Author: Claire McCartan

  • Farewell to Fines

    We are delighted to announce that we will no longer be charging overdue fines. Any outstanding fines and invoices on member accounts will also be waived and will not be payable.

    This is one of a series of measures introduced by the library to help support our members through the Cost-of-Living crisis.

    Your wellbeing matters to us and our ongoing commitment to delivering an exceptional library experience means we want to support our members in any way we can during these challenging times. The library supports members in continuing professional development, evidence-based practice and research by providing access to high quality resources. We don’t want anyone to be prevented from accessing the information they need because they cannot pay a library fine.

    Libraries normally charge fines to encourage people to return books on time thereby ensuring they are available for others to borrow at point of need. For this system to continue to work without fines in place, we ask you to be considerate of your colleagues and support this endeavour by returning books on time, particularly any that are recalled to satisfy other member requests.

    FAQs

    If someone has a book I need to borrow, what’s their incentive to return if there are no fines?

    If you have a book on loan that is requested by another user and you don’t return it, you can’t borrow or request any more items until it is returned. We hope this will encourage users to return their books for further circulation to fellow users.

    What happens if I lose a book?

    Replacement charges will still apply for lost books. You can find out more about that on our fines section on our Using the Library – Books webpage.

    Does this apply to just books, or to everything?

    This applies to all standard loan items.

    Image of sign noting no overdue fines
  • You Said, We Did! (Customer Journey Map 2021 – 2022)

    In December 2021, we conducted a Customer Journey Map (CJM) with a member of The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland.  In advance of the session, they booked an Individual Study Room in our branch at QUB Medical Biology Centre to avail of the new parent/child booking option and bring their little boy with them on the day. 

    While completing the booking, and, during their visit, they noted several issues that could have made their experience better:

    1. The room booking confirmation email did not mention the parent/child option and noted that maximum occupancy was only for 1 person – this was felt to be confusing
    2. There was no seat for a child in the room and they had to leave the room to ask for one

    Following this exercise, and the very valuable insights and recommendations the customer provided on the day, the email booking confirmation was changed to reflect the parent/child occupancy option and child size chairs were purchased for the two Individual Study Rooms and are now in situ.

    If you too would like to book the same facility, just select one of the Individual Study Rooms under the Group Study Room Booking – Biomedical Library option in the Service Applications menu at qub.ac.uk/qol.

  • E-Book User Experience Survey

    In partnership with colleagues across the UK and Ireland, the library is running a survey about e-books.  We would like to know how you use e-books (or why you don’t), what you want and expect from e-books; and what your experiences are.

    This will help inform decisions about the future provision of e-books.

    Can you help contribute to this survey and help us understand your needs better? 

    The survey is open until the 23rd May

    https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BDDTRRY

    Image supplied by www.pixabay.com (Man with E-Book Tablet)
  • Bank Holiday Closing

    All Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland branches will be closed on Monday 2nd May for the Bank Holiday.

    Access to electronic resources will remain available as always.

    We will reopen again on Tuesday 3rd May, please check our Blog for any further updates on Library Opening Hours.

    Have a lovely weekend!

  • The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland at Antrim Area Hospital – Opening Hours, week beginning 2nd May 2022

    Our branch at Antrim Area Hospital will be running reduced opening hours this week:

    Monday: CLOSED

    Tuesday: 9:00am – 2:00pm

    Wednesday: 9:00am – 2:00pm

    Thursday: 9:00am – 4:30pm

    Friday: 9:00am – 4:30pm

    Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

    Please note:

    You can contact library staff via LiveChat Tue – Fri: 10:00am – 4:00pm, or, email: info@healthcarelibrary.qub.ac.uk while the branch is closed and someone will get back to you.

  • Easter Closing

    All Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland branches will be closed from Friday 15th April, 2022 until Tuesday 19th April, 2022 inclusive. Normal opening hours will resume on Wednesday 20th April, 2022.

    Access to online resources will remain available during this time via our library website using your library credentials.

  • Christmas Opening Hours @HealthcareLib

    The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland Branches will be closing on the 23rd December for the festive period, reopening on Tuesday 4th January. Full details of Christmas opening hours can be found below:

    The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland at the Royal Victoria Hospital:

    Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd December: 9:00am – 5:00pm

    Friday 24th December – Monday 3rd January inclusive: Closed

    The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland at QUB Medical Biology Centre:

    Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd December: 9:00am – 5:00pm

    Friday 24th December – Monday 3rd January inclusive: Closed

    The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland at Antrim Area Hospital:

    Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd December: 9:30am – 4:30pm

    Friday 24th December – Monday 3rd January inclusive: Closed

    The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland at Craigavon Area Hospital:

    Monday 20th – Wednesday 22nd December: 9:00am – 5:00pm

    Thursday 23rd December: 9:00am – 3:30pm

    Friday 24th December – Monday 3rd January inclusive: Closed

    The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland at Altnagelvin Area Hospital:

    Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd December: 9:00am – 5:00pm

    Friday 24th December – Monday 3rd January inclusive: Closed

    All at The Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland would like to wish you a happy and peaceful festive break and thank all of you who will be working through the holiday season.

  • Can I still request books and articles when the Healthcare Library of Northern Ireland is closed?

    During the Library closure period you will still be able to use the Place Request option online for article requests as Library staff will still be working remotely. Unfortunately we will be unable to process requests for physical books however as we will be not be able to retrieve these from our own Library stock, or from external sources.

  • Update: Library Complaints Policy – Help Us Find Out When Things Go Wrong Survey

    Thank you to everyone who responded to our Library Complaints Policy Survey. It would appear that overall you seem happy with the policy and know how to feedback to us. Survey feedback did however indicate that some members are confused as to why they must provide contact information when leaving feedback – this is simply to ensure that we can follow up on any feedback received to ensure that the best possible service is achieved. We are hoping to update the feedback forms to indicate why we ask for this information as soon as possible.

    Please continue to get in touch with us with any comments or complaints you would like us to take forward: https://healthcarelibrary.qub.ac.uk/About/Feedback/

  • Library complaints policy – help us find out when things go wrong

    The Library is currently working towards Customer Service Excellence revalidation. As part of this exercise we are consulting groups of users on various policies. Our Complaints Policy is an important element in our customer services strategy and we want to be sure that it is fit for purpose. This brief survey will only take a few minutes to complete and we would greatly appreciate your help in reviewing this procedure.

    Help us to find out when things go wrong – so we can put them right.

    This survey closes on Friday, 3rd of January.