In this section
Library services
The Trust Library Service at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides access to resources and services to help all staff and students find and use the best evidence to support patient care, clinical and corporate governance, research, education and professional development. The Trust Library Service is open to anyone for reference purposes.
The Trust Library Service, is based on the two main hospital sites and library staff are available to help during normal working hours, although the resources can be accessed out of hours.
Trust staff and learners can also use the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub which connects you to high quality knowledge and evidence resources in one place.
Funded by Health Education England, it includes journals, books and databases purchased nationally and locally and clinical decision support resources including NICE Guidelines and BMJ Best Practice.
Full access is free to all NHS staff and learners using your NHS Open Athens account details. The Library has produced a user guide to help you use the new Hub. For more information and training on the Hub, please contact the Library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net.
York Hospital
The York Hospital Library is based on the 5th floor, Admin Block, York Hospital. Public car parking is available on the Hospital site in the multi-storey car park.
The Library is staffed from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (except bank holidays). However there is 24/7 swipe card access to the Library on the 5th floor with an enabled Trust ID badge.
Scarborough Hospital
Scarborough Hospital Library is in the Postgraduate Education Centre on the main Scarborough Hospital site.
The Library is staffed from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4.30pm on Friday (except on bank holidays). Out of hours access is available 6am to 11pm, please ask for a door code.
Contact
| Library | Telephone | |
| York Hospital | 01904 726712 | yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net |
| Scarborough Hospital | 01723 342184 | yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net |
Follow the Library on X @YSNHSlibrary and Instagram @ysnhslibrary
Library services
The Trust Library Service primarily serves all staff and students working in York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The library has recently become a member of YorCat which is a newly merged consortium of NHS and health libraries across Yorkshire and the Humber. All employees, learners on placement and volunteers at member NHS Trusts and organisations are eligible to join YorCat as full members. Your membership travels with you if you move Trusts.YorCat library members can borrow books from any collection in the consortium. Please just speak to your librarian who can advise you on how to order titles from another collection. Some Trusts allow borrowing rights for external members and these have more limited borrowing allowances. You can see more information about eligibility in the terms and conditions
Joining and borrowing
To borrow items from the library, you need to become a member of YorCat. To join YorCat simply register at either York or Scarborough Hospital Library, please bring your Trust ID Badge, or register online through the YorCat website - yorcat.koha-ptfs.co.uk
A barcode to affix to your Trust ID badge will be sent to you or held in the library for you to collect. An induction and tour of the library is available.
Useful documents to read before joining the Library:
Books and journals
The Trust Library Service has a wide range of titles covering all aspects of clinical and non-clinical services. Details of all library items and availability are in the online catalogue. Self service machines are available at both library sites.
The Trust Library Service also subscribes to a small number of print journals which can be read in the Library:
If you need an article from any of our print journals, just contact the library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net and it will be supplied.
If a journal article or book is not available, we may be able to obtain it from another library nationwide using our Document Supply Service, just contact the Library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net and it will be supplied.
Community Postal Loan Service
The Community Postal Loan Service is available to all Trust staff working at community sites.
The service does not cover staff based at York or Scarborough, HYMS students or external members.
Books loaned via the Community Postal Loan Service should be returned to the issuing library and a return address label will be enclosed with the book(s).
Please check the online library catalogue for stock availability and then request the item(s).
Returns and renewals
All items must be returned to the issuing library. If books are returned out of hours, they can be returned on the self-service machine and left in the Book Return Box situated by the self-service machine. You are responsible for these items until they are discharged from the library system.
Most book loans are for four weeks, although some items may only be available for one or two week loans. Books can be renewed up to a maximum of five times unless reserved by another reader. Renewals will happen automatically to save your time. You will not be charged fines for returning books late; however, replacement costs are charged for lost or unreturned items. Renewals can be made online by logging on to the library catalogue using your library barcode. A leaflet describing how to search the catalogue can be downloaded here.
