Same old, same old

Research and Development had a bit of a spring clean recently and found some notes for a library user group meeting held back in March 2001. Much has changed since then - not least the library user group closing - but much has stayed the same.

The notes show that 24 hour access was the top of the agenda. The situation now is the same as it was then - we're housed in an old building that is a little off site, and is vulnerable to break in and vandalism. There is therefore no out of hours access. Eventually there will be a new library, and rooms offering 24 hour access are right at the top of the wish list. They will probably be study rooms or computer rooms, rather than access too books and journals. Some books and journals are, of course, available 24 hours online with Athens.

In 2001 we proudly announced 12 (yes - twelve) online full text journals. Now we have over 1000 to offer you. In 2001 there were concerns over lack of databases for literature searching, now we offer you seven different databases through NLH.

In those days databases were bought on CD and copied onto the library servers for use on the library network. Eventually a select few pilot sites were granted access outside the library! The user group was busy discussing pay as you surf internet access. Now, of course, the library is on the Trust next work and everyone can access intranet and internet for free, and all the databases you need are internet-based. What progress!

In 2001 we were just finding our feet with offering training for you on literature searching. We started advertising courses in the Trust Training Prospectus and and handing out certificates to people who completed training. Now we offer very little training, as a team restructure left us without the relevant team members to train.

The issue of quiet study space over a space where people can chat still rumbles on. Again, we still lack the space to offer separate areas for different uses. Keep your fingers crossed for that new library where break out rooms are heading the wish list.

Finally, the user group asked about bibliographic software including Reference Manager or Endnote. We declined to buy it then, and don't buy it now, simply because demand is very low.

We no longer have a user group - sadly, it died young. However, its ghost lives on as we are always happy to have feedback, suggestions, compliment and complaints from you through any of our contact channels. You could even leave a comment on the blog!

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A brief history of books in libraries

Prehistory. Ugh?

Ancient and Classical world. Scrolls? Yes. Are you a member?

Mediaeval. Book? Yes - over there, chained to the wall. Wash you hands before you look at it.

1439. Books? Yes - piles, thanks to that Gutenberg chap. What's that? You can't read? Oh well, never mind. Mass literacy will be upon us one day.

1700 - 1900s. Books? Certainly sir. Why not take one home with you to read it there? This is a modern circulating library, after all.

21st Century. Books? Books? Bless you, no, madam, this is a LIBRARY! Computers that way, CDs and DVDs that way, children's entertainment upstairs, cafe in the basement. Have you had a look at the art exhibition? Knit your own community classes start in 5 minutes in the foyer.

2008. Click, tap, tap, tap, click. Aha!

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Change is the only constant

Yesterday when I got home the sun was out, the sky was blue. I stood in the garden, admiring some saxifrages I had just planted. My husband was cooking dinner - which included the always cheerful sound of a cork being pulled - birds sang, and next door's cat came to say hello. I stood there and thought - why can't life always be like this?

The thing is that life goes on a bit - day in and day out for (hopefully) three score years and ten, and a little variety keeps us going. Which brings me neatly on to the various changes cropping up at the moment.

First up - Search 2.0. I've mentioned it before, it has now been released. If you recall it's the one stop shop for searching on the National Library for Health. It's new, it's an IT thing and it's the NHS, so can you guess what I'm going to say next? That's right - it has a few teething problems (most pressingly the nice red search 2.0 logo on the home page leads to a blank page...) But try it (you'll need to sign in with Athens first). Oh, and did I say Search 2.0? Because that's another change - it's now called NLH 2.0. The old Dialog Datastar search is still working for a couple of months, or you can go through PubMed, remembering to tell it you're with the NHS so you get your full text links.

Another NLH change is Hitting the Headlines. This was the handy service that looked at health stories in the news, identified the research behind them, and considered how well the news story had represented the facts. This service no longer exists, although the "archive" (library speak for "old stuff") is still available, hidden away under "News and RSS".

Hitting the Headlines has been replaced by Behind the Headlines, from NHS Choices. I've not had a good look at this service yet, but I note that it seems to cover more stories than Hitting the Headlines. I'm pleased to see it's available as RSS . I'll be adding the feed to my newsreader and posting useful items on the current awareness page.

