. It definitely raised awareness of how much (or how little) exercise/walking some of us were doing each day however sometimes it was quite a challenge to fit in walking into each day. So, the experience in three words? Motivating, challenging, fun.
Where do we go from here? Find a balance between exercise, work and personal commitments so that fitness and general wellbeing are increased and to do less sofa surfing!
Due to a trust event, all the libraries will be unstaffed for the day on Monday the 2nd of October.
Access will still be available to registered members at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries via our swipe card system. Isebrook library will be unavailable.
All sites will reopen as usual on Tuesday the 3rd.
Interested in the latest research on sleep and sleeplessness? There is a brand new blog covering just this topic.
The Sleep Bulletin is produced by the Joint Education & Training library at Mid Cheshire Hospitals and will feature research articles around this topic. There isn't huge amounts of content on the blog yet but it will grow over time and is well worth a look if you have a professional (or personal) interest in sleep and insomnia.
Have you been conducting research or written a paper but have no idea where to get it published? Jane can help.
Jane, or to give the site its full name, Journal/Author Name Estimator, is an easy to use tool that can find journals that publish the sort of content you have written about.
Simply enter the title or abstract from your work (you can also search by keywords) into the search box and Jane will compare your text with the millions of articles indexed in Medline and recommend the journals which best match your area of interest.
Not only that, you can also use Jane to find relevant articles to cite in your paper by doing the same thing. You can also search for authors who's work best matches your area of interest.
Jane does not retain the information you supply for longer than it needs it to return a list of results. If you are worried about protecting your work there is also a scramble button. This arranges your content into alphabetical order, rendering it very hard to read for anyone else trying to intercept it, but making no difference to the search functionality.
Jane is a simple, versatile tool that is really helpful for those considering writing an article for publication, as well as those looking for a publisher.
Every two months our supplier sends us a selection of new publications on relevant health topics which are available for you to review and suggest titles for us to purchase (or sometimes, not to purchase!).
Mental health, counselling, psychology and psychotherapy
Nursing
...and many more
Of course we are always happy to have recommendations for new stock on any health related topic.
You can also find a list of titles we have recently purchased (including previous On Approvals) on our web site and all of our stock via the library catalogue.
The Libraries will be unstaffed on Monday the 28th of August for the bank holiday.
Access will still be available for registered members via our swipe card system at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries (just don't forget to bring your library card!), but Isebrook Library will be closed.
We reopen as normal on Tuesday the 30th at all of our sites.
Clinical Key is a great resource containing lots of full text content and a host of other features. Aimed at practising clinicians, it's a really useful way to access evidence based information.
If you are a junior doctor, consultant, nurse or AHP, Clinical Key will have something to offer you.
Everything is discoverable using a simple search engine that recognises medical terminology and offers quick short cuts to the information you need.
The search engine offers a number of simple filters to increase the accuracy of your results and you can also select the type of content you want (books, journal articles, guidelines, etc.). You can also browse for specific titles if you know what you are looking for.
Full text content includes
1,400 topic pages giving an overview of disease diagnosis, risk factors, treatment and more
Over 600 electronic journals covering a broad range of specialities including the whole Lancet series
On top of all this content, Clinical Key also has a Presentation Maker which allows you to take images and add them to a PowerPoint presentation which you can download. It will even automatically add references as you go.
You can access Clinical Key online at www.clinicalkey.com, (and the site adapts well if you are using a tablet or smartphone). There is also a free app that allows for easy use on the go for Android and iOS (Apple) devices.
To access Clinical Key (and the app) all you need is your OpenAthens password (register online here if you don't have one) to get started. If you register for an account on Clinical Key once you have logged in you will also be able to save your searches and content.
We’re now half way through the 100 day 2017 Global Challenge and The Library Stampers have been ‘stepping out’ and building up the step count; 4,266,884 steps to date. It’s about time for a short rest and a cup of tea to contemplate the journey so far, and to give ourselves a little pat on the back.
The team have (virtually) walked across America to Canada, then back down and admired the Statue of Liberty, sunbathed in Cuba, hung out with the Sloths in the Amazon Jungle, took in the view from Table Mountain in Cape Town and have now reached the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.
Along the way we have been collecting more virtual trophies for setting and beating personal bests, completing mini challenges set by the Global Challenge organisation and setting personal step milestones such as 500,000 steps. We are also in the Trust's top 10 most improved teams.
The last 50 days have made us more aware of how much (or how little exercise) we do each day and how it can be tricky fitting it in between the daily commute and a desk job.
The Global Challenge is also about general health and wellbeing and provides useful information, hints and tips on improving nutrition, mindfulness and sleep quality. We may be tired but we're looking forward to the next 50 days!
Due to an essential software upgrade to our Library Management System there will be some disruption to our online catalogue from 4 pm on Monday the 24th of July and overnight. The upgrade process is scheduled to finish late morning on Tuesday the 25th of July after some testing.
During this period library staff will also not be able to access the system.
You will still be able to search for items (although some periods of disruption where there is no access are possible), but you will not be able to log in, reserve or renew items.
Our self-issue machines will also be out of action, but you will still be able to borrow items or request the renewal of a current loan.
There will also be some disruption to out of hours access and users may find they are unable to swipe into the libraries at Berrywood and Northampton General over night.
In 2016, the Health Foundation teamed up with the Empathy Museum to develop a collection of stories from people working in, and using, health and social care in the UK. With each story that was shared, the individual donated a pair of shoes.
A Mile in My Shoes is an interactive shoe shop that invites you to step into someone else’s shoes and embark on a mile-long physical, emotional and imaginative journey to see the world through their eyes.
This collection of stories showcases the remarkable contribution and challenges faced by those working in, and using, our health and social care system.
The previous versions produced by NICE will soon stop being updated and so it is important to install the new one in order to ensure you are using the latest information.
The good news is that the new version has been completely redesigned and no longer requires you to log in with an OpenAthens password. The app is being made freely available to any non-commercial users in the UK (it is not available outside the UK)
The new version also contains all the information from both the BNF and the BNFC in a single interface (you can select which you want from a drop down menu).
The app can be configured to automatically update itself (which is does on a monthly basis) so you can always be sure you are using the most current information.
There is also an evidence grading feature where you can see the strength of the evidence behind recommendations within the content.
The app is currently available for iOS (Apple) and Android devices. There is no Windows phone version at present.
Educator Hub is a new e-learning resource aimed at educators and supervisors of doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals and healthcare scientists that has recently gone live.
The content, which is hosted on the Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) Hub, includes both academic and video-based practical modules, such as supervision, feedback, workplace based assessments and Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP).
These have been migrated from HEE Kent, Surrey, Sussex's e-Training for Trainers (etft) platform together with London's Multi-professional Faculty Development modules. Complementary content from other regions will also be included to produce a national resource.
Modules are linked to the new 'Professional Development Framework for Educators' which is being adopted in London and South East in the first instance. The framework domains map to professional regulatory standards for education and training including HEE's Quality Framework standards and are applicable to all educators working in clinical practice and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as guidance for best practice.
Nearly 50 modules will be available initially, with complementary resources from elsewhere to be included in due course. All the resources are free to access (just browse the catalogue of modules). Registration with the site allows you to track your learning, provide feedback and keep copies of certificates of completion.
After a break last year, the Trust has submitted another selection of teams to the 2017 Global Corporate Challenge and once again the Library Service has answered the call.
The Library Stampers are a team made up of people from all the library sites and contains some staff who completed the challenge in 2015 and some who are completely new to it.
The Global Corporate Challenge sees teams from across the world measuring their physical activity for 100 days which is translated into progress on a virtual trip across the globe.
Starting at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Library Stampers are taking a virtual walk across the Americas. By day 28 the team has crisscrossed the US and Canada, and made it to Santiago de Cuba, having done over 2,236,300 steps
With a higher than average daily step count, for both the competition and our Trust, the team are making great progress on their world virtual tour, winning (virtual) trophies, increasing their daily amount of exercise (and beginning to wear holes in the library floors...).
We have had access to staff WiFi for some time but there is now WiFi freely available for visitors at the Berrywood and Isebrook libraries (and throughout the hospitals).
To connect your device simple turn on the WiFi, select NHFT-Guest and open your web browser. Enter your email address and once you have accepted the terms and conditions you will be connected.
You connection will last for up to two hours after which you may need to re-select the guest WiFi.
Clinical Key has a new export citation feature. This will enable you to make better use of your search results by selecting and exporting references, allowing you to store, organise and share them.
Researchers who often develop their own database of citations may find this new feature particularly useful.
When you have searched Clinical Key you will find the citation export icon against each reference.
You can then export you citation(s) from Clinical Key in several different formats and you can chose to include abstracts or just the bibliographic reference. Formats available from Clinical Key are:
RIS for End Note, Reference Manager, Procite and Menderley
Due to staff training, Richmond Library at NGH will be closed from 9.00am to 1.00pm on Thursday 8th June.
Access will still be available to registered members via our swipe card system and Isebrook and Berrywood Libraries will be open and staffed as normal.
All the libraries will be unstaffed on Monday the 29th of May for the bank holiday
24 hour access is available as usual to our registered members by swiping in using your library card at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries. We reopen as normal on Tuesday the 30th at all of our sites.
Our IT team has worked its magic and our access to email is now fully restored.
It may take a while for us to get around to replying to everything that has been waiting since Friday so please bear with us.
We have also found there are some problems with some of the emails received up until now too, so if it is really urgent, you might want to resend it or give us a call instead.
This also means you should again start to receive email and text reminders if your loans have become overdue.
Every two months our supplier sends us a selection of new publications on relevant health topics which are available for you to review and suggest titles for us to purchase (or sometimes, not to purchase!).
Of course we are always happy to have recommendations for new stock on any health related topic.
You can also find a list of titles we have recently purchased (including previous On Approvals) on our web site and all of our stock via the library catalogue.
The Trust email system is still currently out of action so we are unable to send out either email or text (SMS) reminders for overdue items. Instead, we will be posting overdue notices this week.
If you have a book that you think might be due back soon, please check the date stamp label in the front. Alternatively, you can also log into the library catalogue to check your due date(s) and renew any of your loans.
We also have the Bookmyne app (available for Apple and Android devices) which allows you to manage all of your loans and search our catalogue.
Of course you can also pick up the phone and call one of the libraries if you have any questions about your book loans (or anything else).
Due to the ongoing issue with the global cyber-attack, we currently do not have access to email (although all of our other systems are fine).
The Trust was unaffected by the attack itself, but are taking precautions to manage the situation.
We will let you know when our email is available again. In the mean time if you need anything you can call the Berrywood, Isebrook or Richmond libraries.
We are always keen to get feedback from our users. We want to know what we are doing right, what services you value, and, just as importantly, what we are getting wrong. Are there things we could do better? Things we don't do at all that you would find useful?
To this end we have created comments boards at the Berrywood and Richmond libraries and we are inviting you to leave us some feedback. 
