After accessing the ‘Find Databases A-Z’ link, create an account following the link on the homepage. This will allow you to create project folders to organise and share your documentation, maintain links, and track updates. You can also set up tailored alerts for content updates on your area of interest.

On the white homepage screen, click on the link to ‘The Construction information service – CIS’. The other link to ‘Knowledge workspace’ shows manufacturers’ catalogues.

CIS homepage overview

There is a search box at the top of the screen. On the left are navigation options which include:

Browse: search through subjects, publishers or series
Interests: pin your favourite topics and quickly see updates
Projects: create folders to save documents which can be shared with other university users
Manage content alerts: set up alerts and their frequency
Saved searches: save and edit your searches

On the main screen as you scroll down are:

CIS content updates
NBS (National Building Specification) guides
CIS ‘how to’ videos
View of your project folders, content alerts, and document comments. Project folders show a red notification icon to signal an update.
‘Just in’ and ‘New and Revised’ sections
Latest news from the Architect’s Journal
Quick links to popular resources, e.g. Metric Handbook
Technical resources including (Access Industry Journals, Steel Construction Institute, Concrete Society, CIRIA and SCI Blue Book)

Search and access a document

At the top of the CIS homepage is the search box where you can use keywords. There is also an advanced search where you can search by abstract, document number, author, title, publisher, series and ISBN. You can also refine your results to a date range.

Your list of results will be ordered by relevance, but you can change this by title, date, publisher, or series. You can click on the filter button (top right, blue) and narrow down results by publisher, date, series or date it was added to CIS. There may also be the option to view anything relevant from NBS building regulations and Suppliers via Specify-it. Next to the filter button, you can save the search and export the list of results.

Once you select a result, the box on the right shows the full information of the source (e.g. title, status, document history, author, publisher, abstract, and subject). You can change the layout by selecting the ‘toggle document view’ or ‘toggle table view' buttons at the top of the results list. If the item is available as full text, there will be a download button under the image icon. When you download a document, it will have a watermark on it with your name and date.

Database Guide - Construction Information Service (CIS) with British Standards