Category: Libraries

Gosall Library

Covid safety precautions

The Gosall Library, based in Preston, is still open and available for all Trust staff to use between the hours of 9am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday.

In light of the pandemic, we have made some small changes to ensure everyone’s safety:

Please wear your face mask when entering the Library and use the hand sanitiser provided on entry, before and after looking at books and on exit.

The Gosall Libary, Lantern Centre , Vicarage Lane,Preston , PR2 8DW

Protective barriers have been put in place, not only on our Library reception desk, but also within the hot-desking and computer area, allowing you to work in a safe environment.

Our self-issuing machine is available for staff wishing to issue a book. Simply follow the step by step guide as instructed on the machine.

We also have calming and reflective areas for you to take some time out to read an article, take some time to yourself or improve your mindfulness with our colouring board.

Along with medical journals and books, we also have a collection of fiction books which all staff can access.

2020 International Booker Prize

Winner announced

Congratulations are in order for Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, who wrote The Discomfort of Evening– winning The 2020 International Booker Prize. The book was written in Dutch and translated by Michele Hutchison. The £50,000 prize will be split equally between them, giving both the author and translator equal recognition.

To find out more about the winning book click here.

Reflecting on COVID

Alone, surrounded

Fever came
And with it a sledgehammer
To my life
My life that still had
Time to run
But now there is no time to run
Instead I lie here alone,
Surrounded by an army
Of hospital staff who see me
Only through glass windows
Or the shield of PPE
Three thousand people
They say work here
But they won’t see me
Until I run once more
In the news
No longer alone,
Surrounded by other
Elderly with underlying conditions

A poem written by Shane O’Hanlon, who is a geriatrician in Dublin, Ireland.
He has a strong interest in the humanities in healthcare, and previously taught humanities at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick. He now lectures on art in medicine and curates a humanities library for students and staff at University College Dublin.

Reflecting on COVID

Using time wisely during COVID

I am crying at my desk, writing poetry
Between tasks, remembering my afternoon
Collage of patients’ faces,
Wondering what’s ahead for them. For all of us.
No one would pay me to cry, or write poetry.
They would deem it nonbillable hours.
But it is one of those times
I don’t know what else to do.
We are living in dangerous times.
No one can escape it.
We can only try to
avoid- avoid- avoid
And I feel very small, like a field mouse.
It is all I can do to
Blend in and hope the great
Horned owl will pass me over,
Not realizing his target is close and
Those otherworldly yellow eyes
Will focus somewhere else
And I will sleep
safe- safe- safe
Wrapped in a merciful sky one more night.

A poem written by Marianne A. Broyles, who has been a nurse for 16 years, mostly in the field of inpatient behavioral health. She is also a writer and has published two books of poetry, The Red Window (West End Press, 2008) and Liquid Mercury Girl (Mongrel Empire Press, 2018). She is interested
in how the process of writing benefits mental health and an overall sense of well-being and was able to research this further while working at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital in Nashville, TN, as a recipient of its nurse scholar grant.

The King’s Fund

Bertie’s book group 2020

This month, the online book group will be talking about The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. As a young boy, Matthew loses his older brother while on a family holiday. Now nineteen, this is the story of how he deals with this loss and his own mental illness.

Register your place to join the online discussion here

Royal Marsden Manual

Access to Royal Marsden Manual 10 via OpenAthens

We have recently been experiencing some difficulties getting access to this resource via OpenAthens but this issue has now been resolved. To access the manual log in to OpenAthens, go to the My Resources section and choose Wiley Royal Marsden Manual 10 (RMM10) from the list.

Please email the library team academic.library@lancashirecare.nhs.uk if you have any problems getting access.

Health Information Week

This week is Health Information Week, a national, multi-sector campaign promoting high-quality information for patients and the public.

Health Information Week 2020 runs from 6th to 12th July and focuses on the themes of:

• Finding information you can trust

• Wellbeing

During this week the library will be promoting both themes via the library blog and in the Gosall Library. 

We have a wide range of books in the library on mental and physical wellbeing, some of these on display in the entrance to the library and others on the shelves (some in the ALT/WEL section in the informal seating area just inside the library).

Here is a selection of titles we hold

Whilst the library is currently unstaffed you are welcome to browse the collection and check books out via the self-issue machine.

The King’s Fund

Bertie’s book group 2020

Join the King’s Fund for their online book group in July when readers will be discussing So lucky by Nicola Griffith. The novel follows Mara Tagarelli who discovers in the space of a week that her wife is leaving her and that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The novel is an exploration of identity, disability and ableism.