IMPORTANT NEWS: Changes to Dialog Databases on 1st April 2008 means you may lose saved searches

If you are the holder Athens username and password you are probably already familiar with the range of electronic information resources your password entitles you to. The purpose of this news item is to let you know about some changes to how you'll be able to access and use those resources in the future.

What is happening to the Dialog Databases?
Last year the nationally provided NHS electronic resources were re-procured. Dialog, which since 2004 has held the national contract to supply the NHS with electronic databases, lost their contract. As a result from 31st May 2008 you will no longer be able to search databases via Dialog.

How will I search healthcare databases after May 2008?
A new NHS-branded search tool is being developed by the National Library for Health (NLH). The new search engine, called Search 2.0, is currently being tested by NHS librarians. It will be the main discovery tool to locate citations from the following primary databases:

• PubMed/Medline
• Cinahl
• Embase
• Alternative and Complementary Medicine Database
• British Nursing Index
• PsycINFO
• Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC)

The planned national launch date is April 1st 2008, so that there will be a two month overlap between the Dialog databases and Search 2.0 during this transitional period.

For more information link to the NLH website and click on the red Search 2.0 icon. NLH Search 2.0 will be accessible from the NLH website and also by clicking the NLH link in the Resources list within MyAthens (http://auth.athensams.net/my/).

Important note
The current Dialog Datastar search interface will continue to be available, in parallel with Search 2.0, until May 31st. Unfortunately, any literature searches you have saved on Dialog Datastar WILL NOT be carried over to Search 2.0 once Dialog is switched off. Please save your searches to your own computer before then.

If you need help with any aspect of this please visit www.library.nhs.uk/nlhdocs/viewing_saved_searches.doc or contact the staff at either site library or contact us via the ‘Ask a Librarian’ Service.

Changes to NHS electronic full-text journals
As part of the national re-procurement of NHS electronic resources Proquest also lost its contract to be the main supplier of NHS electronic journals. From the 31st March 2008 Proquest titles will no longer be available to NHS users.

Which electronic journals will replace the Proquest titles?
The Proquest titles are being replaced by fewer but what the National Library for Health hope will be higher quality titles as detailed below:

• 10 JAMA and Archive Journals titles
• 590 healthcare titles via Cinahl Full Text (Provided by EbscoHOST Database)

You can access these titles now with your NHS Athens account.
Links will also appear to articles in these collections from citations in your search results from Search 2.0 and titles will appear on the NHS A-Z list of journals.

What’s happening to the NHS A-Z list of journals?
MyJournals, the A-Z list of NHS journals, will remain as the one-stop-shop for locating NHS electronic journal content. From the 1st April the site should reflect all these changes to journal content. Please link to http://journals.library.nhs.uk and login with your NHS Athens password to view titles available.

Training
Training on how to search using the new interface will be available soon. For more information please link to the Integrated Library Service Training and Induction pages.