The RCM Library is keen to develop the electronic services and resources it provides to members. We are running two pilot projects during 2006. First of all, we are offering access for members to a series of 'top twenty' electronic textbooks (e-books) in midwifery. These are being provided for us by Coutts Library Services using the MyiLibrary platform. (MyiLibrary will be familiar to many people, since it is also used by the National Library for Health in England to provide a pilot collection of mental health and WHO titles).

The e-book collection is accessible via a new "e-books" page in the members' area of the main RCM web site. Clicking on the link "MyiLibrary midwifery collection" takes you to the MyiLibrary welcome page. Click on "my content" here. On the next page, click on the subject headings ("medicine" and "social sciences") to display the list of titles. These include the most recent edition (13th) of Mayes' midwifery: a textbook for midwives, one of the editors of which is Sue Macdonald, Education and Research Manager at the College. The licence we have is for all College members, for one concurrent user.

We are also piloting a small collection of electronic journals from Blackwell Publishing: Birth, BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Journal of Nursing Management, and Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. Access to these will be via the SwetsWise platform, accessible via a link from the main library web page. Please contact the library (catherine.ebenezer@rcm.org.uk) for a username and password. Although any member will be able to access the collection, the licence is officially for members of the library, not the entire membership of the RCM, so anyone who has not already joined the library will need to do so. (This will provide access, of course, to our other library services, such as book loan and document supply.)

The library staff would be very interested in your opinions of these collections and your experiences in using them. We will be conducting a formal evaluation during the summer of 2006 after six months; meanwhile please let us have your views . Also, please contact us also if you are having any problems accessing or using the collections.

Catherine Ebenezer
Information Systems Manager