Eyes and vision specialist library
The Eyes and Vision Specialist Library (EVSL) is one of 24 Specialist Libraries commissioned by the National Library for Health. It is an on-line digital library readily accessible, 24/7, to any generalist or specialist health professional involved in eye health care- e.g. GP, casualty officer/ houseman /SHO, high street optometrist, as well as ophthalmologists, orthoptists and nurses. The purpose of the library is to find, organise, and facilitate access, to the best, currently available evidence on eye health, to support and inform clinical care in the NHS. In doing so it serves to "sign-post" eye health professionals to the information on the best available evidence, for their practice.
The library provides access to online resources produced, commissioned or licensed by the NHS (e.g. Clinical Evidence, Health Technology Assessment reports, NICE guidelines, National Service Frameworks, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination abstracts, the Cochrane Library, PRODIGY); and professional body publications. Additionally key research findings (as presented in peer-reviewed articles) that have informed / shaped current clinical thinking and current practice are continually being added to the library. The range of topics currently covered includes those conditions usually seen in routine clinical practice for which there is an established body of quality specialist literature. Topics are presented anatomically and the multi-professional evidence-based resources under each category are organized as:
- Guidance and pathways
- Evidence
- Reference
- Education / CPD
- Patient information
- News / Events
Quality is a key issue for the EVSL and the library's content has been developed and collated under the guidance of an External Reference Group that is represented by the following organisations:
- Royal College of Ophthalmologists
- Royal College of Nursing - Ophthalmic Nurses Forum
- College of Optometrists
- British and Irish Orthoptic Society
- Royal College of General Practitioners
- Clinical Evidence
- Cochrane Collaboration
- PRODIGY
- Royal National Institute of the Blind
- National Library for Health
- UCL-Institute of Ophthalmology / Moorfields Joint Library
Resources are subject to explicit BIOME-based quality criteria before being included in the library.
The EVSL was launched on World Sight Day - 13th October 2005. Plans to develop the library over the next few years will be made in line with the National Knowledge Service and other related NHS Connecting for Health developments.
If you are a health care professional involved in eye health care then this is a site for you - so please do visit www.library.nhs.uk/eyes It is possible that we may not have the answers to all of your questions yet. At launch the library covers the main eye conditions at varying levels of depth but as it is continuously evolving its content will grow and change with the acquisition of knowledge. Your input and feedback will be invaluable in this process to ensure that ongoing development and improvements in the content and its organisation within the library are user-driven, and thus responsive to your needs and your practice.