What do you think of when you hear the word ‘library’?

Maybe you think of shelves of books? Well, although we love books (and by the way we do have shelves of books!) did you know this is a tiny part of what DCH library offers? Did you know there is a wealth of other resources and services available to you?

Here’s what you need to know:

  • As well as our print resources, clinical and medical staff also have access to clinical decision support tools like UpToDate and BMJ Best Practice (both available from the Trust intranet homepage) as well as a host of e-journals and e-books on ClinicalKey – https://www.clinicalkey.com/  and much more!
  • To access our e-resources you’ll need an OpenAthens username and password – self-registration is easy and available at https://openathens.nice.org.uk/
  • We can set up evidence alerts in your specialty/interests – let us know your professional interests and we’ll match these to the evidence base and send you fortnightly alerts with relevant high-level evidence. Sign up here
  • We also offer workshops on a variety of topics including:
  • study skills (first Tuesday of every month),
  • evidence searching,
  • basics of critical appraisal,
  • reflective reading and writing,
  • referencing
  • and health literacy
  • We also conduct evidence searches and summaries – just email us at library.office@dchft.nhs.uk with your question!
  • If we don’t hold a book or article that you are trying to get hold of we probably know a library that does and we are usually able to supply it to you. Our popular inter library lending and document supply service is quick and efficient as we belong to a large network of NHS libraries called SWIMS – you can view the SWIMS catalogue here
  • We also have a button on the Trust intranet homepage which takes you to our Discovery Service – basically you can search all our resources in one place – available here
  • There is also a small fiction section and a popular wellbeing corner and resources.
  • The Library is staffed between Monday and Thursday, 8.30am-5pm and Friday, 8.30am-4.30pm. But with your cotag you can access the library 24/7!

Better Value Better Care

Drop in to the Children’s Centre Seminar Room on Friday 6th November between 10.30am and 12.30pm, where the Library Team will be demonstrating a range of information resources such as Clinical Key. All NHS staff are eligible for an OpenAthens password, which facilitates literature searching and gives access to full-text documents, ebooks and much more, ensuring that you’re never more than a click away from vital, up-to-date information.