Services for local authority public health staff: UKHSA Knowledge and Library Services
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-11)

This page details the Knowledge and Library Services (KLS) available to local authority public health staff.

UKHSA Knowledge and Library Services provide access to resources and professional library services to local authority public health staff (LAPH) based in county and unitary authorities in England.

UKHSA Knowledge and Evidence Specialists supporting local authorities in your region

All local authority public health teams have access to a regional UKHSA Knowledge and Evidence Specialist (KES), who can undertake literature searches and provide information skills training to you and your team. Select the name of the relevant Knowledge and Evidence Specialist from the table below to open an email.

Access to resources

Find out about resources available to you in Finding the evidence: Research support for public health teams based in Local Authorities. (https://ukhsa.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=53725)

Discovery Search (https://research.ebsco.com/c/gepf4r/?acr_values=guest): use this to look for evidence provided by UKHSA, the NHS, and open access sources. It provides easy access to full text using the ‘Get PDF’, ‘Linked Full Text’, and ‘Access Item’ links.

BrowZine (https://browzine.com/libraries/2004/subjects): to browse e-journals from different publishers.

An OpenAthens account (https://openathens.nice.org.uk/) is required to access these resources.

Local authority public health staff who are based within the public health directorate are eligible for an OpenAthens account.

You can register for an OpenAthens account here: NICE OpenAthens (https://openathens.nice.org.uk/). When asked for your organisation name, type ’Public Health Staff in England’ and use your workplace email address when registering. You should then receive an email confirmation with a link to create your own password. This activates your account. If not received check your junk email; then contact xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) for support.

Local authority public health staff can login to MyAthens (https://my.openathens.net/auth?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.eduserv.org.uk%2Fopenathens) to access the full range of resources available through their OpenAthens account, including access to databases.

NHS knowledge and library services support

Some local authorities have arrangements in place for their public health staff to use NHS knowledge and library services for literature searches, training and document supply. Find your local service (http://www.hlisd.org/) to explore more or discuss options for arranging access.

If your local authority accesses resources through the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub (https://research.ebsco.com/c/wog43o/search/?acr_values=guest) instead of Discovery Search, visit the Hub, then select the bar at the top of the page to log in with your OpenAthens account.

NHS core content

In addition to UKHSA’s resources, you have access to journals and databases that the NHS subscribes to. Information can be found on the NHS website: What is bought nationally? (https://library.hee.nhs.uk/resources/core-content/what-is-bought-nationally)

Expert literature searching and information retrieval

A literature search is a detailed, comprehensive and systematic search of the literature from a variety of quality sources about specific topics or conditions. We offer 2 types of output for your literature search results:

Bibliography - this is a simple list of the relevant results of a literature search, in chronological or author order.

Themed bibliography - this is a list of the relevant results of a literature search that have been screened and categorised.

Request a literature search (https://forms.ukhsa.gov.uk/kls-enquiries)

Information skills training

A range of information skills training is available, covering topics such as:
- introduction to the knowledge and evidence service
- using Discovery
- finding the evidence
- evaluating the evidence
Please contact your local Knowledge and Evidence Specialist to learn more about the training we can provide, or to arrange a training session for your team. Additionally, training may be available from local NHS library services for LAPH teams with a service level agreement (SLA) in place.

You may also wish to explore the eLearning for Healthcare (e-LfH), where you can view all available programmes (https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/). If you have not used e-LfH before, you will need to register for the system. Visit the Registration support page (https://support.e-lfh.org.uk/get-started/registration/#1601) for further information.

Fortnightly update and search reshares

This fortnightly email update highlights recent search topics completed by UKHSA Knowledge and Library Services for LAPH teams. You can request copies of the searches by contacting your local KES to join the mailing list.

In addition, you can contact us to ask what work we have already done on a topic area. You can submit one enquiry at a time, based on work you are currently doing or planning to start soon.

Current awareness alerts

We provide current awareness alerts (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/current-awareness-alerts-ukhsa-knowledge-and-library-services) to help you stay up to date with research in a range of fields.

Contact us

For further information or queries, contact us.

Get in touch (https://forms.ukhsa.gov.uk/kls-enquiries)

Feedback

This is a new service. Help us improve it by providing feedback (https://submit.forms.service.gov.uk/form/7932/give-feedback-on-knowledge-and-library-services).