EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service)

EThOS is a new British Library service aimed at providing digital copies of UK PhD theses direct to the researcher, over the web. It is a database containing over 250,000 UK theses with the added functionality to enable the requesting of digital copies of selected theses.

Researchers do not need to be registered with the system to search the database, but will need to register if they wish to request a digital copy of a thesis.

Many of the participating UK institutions support Open Access to their theses, so downloads of these digital and digitised theses are free to the researcher. UCL is an Open Access sponsor.

Where a thesis must be digitised before supply, there will be a short delay before it is accessible. However, the requester will be informed when the thesis is available and can then log on to the system and download the thesis. The theses are supplied as zipped pdfs. Alternative formats (CD or paper) are also available for purchase.

EThOS can only offer the theses of participating institutions. Whilst it is expected that a large number of institutions will participate, the British Library cannot supply from an institution which chooses not to. In this case, it may be possible to obtain a copy via UCL Library Services' Inter Library Loan Service. A list of participating institutions is available at http://ethos.bl.uk/HEIList.do

There is an FAQs page and if you have any other queries about the service, contact the ILDS office at interloans@ucl.ac.uk

EThOS was launched in January 2009 and is currently in Beta phase. Over the coming months you will see enhancements to the service.

BMJ Best Practice

UCL has a trial of BMJ Best Practice until 11 March 2009.

Best Practice, part of the BMJ Evidence Centre, is a decision support tool that combines the latest research evidence with guidelines and expert opinion. It takes a patient-centred approach that covers diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention in step-by-step stages.

Please send feedback on the BMJ Best Practice trial to ejournals@ucl.ac.uk. Feedback helps librarians assess the importance of new resources.

• Access the BMJ Best Practice trial
• Trial expires: 11 March 2009

Circulation journals and MIDIRS Midwifery Digest

UCL now has access to six circulation-related journals from the American Heart Association, published by Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins:

Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology
Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics
Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging
Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions
Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes
Circulation: Heart Failure

UCL now also has access to MIDIRS Midwifery Digest.

All of these titles are accessible via the ejournals list.

E-books project - your chance to take part!

The JISC national e-books observatory project currently provides staff and students with free access to a collection of electronic books via the MyiLibrary platform. A full list of the books included in the project can be found at:http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/wp-content/full-list-of-e-books-oct-2007b.doc (medical titles are listed on last page).

The aim of the project is to find out more about usage, promotion and purchasing of e-books in academic libraries. For more information on the project go to http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/
Staff and students are invited to take part in a focus group about the electronic books provided as part of this project. Participating students from around 14 institutions (including UCL) will be entered into a prize draw to win one of 6 prizes of £100. If you are a student or member of staff at UCL and would be interested in taking part in these focus groups please contact Kate Cheney.

New training timetable now available

A new timetable of information skills training sessions from the Medical Library for January to March 2009 is now available. We offer various sessions, covering literature searching using health and medical databases, the use of evidence-based resources, critical appraisal of a journal article and using Reference Manager software to organise and cite your references.

New for 2009 is a session on assessing the impact of your research, where you can learn to use resources that provide citation data, such as times cited and your h-index. We also now offer library inductions on a drop-in basis on Wednesday afternoons at 3.00pm.

For more information see the library's information skills training web pages.

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

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.