Health Library News

  Whether you’re an undergraduate tackling your first systematic search, a postgraduate refining a dissertation, or a researcher navigating complex evidence resources, literature searching can feel overwhelming. Choosing the right databases, building effective search strategies and documenting your methods all take time and specialist knowledge. The Health Library is here to help students and researchers find the evidence they need, faster and with confidence. Our online information skills etutorials are designed to help you build strong searching skills, whenever and wherever you need them. Our bite‑sized tutorials guide you through: Turning your topic into a clear search question Choosing the right health databases Using keywords, subject headings, and boolean operators Searching effectively for articles, reviews and research evidence Saving, refining, and documenting your searches Perfect for students at all levels and busy researchers, the etutorials are flexible, pra...

 If you’re an early career researcher in nursing or medicine, you’ve already got enough on your plate—balancing clinical work, study, and the steep learning curve of research. That’s exactly why we’ve put together the Health Library’s Researchers’ Toolkit for NHS staff . It’s a one-stop hub designed to make your research journey smoother, faster, and a whole lot less overwhelming. Whether you’re planning your first study, polishing a dissertation, managing an audit, working on a quality improvement project or trying to make sense of the world of publication, the Toolkit is packed with practical, bite-sized guidance to help you get there confidently. You’ll find: Information about the Health Library to help you prepare Help in constructing your research question Step-by-step support for literature searching, critical appraisal, and referencing Links to trusted resources tailored to healthcare research Help with writing and publishing Think of it as your research companion—always acc...

 Whether you're settling into university life, juggling clinical placements, or stepping into your first professional role, one thing is clear: being able to find, judge, and use information confidently is a game‑changer. That’s where the Health Library’s Information Skills eTutorials come in. These short, practical online modules are designed to help you build the research and information‑handling skills you’ll rely on throughout your studies and your healthcare career—and you can complete them anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Why bother with information skills? Searching for good information can sometimes feel overwhelming. Databases, keywords, journals, evidence hierarchies, critical appraisal… It’s a lot. But strong information‑seeking skills don’t just make assignments easier—they make you a safer, more informed healthcare practitioner. Reliable evidence underpins everything from clinical decisions to patient education, and the sooner you feel comfortable navigating it, t...

 The literature search request forms - for both clinical and non-clinical topics - have been updated. You can now request your literature search to be limited by patient group, by age range. selection of age range limits Simply select the age range you are interested in. You can select more than one but leave clear if not applicable. You'll find the request forms on our website: Literature search request - clinical topics Literature search request - non-clinical topics

A message from nhse regarding the impact of the US gov shutdown on pubmed and medline: -------------- If you have visited a US government funded website in the past few days, you may have noticed a warning like this: "Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov . Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov ." What does this mean for NHS users? If you subscribe to auto-alerts from PubMed or Medline (from either of our commercial suppliers, Ovid or EBSCO), you may notice that you don’t receive any new records for a couple of weeks. If the shut-down lasts for longer than anticipated, cons...

  In early July the interface for the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub will have a new look and functionality; using EBSCO’s new user interface. Ahead of the change we have been alerted that if users have created search alerts saved searches in customer folders saved bibliographic details of items they need to take steps to help their information carry over to the new system. Take these steps now to be ready for the change. It is advisable to do this before 1 st July.   1)    Search Alerts Search alerts will not carryover to the new system. Instead – users are advised to find their alert and save it as a saved search instead. Once the new interface is live, the search can be re-run and users should be able to set up a new alert. How do I save my search alert as a saved search instead? Go to the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub and sign in with your NHS OpenAthens account. Click on ‘Folder’ in the blue section at the top of the screen You will be ...