18 December 2008

Christmas 2008 Opening Hours

Monday 22nd December 2008: 09:00 - 10.00
Tuesday 23rd December 2008: 09:00 - 17.00
Wednesday 24th December 2008: 09:00 - 16:00
Thursday 25th December until Sunday December 28th 2008 inclusive CLOSED
Monday 29th December 2008: 10:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 30th December 2008: 10:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 31st December - Sunday 4th January 2009 inclusive CLOSED
Monday 5th January 2009: 09:00 - 10:00 & a return to normal opening times

02 December 2008

Noise and disruption during refurbishment October-December 2008

Due to essential refurbishment works, most of the first floor of the library will remain inaccessible until January 2009 - except for the Training & Electronic Study Area, which will remain fully operational until 12 December 2008.

During this period, some noise will be unavoidable throughout the library as work is carried out.

Please bear with us while essential refurbishment takes place.

29 October 2008

Register with ResearcherID

A common problem in databases is identifying publications by a particular author, especially if that author has a common surname. This can mean that highly cited papers can be incorrectly assigned to the wrong individuals in analysis returns. To combat this problem, Thomson Reuters, who produce the Web of Science databases, have set up a system whereby a unique personal identifier can be ascribed to individuals. A researcher is given a unique ID and "claims" their own publications listed in the Web of Science databases. This means that all their publications can be linked to the correct author regardless of any variations in the use of their name and regardless of their affiliation when the paper was published.

If you have published research papers you are advised to sign up to this to ensure that your research can be identified accurately and as strongly as possible. Registration is simple, visit http://www.researcherid.com/ and follow the simple instructions.

15 September 2008

Access to Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and other databases for UCL staff and students is changing!

If you have saved searches or alerts on Silverplatter / WebSPIRS databases you must transfer them before the end of September.

Many key biomedical databases for UCL staff and students are now available through a new interface called OvidSP. OvidSP has replaced Silverplatter / WebSPIRS, to provide more up to date references and exciting new search features. From 1st October databases will no longer be available through the Silverplatter / WebSPIRS interface and all saved searches will be lost.

Databases now available through OvidSP include:
  • Medline
  • Embase
  • PsycINFO
  • AMED
  • Biotechnology Abstracts
  • HAPI (Health and Psychosocial Instruments)
  • HMIC (Health Management Information Consortium)

Other resources accessible through OvidSP include a selection of ejournals and ebooks, including PsycBOOKS.

To access databases through the Silverplatter / WebSPIRS interface (before the end of September), go to http://arc.uk.ovid.com/webspirs/start.ws?customer=ucl for PsycINFO, or http://erl-server.ucl.ac.uk/ for the other databases.

To access databases through OvidSP, link through the Library Services webpages at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database/.

For help with transferring database searches, or for training and support in using the OvidSP interface, please contact your local library staff (see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/sites.shtml).

29 May 2008

LWW journals legacy archive now available

The LWW Journal Legacy Archive gives you immediate access to the backfiles of 220 journals in major clinical and medical specialties, including nursing, infectious disease, surgery, and cardiology. Access is now available for Royal Free NHS staff and UCL staff and students.

Backfiles include the following journals:
  • Academic Medicine 1926-
  • American Journal of Nursing 1900-
  • Circulation 1950-
  • Laryngoscope 1896-
  • Medicine 1922-
  • Neurosurgery 1977-
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology 1953-
UCL staff and students should link to titles via the UCL Library ejournals list.

NHS staff can access titles at http://ovidsp.ovid.com/athens/. Log in using your NHS Athens username and password. Choose Your Journals@Ovid and browse the alphabetical list of journals.

06 May 2008

New UCL ejournals package from Mary Ann Liebert

UCL now has electronic access to all journals published by Mary Ann Liebert. Subjects covered include biotechnology, biomedical research and life sciences, clinical medicine and surgery. List of journals.

02 May 2008

Training and Electronic Study Area now open

The Training and Electronic Study Area (TESA) in the Royal Free Library has now reopened. The room has been completely refurbished and contains a new suite of computers for UCL staff and students and staff of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust.

We apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused during the closure.

13 March 2008

NHS electronic databases are changing

The way that you search NHS electronic databases is changing:

Search 2.0 is replacing Dialog

From 30th June 2008, it will not be possible to search databases via Dialog. A new search tool, NLH Search 2.0, is now available. It allows you to search the following healthcare databases:

PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, Embase, Alternative and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), British Nursing Index (BNI), PsycINFO, Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC: includes Kings Fund and DH-DATA databases)

Any literature searches you have saved on the Dialog version of the databases WILL NOT transfer to NLH Search 2.0 when Dialog ceases. Please save any searches to your own computer before then. If you need help doing this, please contact us.

Accessing NLH Search 2.0

NLH Search 2.0 is accessible at http://www.library.nhs.uk/ and through the Resources list within MyAthens.

20 February 2008

Blackwells backfiles

UCL staff and students now have online access to a number of Blackwell backfiles. NHS users may access these titles from walk-in computers in the library. Most titles allow access from volume 1 onwards and include:

Elsevier backfiles and The Lancet

We are very pleased to announce that all journal content published by Elsevier before 1995 is now available to UCL users on ScienceDirect. This means that we have access back to volume 1, issue 1 in many cases, including The Lancet (Vol. 1, 1823-). Previously, Elsevier journals were only available online from 1993 or 1995. NHS users may access ScienceDirect journals from the walk-in computers in the library.

25 January 2008

UpToDate free trial

The Royal Free Hospital Medical Library has set up a free trial to UpToDate. This resource provides summaries of evidence and specific recommendations for patient care and aims to answer the clinical questions that arise in daily practice quickly and easily and at the point of care.

Access to UpToDate is at http://www.utdol.com/ for all Royal Free Hospital or University College Medical School staff and students from computers in the hospital or medical school and no password is necessary. Please send your feedback on UpToDate to info.skills@medsch.ucl.ac.uk.