I've also noticed that while I was away the BBC tweaked the look of their news pages, which is in addition to their rather nice home page, which can be customised.

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Save our searches

If you have been using library databases through Dialog Datastar you will have noticed the ominous red writing on the main page advising you that Dialog Datastar is being replaced with Search 2.0.

Hopefully this will be good news. It means that the way the databases look wont change every time a tender with a particular provider changes. The new interface will hopefully be nice and easy to use. It will also mean that the National Library for Health really is a one stop shop for all your online information needs so you need only bookmark, or remember, the one website address.

So that was the good news. The bad news is that if you have saved searches in Dialog they cannot be automatically transferred to Search 2.0. This may be a good opportunity to have a chuck out, rid your life of unwanted saved searches, and perhaps start afresh with some better quality searches. Heck - you could even ask a librarian for help on devising top notch searches to save.

The folks at NLH have drawn up some instructions. Sadly, I can't work out a way of attaching an ordinary Word file to this blog. Perhaps the instructions will be posted on NLH, in the meantime, please contact us (or your nearest NHS library) if you would like a copy.

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What's the magic word?

It's a pain, isn't it? You sit down of an evening, or a Sunday afternoon, thinking you'll do a literature search to find some papers to keep you up to date, support patient care, help with writing that essay or guideline. You're all settled, cup of tea by your side, maybe a chocolate biscuit or two. You go to the website and you think OH NO!!! I've forgotten my Athens password! Who you gonna call? Well, the library staff aren't there...so that means you just have to do something else, wait until the library opens, call, get a new password...and by then you've probably gone off the whole idea.

Fret not - there is another way. You can now go to My Athens, click on the "login help" link below where you would enter your username and password, click on "reset your Athens Password" under "forgotten passwords" then enter your username and email address.

Your username is the one that starts nhs, includes your initial and surname, and ends with some numbers. If you've forgotten that then you will need to contact us for a reminder.

The email is the one you put on the form when you registered. This is the address to which an email will be sent with instructions for changing your password. It will not work, therefore, if you registered with an email address that you have since abandoned. Nor will it work if you were sloppy in your typing of the email address, or if you typed in the wrong address. I've seen various versions of Essex Rivers email addresses - essexrivers.co.uk, essexhospital.nhs.uk, essex.nhs.uk, essa.essexrivers...and that's without the typing errors, the last name before the first name, first name appearing as an initial only... If you work for Essex Rivers your email looks like this - firstname.lastname@essexrivers.nhs.uk

If your email address is correct you will be emailed a link and be able to submit a new password. If you think your email address may be wrong then go to My Athens , click on My Account and fill in the boxes to change your email address. Go on - do it now, before you forget your password!

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Tea for two

Two is the number of the moment. It started with web 2.0. Roughly this is the idea that moved us from programmes and functions that were bought (expensively) and installed on a particular physical PC to things that can be obtained freely, shared and accessed at whichever PC you are sitting at. The buzzwords are "social" and "personal" - social because you can share your bookmarks, pictures or thoughts, personal because you can personalise everything to suit you.

After web 2.0 came library 2.0. Despite the bun, tweeds and pearls image that librarians angst about so much there is a sizeable part of the library community that is really rather techie. Libraries were early on the bandwagon of websites, intranets, blogs and wikis. The point f library 2.0 is meeting those we serve (that's you!) in the spaces where you like to hang out - it's about being customer-centred.

Now we're awaiting the coming of search 2.0. This will be the new way to search from the National Library for Health. It will mean all your Athens resources in one handy place.

So the first question is WHY? You've probably spent ages growing used to Dialog Datastar (the current "front end" for Medline, Cinahl et al) so why are we asking you to use something new?

The idea is that the suppliers of databases and search technology change from time to time as contracts expire. Future contracts will be with firms who will work with search 2.0. So search 2.0 will change, evolve, improve, make use of new technology as it comes along, but will remain fairly stable in the way it looks because it wont have to present the corporate face of Ovid or Dialog or whichever other supplier is used. Books and journals will be included in the search, and local resources as well as national ones.

