A new honni website is imminent, expected in March 2012. As promised, it will provide a radically different way of searching for library resources. Searching will be much more ‘Google-like’ so that, from a simple search box, you will see both results from the library catalogue and articles from key resources, including full-text articles. You will be able to limit results in different ways, request items (where appropriate) and save/email items. Whilst even more functions and features will be on offer, the site will nevertheless be easier and more intuitive to use. Watch out for this exciting development.

The BNF (British National Formulary) and BNFC (British National Formulary for Children) is freely available to all NHS professionals who register with the BNF.org.  However from 13th March 2012 there will be some changes to how the content is delivered as BNFC.org will be retired from this date.  Both the BNF and BNFC will be delivered from the same site, BNF.org.

As a result of this change you will be asked to re-register in order to accept new terms and conditions.  For further information please go to http://bnf.org/bnf/changes.htm.

There is now a full text electronic journal collection available on honni called the Taylor & Francis Behavioural Science Collection.  The collection contains 141 titles covering a range of subject areas including neuroscience, counselling, psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy making this collection relevant to various professions.  In addition it allows access to some journal titles that have been on our wishlist including:

• Child & Family Behavior Therapy
• Counselling & Psychotherapy Research
• Journal of Aging & Social Policy
• Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect
• Marriage and Family Review
• Occupational Therapy in Mental Health

The collection can be accessed by logging in to honni e-Lib.

In order to deliver a more efficient, higher quality document supply service, the British Library has introduced a number of changes to its service which will affect your Inter Library Loan requests from 1st March

 Avoid the expense of unnecessary renewals

• The British Library are introducing an automatic renewal for any item which has not been returned on the due date stipulated by them. This will incur an additional cost at the library’s expense.  In order to avoid unnecessary expenditure the library has taken the decision to loan ILL books for a maximum of 4 weeks. This will allow time for the book to be returned to the library and posted back to the British Library.

However, should you still require your ILL item, we may be able to renew it if necessary (subject to approval by the British Library).

No early recall for in-demand items

• You will be allowed to retain an ILL item for the normal loan period even when it is in demand by another user.

More time to retrieve your SEDs

• You will have 30 days to open articles emailed to you by the British Library and we will remind you, one week before it expires, if you have forgotten to do this.

New colour copying

• Where possible, the British Library will now scan and photocopy articles and book chapters in colour.

Help and assistance

Articles emailed to you by the British Library will no longer come from ‘Archie’ but will be from noreply@bldss.bl.uk. As the address suggests, you cannot reply to this address with any queries, but Library staff are always available to help if you have a problem.

This problem was resolved on 27th January 2012.

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There is currently an intermittent problem that occurs when searching the Cinahl resource. There have been reports of the following message appearing after entering a search term:

Application Level Exception
To continue with the session, click here

The fault has been report to EBSCO, the supplier of Cinahl, who are investigating but at the moment are not clear why this is happening. If you do get the above message, please log off and on and try your search again.

The Biomedical Library will be temporarily closed for refurbishment from Saturday 17th to Friday 23rd December.  Access to the book stock will be on request from the Biomedical Library Issue Desk.

There will be no study facilities during this period.
However, study facilities are available in The Medical Library. Please check the honni site for details of the opening hours.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

The first phase of implementation of the new library management system took place in August 2011 and saw the introduction of a sophisticated new system for library lending, requesting and document delivery together with a fresh, modern online library catalogue.

The next phase, due to be implemented in February 2012, will see the introduction of a radically new way of searching for library resources.  Based on the Encore Synergy product from Innovative Interfaces, the new system will be more ‘Google-like’.  From a simple search box you will see results from the library catalogue (showing books and journals available from the library) and also articles from key resources to which the library subscribes, including full-text articles.

Results can be limited in various ways including by date, format, location, and tag.  If you make a typo the system will suggest the most likely term intended, and the tag cloud will allow you to link quickly to results for related search terms. You will be able to add items to a cart, request items (where appropriate), and save items to a list or email them.

At the same time you will still be able to avail of the traditional Boolean search capabilities and My Account features of the classic library catalogue, and you will still be able to connect directly to specific databases for detailed research.

From the user survey carried out by the library earlier this year we are conscious that the current system is cumbersome and involves too many steps and multiple windows which are hard to keep track of.  The new Encore system should offer a simpler, more intuitive experience with improved functionality.

In addition, we plan to integrate the honni website with Encore and the traditional library catalogue as much as possible so that the need to move between interfaces is minimised.   This will inevitably involve significant changes to the existing honni website, though we will try to retain the same basic look and feel that everyone if familiar with.

We hope the new system will be of much greater assistance to HSC staff in their busy professional lives.

Readers in Antrim Healthcare Library have discovered the benefits of using the Place Request option currently located under My Account in the Library Catalogue.

There was a significant increase in the number of book and journal article requests received by the library online during October 2011.  These requests are processed by library staff and usually, journal article requests in particular, can be forwarded to readers either in print or via email within a short period of time.

One reader explained:

“….it really takes the pressure off …… knowing that I don’t have to make a trip to the library to order material is really helpful as I live so far away from Antrim.  It’s also convenient to be able to order online, in my own time and from home through honni, as like all busy practitioners, I simply don’t get the time at work …..”

This facility is ideally suited to help meet the information needs of employees in the Northern Trust as the Trust is geographically the largest health and social care trust in Northern Ireland – operating from approximately 150 locations. With the Place Request option it doesn’t matter where you work or live, you can access it easily through honni.

A guide to Online Requesting via honni is available at www.honni.qub.ac.uk/BookDocumentSupply/MakingaRequest/OnlineRequesting/. Book requests are free; there is a charge of 50p for each article request which is added to your library account.

The Place Request facility is available to all HSC employees in the province.  If not already a member, join the library (www.honni.qub.ac.uk/membership).

Did you know that you can access EBSCOhost resources via your mobile devices such as an iphone?

EBSCOhost provides honni users with access to such databases as CinahlPlus, Health Business and Psychology & Behavior Sciences. Log on to any of the EBSCOhost resources via honni as normal and along the bottom of the screen you will see a link to the iPhone and Android applications (as shown below). Simply click on this and follow the instructions.

Learn more about EBSCOhost mobile

Please note that journals available from Proquest Medical Library can presently only be accessed via the honni e-Journals list. The database was temporarily removed from the A-Z Database list when Proquest moved to a new platform because the software provider did not have the appropriate connectors in place.

It will be restored to the database list as soon as possible. Meanwhile, please use the Find e-Journal module of honni e-Lib to access Proquest journals.