On 6^th January 2022 our new library based at The Academy, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton was officially opened to provide a dedicated study space for staff, students and trainees working for the NHS in Somerset. Privileged as we are to be working in a state-of-the-art space, the LKS Team decided to give something back. Therefore, we are launching our first team charity project – a “virtual” journey from our new location to the site of the “mothership” the Bibliotheca Alexandrina! This international centre built to exchange human knowledge sits close to the site of the Ancient Library of Alexandria.

So we’ve ditched our cardigans for lycra and we are recording every kilometre that we cycle, row, run, swim or walk until we have covered the distance of 5000 km between these two libraries. If anyone would like to sponsor our efforts we will be very grateful! All funds will go directly to the 25^th anniversary charity appeal being run by our hospital charity, Love Musgrove.

Fundraising link here:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/somersetft-library-and-knowledge-service

We are especially pleased that some of the funds raised will go towards the purchase of iPads, which we will use as part of our Outreach and Wellbeing remit; making them available to patients on our wards who do not have access to their own smart device. This ties in with our partnership work with Public Library colleagues at Taunton Library who have shown us the value of freely accessible resources such as audiobooks and e-books to the wellbeing of patients who are hospitalised. Furthermore, we will roll out training so that patients can be shown how to use smart devices to access quality health information whilst they are on our wards in the hope that they will continue to use these resources once they are discharged from our care.

We are excited to step away from our screens, improve our own fitness and contribute to this 25^th Anniversary Fundraising effort. We’d love your support, no matter what size that you can donate to our cause. We have been posting regular updates on our Twitter feed here , and if you don’t do social media, you can follow our journey below.

Following a library user consultation survey in February, and discussion with Mental Health & Learning Disabilities Directorate leadership, the decision has been made to consolidate the Cheddon Lodge library collection with the collection at the Library in the Academy at Musgrove Park Hospital, while retaining study space and access to computers at Cheddon Lodge.

Centralising the Trust library collections means that stock can be posted out more easily to all Trust colleagues across acute, mental health, community settings or home working, on a daily, rather than weekly basis. Books can be posted back via internal mail to the Library at Musgrove Park Hospital from any Trust setting.

Books, journals and other high quality, evidence-based content can be discovered via the new Knowledge & Library Hub. This includes a new collection of 600+ psychology and mental health related e-books. You can request library books via the Hub, from the library website, or by emailing library@somersetft.nhs.uk. If the book or article you require isn’t in the Trust library collection, we can source them from the health library network for you, free of charge. To use the Knowledge & Library Hub fully, you will need to sign in with an NHS OpenAthens account. Library staff can provide training on how to get the best out of the Knowledge & Library Hub, as well as how to find, appraise and access evidence – for more information see the Library training webpages.

Feedback from the consultation survey highlighted the demand for quiet study space and access to computers to support learning and wellbeing. Half of the space will be repurposed into office space to support operational needs of the Mental Health & Learning Disabilities Directorate and the remaining rooms will provide a dedicated learning space, with PCs and printing facilities and will be available Monday-Friday during core hours (24/7 access is not available).

We will soon be announcing an exciting project which will support colleagues with access to Digital Literacy support, additional equipment and technology enhanced learning (TEL) opportunities to bring virtual reality training and simulation to the Cheddon Lodge site. This dedicated resource will deliver opportunities for development and support to help colleagues get the most out of the digital tools and systems available to us.

Refurbishment work is due to start week beginning 11^th April and will take a couple of weeks to complete. We hope to re-open Cheddon Lodge as a learning space in early May – further details will provided nearer the time, including how to get the door access code.

Thank you for your continued patience. If you have any queries, please contact Cate Newell, Library & Knowledge Services Manager – Cate.Newell@somersetft.nhs.uk

From January 2022, you can search for e-books, journals, evidence from clinical databases and point of care tools from one portal:

the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub

For more details and help sheets and videos to get you started, take a look at our Databases page.

HDAS will cease to exist from 31st March 2022

If you wish to book a training session with one of the library team, please email the library:

library@somersetft.nhs.uk

We are delighted to announce that the Library & Knowledge Service opened our new Library space in the Academy on Thursday 6th January 2022. The new library was built as part of a £1 million Academy development project to develop and extend learning spaces to support new cohorts of medical students from the University of Plymouth, in addition to all staff and students at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. The new library benefits from additional PCs, study space, small group study rooms, individual study booths and wellbeing space, over two floors. 

You can find us at the What3Words location – https://what3words.com/little.boots.drops

Contact the Library if you’d like any additional information – 01823 342433, library@somersetft.nhs.uk.  

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