The other big benefit should be that because it is partly "in house" plenty of notice should be taken of what librarians want from the search - and that means us passing on what you, the user, wants. So if you have a bright idea or a gripe or a niggle, let us know. After all, search 2.0 is all about you.

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Open the darned box!

I suppose some of you were too shy, or too busy, or wary of clicking strange links on the internet and so never found out what was in the box.

But the box is still there - so go on - take a look! See! It's full to the brim with online journals, brought to you by library elves. The BMJ is back, free, full text, online, for you. We're giving you the Lancet, Journal of Advanced Nursing, AMA Archives and the New England Journal of Medicine and much, much more.

All you need to do to gain access to this box of delights is sign up (if you haven't already done so) for an NHS Athens password.

Go on - treat yourself!

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What's in the box?

Christmas is creeping ever closer. Turkeys have been ordered, cakes made, trees decorated, and mysterious parcels appear under beds and in the darkest corners of wardrobes. There is only one question to ask when one stumbles upon such a parcel (because, naturally, you wouldn't go looking for them) and that is "what's in the box?"

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New resource for neurological conditions

The National Library for Health website now has a specialist library for neurological conditions. The library covers a range of conditions including epilepsy, MS, Parkinson's, dementia, stroke and sleep disorders.

The library is one of a collection at the National Library for Health. Others cover cancer, oral health, mental health, skin disorders, later life, trauma and orthopaedics and patient and public involvement.

Each library is a one stop shop for breaking news, guidelines, NSFs, patient information and evidence.

Remember, remember

This Bonfire Night NLH version 3.1 will appear - hopefully without any bangs, but with oohs and aahs of delight.

"NLH who?" I hear you say. This is the National Library for Health, which is growing and changing at a rate of knots. Version 3.1 gives you two extra facilities. When you search for guidance you will have an extra box to allow you to search for guidance from some overseas resources. Secondly, when you search for evidence based reviews, you'll be able to include Bandolier in your search.

More changes will follow as NLH continues to develop.

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A question of ethics

The library current awareness page now has a section on ethics. Recently I've been adding a lot of stories on the abortion debate to it. It struck me that many of the stories on ethics seem to be about preserving and protecting life, or meeting in a dignified way with death, at the beginning or end of life. If you were asked to give two examples of ethical debates in health what would you come up with? The two that leap to my mind are abortion and euthanasia.

This made me wonder what was the definition of ethics. My Shorter Oxford helpfully defines it as the science of morals...and then defines the science of morals as being to do with ethics.

I think it has to do with protecting the weak and vulnerable. Ethics are always interesting, perhaps it is also that we were all once born and will all eventually die so that cerebral debate on the rights of the terminally ill to die with dignity will one day become a very real set of decisions about your parent, or sibling, or you.

The other area of ethics in health is around animal welfare. Is it right that we should use animals to test drugs, shampoos, lipsticks, to ensure that we can use medicines and other products safely? Again, this seems to be to be an issue of protecting the vulnerable.

Beyond that, ethical questions arise when we learn how to do something new, and immediately we ask should we do it? I presume that in the past that impulse was a safety net. I have discovered that I can pull this animal's tail, put my hand in this fire or jump down this ravine. But are those actions wise? Will they harm me?

We teach children very early on that there are many things they can do but should not. Some of these are definite rules to avoid harm - don't touch that hot mug of tea! Don't put that pea in your ear! Don't hit your sister! Others are rules to help us fit into the rest of society - Don't pick your nose! Don't put your elbows on the table! Don't say that rude word!

Sometimes humankind learns how to do things and then finds they are harmful. We discover thalidomide and damage many babies. We discover that cows will eat other animals, and end up with BSE and vCJD. We discover tobacco and give ourselves lung cancer. Humankind has no parent to advise us, so we must think things out for ourselves. Sometimes we have to learn things through experience. Sometimes it takes many years for the harm to become apparent - hence the current debate on whether or not mobile phones cause brain tumours.

So it seems to me that ethics is about whether we should do those things we can do. It is about ensuring that we do not harm ourselves as individuals, communities or a species. It is about protecting others, too. Above all, ethics is about thinking before we act. There are more topics for ethical debate on the website of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and on Intute's Bioethics Web. There are also ethical issues around you every day that should make you think.

More current awareness topics

This week I've added more topics to the current awareness service. There are now one-click links to stories on patient information, issues around educating clinical staff and stories on ethics to spark debate.

If the topic that interest you most is missing from the service please contact me and I will add it to the list if possible.

New! Improved! (again)

In the olden days when the Internet was a fresh faced newcomer you would often find websites with little messages along the lines of "site under construction". This meant one of two things. The first meaning was "I know this is a pretty poor attempt at a website but frankly this whole web thing wasn't as easy as I thought and I've lost interest/gone on holiday/retired to a small cave in the Alps to avoid technology".

The second, and more exciting meaning of "under construction" was "I know this is just an OK website but in my heart I know it could be GREAT and I just need to spend more time and do more tweaking".

The thing with technology is that it is constantly changing. There's a little fear about jumping in first (for those of you who are old enough I need only mention the Betamax/VHS debate). For those who are younger hands up if you bought a splendid plasma screen TV just before digital arrived or High Definition. Did you kick yourself? Did you rush out to upgrade? Or are you still looking at a black and white portable waiting for technology to "settle down" so that you can invest in something that will remain cutting edge for the next 30 years?

The challenge of technology is that it is always changing. Good websites tend to change a lot too, because a good web developer will want to try out all the new gizmos and gadgets available.

The hot new gizmo on the web at the moment is personalisation. Don't like the boring Google home page? Personalise it! Pick a background, add a clock, a calender, a thought for the day...make it yours.

Other websites are following suit. Which is why, from the middle of next month, your My Athens home page will change - again. It will offer you the option to move round the information on your home page, just by dragging boxes around and closing those you don't want. You'll be able to select your favourite resources and keep them in a separate handy box. If you can't wait to see the new site then take a sneak preview - opt for "beta My Athens" when you log on.

Keeping your finger on the pulse

How up to date are you? When did you last flick over the leading journal in your speciality? Did you catch the health headlines this morning? Have you heard the latest from the department of health?

I know - you'd like to keep up to date, it's just that you're busy. Too busy, somehow.

Luckily help is hand. Using Google Reader I'm able to scan news from a variety of sources on one web page. From that page I can then distribute the news to a number of different pages - each page focuses on one aspect of health or illness. This means all you need to do is remind yourself to visit the library website from time to time, click on the topic that interests you and see all the latest news.

Why not have a look at the service today? And if you don't see the aspect of health or illness that interests you most covered on the page then please let me know and I will see if I can set up a new topic page, just for you!

New Look

Dialog Datastar has been tweaking the service it offers. From this Saturday (14th April) you'll see a number of changes when you log into Medline with your Athens password.

The main change will be the wording on the tick boxes below the search box. These will be simplified so that "documents relating to humans", for example, will now just say "humans".

The second big change will be the addition of so-called "Haynes Filters" or Clinical Queries. These are pre-set searches that allow you to search quickly for therapy, diagnosis, aetiology or prognosis.

Don't forget the help function (top of the search page on the dark background) and the search tips (over the search box). The other source of help, advice and guidance is, as ever, your library.

Copier chaos

Good news! Yesterday (26th March) we took delivery of a brand new colour copier. The plan is that it will be networked to the PCs in the library and will also work as a printer. The prints will be excellent quality (it's a digital copier) and it will be cheaper for us to run than our current laser printer.

The bad news is that the network point to allow us to do this hasn't yet been installed, and nor has the system that allows us to charge you to use the copier. Please bear with us while we wait for the new equipment.

Why do we charge? Well, library budgets are on a downward slide. Charging you for printing and copying covers the cost of the new machine. We hope you'll feel it's worth the basic 5p per side of black and white.

Introducing Clipboard

If you use Dialog with an Athens password to search for information then you may have noticed a mysterious blank search called "clipboard" that appears in the search history before you've looked for anything at all.

This is a nifty new service on Dialog. Basically it allows you to collect the items you really want from the results of several searches and stick them together on the clipboard - rather like a basket on a shopping website. Look for the "add to clipboard" buttons when you are looking at results.

To look at the clipboard go to the search page and click on "show titles" on the search line for "clipboard". You can then view and delete items, and save, email or print the clipboard just as you would any other search.

If you need help then please contact the library team.

Sara