Information:

This service is aimed at NHS professionals and students on clinical placement at Liverpool University Hospitals, The Walton Centre, and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, not for the general public. If you are looking for our public facing hospital services, please visit our service finder.

Your questions answered

The library at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital is located on the ground floor of the Education Centre, adjacent to the Linda McCartney Centre. LUHFT’s collection of print books are held at this Library. At Aintree, the Knowledge Centre is located on the first floor of the Clinical Sciences Centre. There is no physical library at Broadgreen Hospital, but we have an IT room in Kent Lodge.

The libraries core staffed hours are 10am-4pm. However, at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, you can access the library outside of these hours (24/7) using your ID badge to swipe your way in via the Linda McCartney Centre main entrance. Contact security if you need to have your badge activated. The Library at Aintree must be vacated before 8pm in the evening and can usually be accessed via your ID Badge from 6am.

  • All employees and students on placement at the Liverpool University Hospitals
  • All employees and students on placement from The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
  • All employees and students on placement from The Walton Centre
  • Cheshire and Mersey Psychiatry F2’s on rotation
  • Visiting NHS staff - can access for reference during staffed hours.

Please complete the North West NHS Libraries membership form (NoW) to become a member of LUHFT Library and Knowledge Service.

Once approved, you will be supplied with a Library barcode. This will be your username to login to your Library account to renew and reserve books etc. We will also contact you to provide you with more information on the services we offer. If you require assistance, please email: library.service@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.

If you move to another organisation whose library is part of NoW, you don’t need to register again. Just let your new home library know you have moved, and they will update your details.

All registered users may borrow up to 12 books from North-West NHS Libraries. NoW is a consortium of NHS libraries across the North-West of England who are working together to provide library services. The NoW consortium share an online Library Catalogue and lend items to members across the region. You may also reserve up to 12 items at any one time.

We automatically renew your loans five times. Items will not renew automatically if they have reached their renewal limit, your membership has expired, the item has been reserved by another library member, you have overdue items or there is an issue with the item.

If you have renewed an item five times and you wish to borrow it again, you must show the library that you still have the item. You can do this by bringing the item to the library in person or by providing a photo of it. Otherwise, you must return the item to the library.

LUHFT’s collection of print books held at RLUH can be loaned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week using the Self-Service Kiosk within the Royal Liverpool Library. The borrower is responsible for books borrowed and any losses must be reported to the Library Manager who will arrange for an invoice for the replacement cost to be issued. Books must not be transferred from one borrower to another.

The LUHFT Library is registered with the OpenAthens Authentication Service. By registering for a Trust NHS OpenAthens account you can access full text online journals, databases and other resources covered by our licence. A personal OpenAthens account can be set up very quickly by registering here.

Once you have your OpenAthens username and password you will be able to access resources both on and off the hospital site(s). To obtain an account you need to be an NHS employee within LUHFT or a student on a clinical placement in the hospital. We also ask that you register with the Library Membership Form.

You can access the Library at the Royal Liverpool site via your Trust I.D. Badge. Please swipe your way in via the Linda McCartney building main entrance. Contact security if you need to have your badge activated. Unfortunately, 24-hour access at the Aintree site Library is currently unavailable but the library can be accessed from 6am-5pm. Once in the Aintree Library, it must be vacated by 8pm.

If you're trying to locate an online journal article, please check first on the Knowledge & Library hub to see if it's available full text. Simply type in the journal article title into the search box at this link - Knowledge and Library Hub - if available, you will be required to login with your NHS OpenAthens account to view the full article.

If you don't have an NHS OpenAthens account click here to register.

If you cannot find the article on the hub, please complete our Document Request Form.

If there is an article or textbook you require that is not available from the Knowledge and Library Hub we can usually obtain it for you through our inter library loans service. Simply, click on 'request this item' once logged into the hub. If you cannot find the article or textbook on the hub, please complete our Document Request Form.

We will notify you when print books have arrived so you can collect them from either the library at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital or Aintree University Hospital.  If the article is available as a PDF then (subject to copyright) we will forward this to your work email.

The library is pleased to offer training courses in how to search for health information and the latest evidence more effectively using a whole range of resources. We offer group training at Aintree Knowledge Centre or one-to-one sessions either within any library or via Microsoft Teams.

Training is available for individuals or groups by emailing: library.service@liverpoolft.nhs.uk.

If you are writing a report, an assignment or a dissertation, your university will require you to reference the resources that you’ve used. The most popular is the Harvard Referencing style. Every university has its own variation of Harvard. This quick guide from Liverpool John Moores University gives examples of the different types of resources and how to reference them in the Harvard LJMU style. For further support with referencing, please contact our Librarian, Michael Boyes.

Critical Appraisal Skills training – When doing an academic course, you may need to critique an article. If you are new to scrutinising the scientific literature, our Librarian, Michael Boyes, can advise you on critical appraisal and basic statistical analyses. Michael can support either 1:1 or small group training. He can also offer advice on research and data presentation.

In addition, the library has several books to help you with the critical appraisal process and we can also show you several useful websites. For example, CASP the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme has an online learning course for appraising randomised controlled trials. The website also provides critical appraisal checklists to be used when reading different types of research studies.

We can offer advice on setting up and running journal clubs, provide training on how to effectively search for and critically appraise evidence, and we can also supply you with copies of your chosen discussion article(s). Journal Clubs comprise a small group format to discuss research articles, members are guided through the session by prompting key discussion points with the aim of teasing out learning objectives, and by learning from each other. This is a technique that can help identify gaps in knowledge and promote further research around a particular area.  

Why not download our Guide to Services brochure to find out everything you need to know about our resources. This includes links to all our resources and include the ones below. Please note that you will need to sign up for an NHS OpenAthens account to access the resources. A personal OpenAthens account can be set up very quickly by registering here.

Yes, please see details of apps below:

UpToDate App

1. On your smartphone or tablet, search for “UpToDate” in your app store or Google Play store and install the free app.

2. Open the UpToDate Mobile App upon completion of download.

3. Log in with either your UpToDate username and password or via your OpenAthens account.

4. These instructions provide links on how to register for a personal username and password and how to renew affiliation with LUHFT every 90 days. Instructions are here.

BMJ Best Practice App

1. Create a free account on the BMJ Best Practice website.

2. You can then download the app from the App or Google Play store and enter your account details when prompted.

Royal Liverpool Emergency Medicine Handbook App

Written by clinicians based in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and free to download onto your mobile device. The App provides healthcare professionals with guidance on a variety of acute conditions that can present in the Emergency Department or develop amongst in-patients. Just search for RLEMH on the App store or Google Play store.

Yes, please do, by emailing the Library Service Manager, Angela Hall.

We can perform a literature search for you. Please submit your request using our online Literature Search Request form.

An all-in-one colour photocopying/scanning/printing machine is located within the Library at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, within Kent Lodge, our Education Centre at Broadgreen Hospital and at the Aintree University Hospital Library. When photocopying items please ensure that you adhere to NHS copyright guidelines on display.

There is no charge for photocopying/printing items that are work related. Print jobs are usually released using your Trust ID badge or by using your LUHFT network account i.e. your login details to the Trust PCs.