Library

Welcome to the Gordon Bradley Lowe Library  

The Royal Hospital for Women’s Library provides information and library services for health professionals and students. It is a specialised collection on obstetrics, gynaecology, neonatology, reproductive medicine, obstetrics anaesthesia, midwifery and related nursing specialities, women’s health and the history of women’s health care. 

The library is named after Dr Gordon Bradley Lowe who served on the Hospital staff from 1923 until 1949 and whose widow donated funds to develop the library in 1964. 

Reference queries and research: Please contact the Librarian for help with research or information queries. 

Interlibrary loans: The Library can obtain a copy of an article or loan of a book not held on the Randwick Campus, using national and international resources.  Please note there may be a charge for some hard to obtain items or fast track services.  Request forms can be obtained from the Library. You can request items held in other libraries directly from the online catalogue. 

Current awareness service: A digest of article citations and news on women’s health can be set up for you on request using RSS feeds. Major weeklies such as the British Medical Journal, The Lancet and other journals on obstetrics, gynaecology, midwifery, neonatology and women’s health are included. RSS alerts may also be setup up for you by topic in your area of interest. Contact the Librarian for help with this service. 

Journals contents pages: Copies of contents pages of new journal issues received in the Library can be sent to you.  Contents pages can also be emailed to you directly from many publishers websites;  please ask the Librarian how to arrange this. 

Literature and database searches: The Librarian will run database searches on request. 

Tuition: Regular sessions on database searching and using CIAP are held in the Library Computer Room.  Individual tuition, or in-service sessions for your unit or department can also be arranged on request. 

Endnote: Endnote is a commercial reference management software package, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. The Librarian will run Endnote sessions on request. 

Computer facilities: There are currently no computers available in the RHW library. Computer facilities are available in the POWH Library, located in the Edmund Blacket building and can be used by RHW staff.  

Telephone: The telephone in the computer room has internal access only and may be used for answering pages. 

Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospital Library: Staff on the Randwick Hospitals Campus may also use the Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospital Library located in the Edmund Blacket Building. This is a large medical and nursing library covering all the specialties of both of these hospitals. 

The RHW Museum: Historical artefacts and publications relating to the history of obstetrics and the Royal Hospital for Women are located within the Library as well as inside and at the rear of the Lecture Theatre.

Pathology: The Pathology exhibits are housed in the Archives room within the Library and may be viewed by staff and students on request. 

KOHA online library catalogue 

With a wide range of resources and extensive staff expertise the library service supports the learning, teaching and research needs of staff and students throughout the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District in conjunction with Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD and St Vincent's libraries via a shared catalogue service called KOHA. All library resources are available to all staff.  

Each library maintains local responsibility for journals, books, expenditure and staffing matters. The holdings of each library come together in the common format of the shared libraries’ catalogue. In this way even the smaller libraries have access to the same large number of resources as the larger libraries. 

The catalogue allows you to search for the books and journals held in the libraries. Also you can reserve or renew the book or check what you have on loan. 

KOHA the online library catalogue

*Please be aware that CIAP and HCN contain links to other sites that might only be available to those that have Internet access. Contact the State Wide Service Desk for any problems with access. 

Information for SESLHD CIAP Users: 

The Clinical Information Access Portal (CIAP) provides information and resources to support evidence-based practice at the point of care. CIAP is available to all nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health, community health, and ancillary staff working in or for NSW public health system including students while on clinical placement in a NSW Health public hospital. CIAP can be accessed from work or from home.

Reference: Up to date editions of standard medical reference texts and textbooks which are constantly used or consulted by the RHW staff. These items are not for loan. 

Lending: These may be borrowed for three weeks.  Your RHW staff or student identification is required for lending.  Please see the Librarian to borrow a book. High demand student texts cannot be renewed and are limited to two per person. 

Research and historical: Older texts, historical material, research publications in specialised areas of obstetrics and gynaecology. These items are available for three week loan; please speak to the Librarian.