NHS Evidence Health Information Resources

REPORTS

This is the third annual report of the National Core Content and covers the period April 2005 to March 2006.

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National Core Content evalution report 2007 click here for the full report

This evaluation aimed to answer a number of specific questions:

1. How are the current NCC resources being found and used to answer queries?

2. What are the barriers to using the National Core Content resources?

3. What gaps are there in current National Core Content resource provision?

4. How could these gaps best be filled?

Summary of findings

How are the current NCC resources being found and used to answer queries?

Dialog Datastar (abstract and indexing service) and Proquest (e-journals) are the resources used most often by users.
BioMed Central and Images MD are the resources least used.
Users at the workshop expressed an interest in one simple interface to search across NCC resources.
84% (n=10) of telephone interviewees were able to find resources that answered their questions.

What are the barriers to using the National Core Content resources?

In the telephone survey, the most frequently cited barrier to using the resources was lack of full text, followed by poor coverage and lack of time to search the resources. This finding is supported by feedback from the workshop, where the availability of full-text information was seen to be important.
Only MyiLibrary achieved basic web accessibility standards. All other NCC resources are in breach of disability discrimination legislation. Images MD and BioMed Central urgently require attention to improve accessibility.
Dialog Datastar, MyiLibrary, and Images MD need to improve the usability of their interfaces.
Users find it difficult to use the National Library for Health website, and it’s not immediately clear which resources are part of the core content.
Further work is required to see if alternative routes to core content resources (local/regional NHS Library websites, My Athens) have similar barriers.

What gaps are there in current National Core Content resource provision?

Our findings show that users’ comments ranged from very specific resources to broader categories, all of these are recorded in the report. However, users were less clear about what kinds of resources they needed, which emphasizes the need for more research into what NHS staff really need. This could be conducted by finding out more from specific populations of users (e.g. psychiatrists, cancer nurses) what their particular needs might be. There was a clear indication that users wanted more full-text journal coverage and less embargoed content.