What is the Union List?

Across the North health library and knowledge services (LKS) operate a document supply service in accordance with the Interlending and Document Supply Protocol (updated January 2024). The Union List of Journals provides access to a searchable list of the journal titles taken by all the participating libraries. It has an in-built facility to send an e-mail to a library holding the journal title and request a copy of a specific article.

Who is responsible for keeping the list up to date?

HEE fund an LKS to manage the updating and quality checking of the Union List. From 2015 this will be the responsibility of the Trust Library at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

How do I ensure my library's journal holdings are accurate?

Libraries should email nmgh.library@mft.nhs.uk with the subject line - "For attention: Union List editor" to request a copy of their holdings.

You will amend the list to reflect changes to your holdings and check that your entries are consistent with the Master List of Journal Titles. Then send the revised list back to nmgh.library@mft.nhs.uk for quality checking and upload to the Union List on the LKS North website.

How do I use the Union List of Journals?

The list can be searched by journal title, keyword in the title or an acronym e.g. BMJ for British Medical Journal. Once you find a library that holds the year and part of the journal you need you can click on the e-mail facility and complete the request form. You can also download your own library's holdings list or the complete Union List of Journals to save to your own PC or print.

Inter Lending in the North

From 1 January 2017 we are extending the collaboration on document supply to include interlending. As we do not have a single regional catalogue, the LKS North Website now has a list of the URLs of searchable OPACS to facilitate this activity. It is expected as part of the protocol that inter-library loans will be sourced within the original geographic area before cross requesting, i.e. within LIHNN or within NE & Yorkshire and the Humber.

The interlending scheme within the North is known as PANDDA (Pan Northern Document Delivery Agreement). All participating libraries have been issued with a PANDDA code (spreadsheet updated August 2024).

Updated 1 August 2024