Library Services

Croydon Health Services Library

We support all clinical and non-clinical staff and students on placement at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, providing specialist community outreach to support our community staff and teams.

Contact us to discuss how we can help

For more information about the resources and services available from the library visit our website

Join the Library

Join the Library to borrow up to 10 books, DVDs, educational board games and CDs.

We also recommend joining so you can borrow books via interlibrary loan from other libraries in our networks and request articles from us.

Joining is a quick and simple process. Complete an online membership form and we will add you to our system. Your membership will automatically expire after one year, or on the leaving date you have given us if that is sooner than a year.

It's really easy to renew your membership if you are with the Trust for longer than a year. You will be sent a welcome email and a library guide.

All staff can use the library space to work and study whether they are library members or not.

Please help us protect the quiet reflective environment by not holding conversations in the Library space.

Self issue, return and renew

Once you have joined, you can self issue resources via our kiosk and renew and return as well.

24/7 access

The Library is available as place to study, work and reflect 24/7 365 days a year

CHS staff and students on placement should contact us to arrange 24/7 access chs.libraryenquires@nhs.net

Contact Us

Telephone 020 8401 3000 ext 3197 Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm

Email chs.libraryenquires@nhs.net

The library is in the postgraduate medical centre (PGMC) on the first floor, Woodcroft wing, yellow zone, Croydon University Hospital.

Core staffed hours 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday apart from over the Christmas and Easter break and on English bank holidays.

Follow Us

Twitter @NHSLibCHS

Instagram chs.libraryenquires

Follow the Library Manager's blog

Sign-up to the Library newsletter by mailing us

Our collection and catalogue

We provide a comprehensive multidisciplinary library and knowledge service for clinical and non-clinical staff..

Our stock is multidisciplinary and supports all clinical specialties.

The quickest way to see what is in our collection is to check our catalogue which contains hotlinks to topic areas.

There are also links to other library services on our catalogue

Find ebook collections on our catalogue including Made Incredibly Easy titles and OUP Handbooks, OUP Textbooks and ‘Emergencies in…’ e-books.

You can also access content from Kortext ebooks

Health Service Journal (HSJ)

All CHS staff have online access to HSJ.

Simply contact us to activate your access.

Interlibrary loans and borrowing books from other libraries in our networks

We are part of networks of libraries which means we can request items for our users from other libraries for you to borrow.

It's a free service for CHS staff and students on placement and is usually very quick. We also have accounts with British Library and BMA Library.

You can request a book or request a journal article by using our online request forms.

Diversity and wellbeing

We have health and well-being collections including Books On Prescription, Uplifting Resources For the NHS, Reading Well For Mental Health, Women's Collection, Exploring Race and Ethnicity, Disability and LGBTQ+ collections.

Enjoy our stock of fiction reads and easy reads from Croydon public library.

Play physical and digital educational games with your teams including The Leadership Game, The Communication Game, Removing Barriers Game and Teams That Care Game.

We have a curated collection of books on Leadership, Quality Improvement and personal development. Have a look at our catalogue for more information or contact us to discuss your needs

Library staff can signpost you to support from our accredited Dyslexia Champions, our staff Disability Group and our Digital Champions network. Our physical space is wheelchair accessible and we have an adjustable desk that can be reserved.

Reflective Reading Groups and Journal Clubs

We facilitate Reflective Reading Groups which are safe spaces to discuss issues. We don't only use text based resources but can help source TED talks or other formats of information. We support Journal Clubs by supplying multiple access to articles and advising on copyright

Current awareness alerts

Let us keep you up to date in your specialist area.

NHS Open Athens

All NHS staff both clinical and non-clinical can self-register for an NHS Open Athens account. Once registered users can access online resources such as ejournals, databases, elearning and ebooks amongst other resources. Open Athens is an authentication system that confirms you work for the Trust when using digital resources.

eJournals and Databases

To access ejournals and databases simply click here

Access will change in September 2021. Sign up to our newsletter to keep informed of changes

Searching services and summaries of evidence with or without synthesis

The Library is staffed by professionally qualified information and knowledge specialists.

