Disruption to electronic journals and the Cochrane Library 30th October

Due to essential maintenance work, the Wiley Online Library will be unavailable for 2 hours between 10:00 and 12:00 on Saturday the 30th of October.  During this time there will be no access to the Cochrane Library and all electronic journals hosted by the Wiley service, including the Journal of Advanced Nusing and Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.

24 hour access restored at the Richmond Library

The faulty swipe card reader at the Richmond Library has now been replaced and 24 hour access for all of our registered members has been restored.

NHS Evidence and Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Survey

NHS Evidence is teaming up with the RCN to conduct a survey to understand the information searching needs and behaviours of nurses and health care assistants (HCAs).  The survey explores how you access and use health and social care resources, including any barriers you have experienced.   

It should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete

Complete the survey online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RCN_survey

Alternatively, request a paper copy by emailing user.research@nice.org.uk

Richmond Library closed weekend of the 9th & 10th of October

Due to a technical problem with our swipe card access system, the Richmond Library at Northampton General Hospital will not be available for out of hours use.  The library will shut at 5 pm on Friday the 8th and reopen at 9 am on Monday the 11th.

We are expecting a replacement part to be delivered to us and installed on Monday the 8th and our twenty four hour access should be restored the same day.

In the mean time if you need access to the library service over the weekend, the library at Berrywood Hospital will still be open to registered users as normal (although stock at Berrywood has a different focus).

We apologise for any inconvience caused, but this is outside of our control.

Bloglines, Google Reader, Netvibes and Current Awareness

We have now finished the transfer of our current awareness services to Google Reader and Netvibes.

You can find our current awareness service aimed at NHS managers now on Google Reader. To make life easier, you can also subscribe to it and an email will be sent to you giving you the lastest updates once per day. To access that just follow this link and enter your email address (we won't use your address for anything else).

The rest of our current awareness services have now been transferred to Netvibes. Our netvibes site will allow you to keep up to date with the latest news, events, publications and even journal articles.

Advance Warning - Bloglines is closing

We currently use Bloglines for a number of current awareness services, but sadly the site is going to close on the 1st of October.

We are currently reviewing the Blogs we produce. Some will be transferred over to Google Reader and continue, whilst others will be replaced by our Netvibes service.

New Health Promotion Resources Bulletin Now Available

The Autumn issue of our bulletin is now available on the library website. In it you'll find the latest editions to our stock which include a Deluxe Occluded Artery Model, a Melanoma Awareness DVD, some resources on bullying, emotional well being, our new resource on macular degeneration & smoking, the Smokey Eyes Game Kit and more. You'll also find information on relevant leaflets (including news about the Dairy Council) and posters, as well as up coming health events.

Liberating the NHS White Paper: Information on Our Netvibes Site

We have updated our Netvibes site and added a new section on the NHS white paper. You'll find links to the DoH, King's Fund, NHS Evidence and other sites with information on the white paper, as well as feeds with the latest news and comment.

Our Netvibes site is an easy way to stay up to date with developments in UK healthcare and also has a number of other sections covering Primary Care & Commissioning, Public Health, Management, Mental Health, NHS IT and others, as well as national and local news.

New online information prescription service launched

A new on-line Information Prescriptions Service has been launched to help ensure that patients get the information they need, when they need it. The new service is available at www.NHS.uk/ips, and provides information on more than 100 long-term conditions. The Information Prescription can be printed, emailed to patients as a digital version and stored in the patient’s records.

The Information Prescription provides information on the diagnosis and management of various conditions, together with information on local resources and services available.

Furthermore, new e-learning and self-assessment tools are now available to help staff improve their information-giving skills. For further information and access to these tools, visit www.nhsemployers.org/longtermconditions

Library Services Annual Report Now Available

The 2009-10 annual report for the Library Service is now available. In it you can see a review of both developmental work and projects, as well as business as usual activity. We hope you'll find it of interest to see how the service has changed and what it has delivered over the last financial year.  You can find it in the publications section of our web site.

Berrywood Hospital Move

The move from Princess Marina to our new library at Berrywood Hospital is now nearly complete. All the stock and equipment has been transferred, books and journals are all on the shelves and (nearly) all our computers are up and running.  

The team have all worked very hard at ensuring the move went as smoothly as possible and we will be ready to open on Monday the 24th (although we've already had a number of visitors and our first "proper" customer!). There are still a few things left to finish, but we are almost there.

The new library looks really good and we are all really pleased with the design. The Berrywood Library is a fantastic new resource for our users and staff alike. Come and visit us soon!

Princess Marina Library is Moving to Berrywood Hospital

The library at Princess Marina Hospital will be moving to its new home to become the Berrywood Hospital Library.

There is likely to be some disruption to the service from Monday the 10th of May and then:

• Out of hours access at Princess Marina will not be available from the 10th of May
• The library will close on Thursday the 13th of May for packing and remain shut all of the following week for the actual move
• The new Berrywood Hospital Library will then open on Monday the 24th of May
• The Health Promotion Resources Service will be available, but inevitably there will be some disruption
• A full range of services will still be available from all the other library sites.

Please Note: The Health Promotion Resources Service will be staying at its location in the current Princess Marina Library for the short term. We expect this will also be moving later in the year. Details will be announced when we know more.