You can also renew by email, telephone or in person at the library.
Reservations and requests
YorCat library users can reserve up to 10 books at one time. You can reserve/request items by contacting the library or via the library catalogue using your library barcode. The reserved books will be sent to your "home library". Your home library is the library where you work or study. Reserved items are held for 14 days, so make sure you check your notifications so you know when books are available to collect and when you need to do this by.
If you require an item not listed in the catalogue, we may be able to obtain it for you from another library using our Document Supply Service. Just contact the library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net and it will be supplied.
We are also happy to receive suggestions for new purchases - just speak to a member of library staff, email the Library or make the suggestion online through the online catalogue.
E-Resources and Open Athens
Registering for a NHS Open Athens account allows free access to resources purchased locally by the Trust and nationally and regionally by the NHS.
NHS Open Athens Registration
Open Athens works like a key: it is a username and password which ‘unlocks the door’ and gives you access to the library’s online resources.
You can register for a NHS Open Athens account by visiting this website. Please use a Trust computer and email address to register.
Open Athens gives you access to a wide range of online resources, but it doesn’t cover everything. If you aren’t able to access an article, please feel free to contact the Library and we will submit a request to another NHS or medical Library on your behalf.
If you are studying for a course and you have a reading list, just pass it on to us and we will do our best to find the items for you.
More information about registering and maintaining your account can be found in our Open Athens Leaflet.
e-Journals
The Knowledge and Library Hub is the new place to access e-journals.
The Trust has a subscription to two e-journal packages:
- Wiley Medicine & Nursing Journal Collection (407 titles)
- MAH Complete Collection (42 titles) – these are predominantly nursing journals
And, at national level, there are subscriptions to a number of journal packages and Open Access journal packages. In order to access these journals, go to the Knowledge and Library Hub (above) and click on "Browse Journals", this will take you to the Browzine Library where you can search for journals by title or subject.
If a journal title is not available, please contact the Library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net and we will get you the article from another Library.
e-Books
We have a subscription for a number of eBooks which can be accessed via the Knowledge and Library Hub (above), when you search the Hub you will see links in the right hand pane for:
Kortext NHS Books - this is a collection of 135 e-books.
Oxford Medicine Online - this is a collection of 136 Handbooks, Textbooks and 'Emergencies in' e-books. Titles include popular Oxford Handbooks in medicine (e.g. the Oxford Handbook of Emergency Medicine), surgery (e.g. the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Surgery) and nursing/midwifery (such as the Oxford Handbook of Adult Nursing and the Oxford Handbook of Midwifery).
As well as these collections, there are links to The Royal Marsden Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures and The Maudesley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry.
Other e-Resources
York customised access document
Need to find information quickly?
The Library provides an enquiry service during staffed hours. Enquiries can be dealt with face to face, via the phone or email.
Keeping up to date
If you struggle to keep up to date with the amount of new material being published, we may be able to help you. Contact the Library to find out about one of our current awareness services.
YorLIG (York Library Information Gateway)
YorLIG is a number of dashboards covering a wide range of specialties and each dashboard provides links to tables of contents from favourite journals, websites, news items or social media.
Visit the YorLIG site to see if your specialty is covered, if not just contact the Library and a dashboard will be developed for you.
Alerts
The Library also issues a number of alerts, corporate alerts are sent to specific circulation lists and clinical alerts are sent to individual staff or departments. If you would like to receive alerts on any topic, please contact the Library.
Library outreach
The Library Service also supports the work of the Trust with high quality information delivered at the point of need.
We can join your team and provide immediate access to information in either a clinical or management setting. We can contribute the skills of an information professional to your project teams, ward rounds, meetings or committees and so save you time.
Why not invite us to your meeting to find out what we can do to help?
Literature searching
We also offer an expert searching service to help you find the information you need to support your clinical or non-clinical work, research, service improvement or audit. We can provide you with everything from a few pertinent references to a comprehensive evidence overview and can access a wide range of databases and resources on your behalf.