We deliver complex literature searches, create evidence summaries and syntheses, carry out literature reviews and critical appraisal for clinical and non-clinical topics.

We set up tables of contents alerts, bespoke current awareness alerts and similar services to support your information needs.

Just get in touch to discuss you and your team's needs or see our Library Guide

Request a literature search

Use our online request form

Information Skills Training

Library staff offer a suite of information skills training programmes for beginners to advanced users, including Health Literacy training

There are videos and guides available too, as well as an elearning package that you can use for self-directed learning, or ask library staff to facilitate for you. Get information for your specific needs by contacting us

1. Information Skills: Confidently applying the basic skills and knowledge

Learner objectives

Open Athens - set up an account, understand what an OA account is and how to use your

HDAS – understand in greater detail the purpose of HDAS and how to plan a search using

PICO, how to identify key search terms, find alternative terms, why and how to use the

thesaurus and how to use Boolean operators.

Be able to access UpToDate on a laptop or PC and install on your mobile device.

2. A gentle introduction to critical appraisal

Learner objectives

Understand hierarchy and levels of evidence

Access checklists for quantitative and qualitative studies

Find articles to appraise on HDAS

3. Searching beyond the basics

Learner objectives

HDAS – understand HDAS in more depth including how to limit and export your results

Introduction to the Cochrane Library

Introduction to BMJ Case Reports

Introduction of Grey Literature

Set up your access to Knowledgeshare and explore current awareness alerts

4. Introduction to referencing techniques and tools

Learner objectives

Resources to help staff understand what referencing is and why they should use it

How to access and utilise some freely available reference management packages

Following referencing styles

5. Accessing e-books and e-journals

Learner objectives

Understand how to access e-books and e-journals via NHS OpenAthens

Search for specific titles

Set up e-journal alerts

Overview of e-journals for your speciality

Search the Library catalogue

6. Join the Library and discover resources for your speciality

Dedicated time to manage all the processes related to joining the Library: completing a

membership form, setting up an NHS OpenAthens account, requesting 24/7 access to the

Library, setting up access to Up To Date, self-registration for Knowledgeshare, how to

search the catalogue, accessing reading groups and leisure reads

Tour of the Library and Library facilities

Specific Library resources related to your specialty

7. Support for journal clubs and reading groups

Learner objectives

Find out what is a journal club is and how the Library can support a journal club in your

department

Find out what reading groups there are at CHS and feel inspired to set a new one up

How to request articles for journal clubs

Brief overview of copyright

8. Health Literacy

Health literacy is the personal characteristics and social resources needed for individuals

and communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make

decisions about health

Learner objectives

To increase your knowledge of what health literacy is and why it is relevant to your work

To raise awareness of how having low health literacy impacts on individuals’ health and

wellbeing

To create a toolbox of techniques that can support people with low health literacy and

promote health literacy in practice

On site Facilities

We have 12 PCs which are available 24/7 and an additional 6 PCs which are also available during staffed hours.

Request laptop and headphone loans for use in the Library.

Our IT suite with 6 PCs and a large display screen can be booked for your own training session, online meeting or face to face meeting. When the room isn't booked just drop-in.

You can also book the Library Pod or use it as a drop-in space. There are plug sockets for your laptop and comfortable seats. It isn't 100% soundproof but it is appropriate for online meetings and discussions.

Printing, scanning and photocopying facilities are available to users with a Trust log-on

eResources

CHS staff have access to BMJ Case Reports, BMJ Best Practice and Up To Date as well as many online journals and databases

The Library is Quiet Space

We do ask for all users to respect the Library as a quiet space for work, study and reflection.

Please do not use your mobile phones for voice calls whilst in the Library.

Library Services

Search the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust website