IT problems at the Richmond Library

We have had significant IT issues at the Richmond Library recently since we replaced our public PCs with newer machines with Windows 10 installed.

This has led to some technical problems with them and has seen a number of our computers having to be taken away by IT and rebuilt, which has in turn impacted our users with less PCs being available.

We did not anticipate the move to newer computers with Windows 10 would cause as many problems as it has (we had trialled the system for a month at the Berrywood Library without incident).

IT are now taking the remaining PCs away in batches and reinstalling Windows 7 which we know was stable and not causing problems whilst they look for a permanent solution.

This should be completed shortly and we hope to have all of our PCs available again.

We now also have free WiFi access so you are able to bring your own devices into the library.

We understand this has caused problems for some of our users and would like to apologise for the inconvenience. IT are working hard on a solution and we hope to have normal services resumed soon.

Disruption to power at the Richmond Library, Monday the 29th of January

Due to essential electrical systems testing there will be disruption to the power supply at the Richmond Library on the morning of Monday the 29th of January.

From 9 am the power to the whole library will be off  and computers etc. will be unavailable.

The disruption is likely to last for about an hour.

Apologies for any inconvenience. 

New clinical overviews and books added to Clinical Key

Clinical Overviews

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 January:

• Atopic dermatitis/eczema
• Branchial cleft cyst
• Cocaine toxicity
• Dental caries
• Developmental dysplasia of the hip
• Fallopian tube malignancy
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Noonan syndrome
• Obesity in adults
• Osteoporosis
• Photodermatitis
• Respiratory distress syndrome in neonates
• Rheumatic fever
• Rotator cuff disorders
• Rubeola
• Ulcerative colitis

Books

Elsevier have also added new electronic books to Clinical Key this month, including:

• Ferri’s Fast Facts in Dermatology (Ferri, Fred) 2nd ed 
• Hematopathology: A Volume in Foundations in Diagnostic Pathology Series (Hsi, Eric) 3rd ed
• Pain Management Secrets (Argoff, Charles) 4th ed
• Rothman-Simeone and Herkowitz’s The Spine (Garfin, Steven) 7th ed

Clinical Key is a fantastic, easy to use resource that contains huge amounts of full text content including:

• 1,400 topic pages
• Over 600 electronic journals 
• Over 1000 electronic books
• 850 First Consult monographs
• 17,000 + medical / surgical videos
• 300 + Procedures Consult videos
• 15,000 patient education handouts
• 2.2 million images
• You can find a full content list here

To access Clinical Key all you need is your OpenAthens password (register online here if you don't have one) to get started.

Disruption to OpenAthens Services Tuesday 9th of January

Due to essential maintenance, there may be disruption to the OpenAthens service nationally from 7 am - 9 am (and possibly later) on Tuesday the 9th of January. 



This is to ensure OpenAthens users are protected against the recently announced security flaw identified in “virtually every modern computer, including smartphones, tablets and PCs from all vendors and running almost any operating system"

The OpenAthens self registration pages may be unavailable and there could be disruption to the Journals A-Z or HDAS (databases) and to access for services such as ClinicalKey for the duration of the maintenance.

Apologies for any inconvenience...

Our short loans are getting longer!

After feedback from some of our users we have decided to increase the loan period for all of our books that are currently available for 1 week.

As of January the 2nd they will be available for 2 weeks at at time (our 6 week items will remain unchanged).

It will take a while for us to re-label all the stock, but after the 2nd all books from our 7 day collection will be 14 day items, even if the label says otherwise.

We hope you find having the books for a longer loan helpful...

Web site of the month: eLfH - How to search for literature effectively

The Library Service offers regular training workshops and one-to-one sessions on literature searching, but if you have trouble making those, or just need a quick refresher, Health Education England's e-Learning for Healthcare programme can help.

There are currently three short modules on offer (each around 20 minutes in length) that give you a good introduction to the basic of literature searching:

• Module 1 Introduction to searching
• Module 2 Where do I start searching?
• Module 3 How do I start to develop a search strategy?

Each module can be used for reference or you can complete the whole thing to obtain a certificate (good for evidence of CPD!).

There are more modules currently in development, but if you want a good place to start to develop or refresh your searching skills, these modules might be just the thing.

You can also find a whole suite of videos on YouTube from NICE showing how to use the HDAS interface for searching the literature. 

How are we doing? New comments boards for your feedback

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...

Christmas opening at the libraries

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.

Brief network outage at the Richmond Library, Friday 15th of December

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.

We apologise for the inconvenience. 

Web site of the month: NIHR Search Signals

NIHR Search Signals

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.

Trial of the Wiley Medicine and Nursing Journals collection

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!).

Please let us know if you have any feedback on the collection or need any help with access.

Improved access to NHFT systems at Berrywood Hospital Library

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!).