We can also provide a mediated search or training session if your request is for education or study. If you would like a literature search please complete the online Request a Literature Search Form (in Library Guides and Forms below).
Videos and e-learning to help you search and critically appraise
TRIP, CEBM and Cochrane have produced a series of videos to help you carry out literature searches. There is also an e-learning package on the E-learning for Health website.
Use the new NHS Knowledge and Library Hub (above), signing in with your Open Athens account details to ensure that you see any library journal subscriptions and links to full text in the references you generate in your search.
Learn how to use the TRIP Medical Database by viewing their videos here.
Cochrane Learning resources relevant to systematic reviews and evidence-based medicine can be found here.
You can also access guidance on literature searching by undertaking some e-learning modules on the E-learning for Health (e-LfH) website. You will need to login with your Open Athens account details and add the literature searching courses to your "My e-learning".
Critically Appraising the Evidence Base programme
This new and developing resource is designed to support your understanding of the different methods and tools to carry out critical appraisal of research, through 8 bite-sized modules. Applicable to health and care staff at all levels, this e-learning may be 'dipped into' for reference or completed as a whole to obtain a certificate. Module one available now.
You can also find out more about some of the benefits and basic skills of Knowledge Management and Mobilisation. This e learning for Health module focuses on simple, easy to follow tools and techniques like Before Action, Peer Assist, After Action and Retrospective Review sessions to help both individuals and teams to manage and improve their knowledge and know how.
If you need any help with any of this please contact the Library.
Database and Information Skills Training
We provide bespoke one-to-one or group training in your workplace or in our training spaces to help you gain confidence in finding up to date high quality information for your work or study, and to get the best out of resources such as Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library. Our sessions are designed to cover basic knowledge of study skills and resources through to more advanced search skills training.
Our training is available to you as a 1 to 1 session or as part of a larger group. Most sessions can be delivered either face to face or via MS Teams, whichever suits you best.
Contact us on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net to arrange a session.
Health Literacy
Health literacy (HL) is about appreciating that many people may lack the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to use health information, and so have difficulty in being active partners in their care, and in navigating our health and social care systems. There may be simple things we can do or put in place to help important information to be understood.
The Library offers two courses, one of which is RSPH accredited. If you would like to attend a course, either via MS Teams or face to face, please contact the library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net to discuss what dates may be available.
Supporting Library Users with Dyslexia
We have recently added a range of accessibility equipment to our library resources to support Trust staff and students with dyslexia.
We have developed a leaflet outlining our support and resources, please click here to read the leaflet or ask a member of library staff for a paper copy.
If you have dyslexia and would like to book a one-to-one appointment to discuss using our library resources or for study support, please contact the library on yhs-tr.Library@nhs.net.
Library facilities
The Library is able to provide computer access, study space and photocopiers and scanners on both main hospital sites.
Computers
Computers are available on both sites:
- There are 12 computers at York Hospital Library
- There are 6 computers at Scarborough Hospital Library
The computers are on the Trust network providing internet access and standard Microsoft Office applications. Please note that use of the computers is governed by Trust policy. There is no need to book in advance to use a computer.
Study space
Study tables are available in both main Library sites for individual study.
Photocopiers and scanners
A photocopier is available for use at both main sites for A4 and A3 copying. Currently there are no charges for printing, however staff are asked to provide paper for large print runs. Documents may also be scanned on the photocopiers and emailed to an email address. It is your responsibility to make sure that any scanning or photocopying that you do complies with copyright, data protection legislation and the Trust’s information governance policy.
Feedback
We would like to hear your opinions on the service that we provide. Your views help us develop and improve the library and its services, so please get in touch.
Library guides and forms
Guides:
- Library Leaflet, includes opening hours and maps
- Open Athens Leaflet
- Searching the Library Catalogue and renewing books online
- User Guide to Knowledge and Library Hub
- Critical Appraisal Resource
- Dyslexia Leaflet
