The Norwegian Electronic Health Library is accessed online through the website www.helsebiblioteket.no.

The website provides free access to point-of-care tools, guidelines, systematic reviews, scientific journals, and a wide variety of other full-text resources for health-care professionals and students.

Free access to clinical resources

Helsebiblioteket.no provides everyone in Norway with unrestricted access to the recognized point-of-care tools BMJ Best Practice and UpToDate, as well as the drug database LexiComp, the Cochrane Library, Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) and major medical journals such as the Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, The Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. Through McMaster PLUS Norwegians can subscribe to updates or search the current best evidence research, with citations from over 120 premier clinical journals and selected evidence-based resources.

Some resources requires log in

In addition healthcare professionals and students can log in to get free access to bibliographic databases such as MEDLINE and PyscINFO, the drug database BNF for Children, and around 2,500 full-text journals.

Wide selection of content

There are topic libraries for pharmaceuticals, mental health, public health, quality assurance and toxicology, and content collections for other specialties and professions such as nurses, primary care and prison health. Examples of other content for clinicians are a catalogue of more than 400 Norwegian clinical guidelines, scoring tools and patient information leaflets. HeRA, an open research archive for hospitals, research institutes and other non-academic health institutions in Norway, is hosted by Helsebiblioteket.no.

The website integrates information sources in Norwegian and English with a bilingual search system.

A publicly funded service

Helsebiblioteket.no was officially launched 6 June 2006 by the Minister of Health and Care Services. The Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services hosts Helsebiblioteket.no. The service is publicly funded by Norway's National Budget and the four regional health authorities.

Helsebiblioteket.no has a staff of health professionals, librarians, journalists, web editors and administrators. Helsebiblioteket.no has editorial independence, is headed by an editor-in-chief and has separate bylaws. A council representing the funding bodies gives advice about strategy and the budget. An editorial board representing users and stakeholders gives advice about editorial matters.

Read more:

• Nylenna M, Eiring Ø, Strand G, Røttingen JA. Wiring a nation: putting knowledge into action. Lancet. 2010; 375(9719): 1048-51. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61832-8