Fine-tuning Dalhousie’s eBook Subscriptions

February 12, 2018 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

The Dalhousie Libraries lease and buy eBooks in many subject areas to meet student and faculty research, teaching, and learning needs. We acquire eBooks from multiple publishers and vendors. We currently provide ebooks on twenty different platforms.

As part of managing our collections, we regularly analyze our eBook and journal subscriptions to ensure the collection meets your current needs and that our spending is sustainable. In the fall of 2017, we examined a large collection of eBooks we lease from EBSCO.

EBSCO’s NA Academic eBook subscription has provided temporary access to more than 160,000 eBooks from a wide variety of publishers. Over the last four years, the content of this collection has regularly shifted as publishers change their approach to leasing eBooks and add or remove titles. In some cases, this collection duplicates our print and eBook holdings. Since 2013, only 4% of the EBSCO collection has been used by the Dalhousie community. The annual cost for leasing this collection is more than $10,000 CAD. The cost per title is very low (less than ten cents per book), but the cost per title is fourteen times higher when only the used titles are considered (approximately $1.40 per book)

After considering how the books are used, the collection’s overall fit for Dalhousie, and the sustainability of leased eBooks, we have decided to cancel this subscription.

Since there are some books in the collection that are consistently well-used, we will be redirecting the funds budgeted for this subscription to purchase eBooks of the most highly needed books. In early spring, the Libraries’ catalogue will be updated to remove the leased titles.

If you have questions or concerns about a specific EBSCO eBook, please contact Library.Collections@dal.ca

eBook Changes Post-ClinicalKey

August 31, 2016 Marlo MacKay Leave a Comment

Dalhousie’s ClinicalKey subscription to eBooks and eJournals ended in May 2016. As promised, the Dalhousie Libraries have purchased the most highly used ebooks that were in ClinicalKey from another vendor. Feedback and usage statistics will help us determine which additional books to replace in the coming months.

Every vendor has different display, navigation, and access options, and we make every effort to purchase the most advantageous model available. Whenever possible, unlimited access was purchased (e.g Goldman Cecil Medicine); however, in many cases only a three “concurrent users” license was available (e.g. for Nolte’s The Human Brain and Gray’s Anatomy). “Concurrent user” means that a limited number of users can access the materials at a single time, in this case, three users at a time. The same copyright laws and conditions that applied to ClinicalKey apply to these new subscriptions with alternate vendors.

Given these changes, we recommend that faculty work with the Faculty Course Reserves Service https://libraries.dal.ca/services/course-reserves.html to ensure persistent links to the course material are updated. We also recommend that students be alerted that many resources now have a three concurrent users license and that at peak times, copies will be in high demand. Students should access the resource early if they need to download material in advance of a lecture.

Access has been set up so that all three copies can be read online rather than borrowed in their entirety for multiple weeks. This allows for maximum access to a limited resource.

Both scenarios allow for faculty and students to use the books and print/download the material they need, but they may need to access the book a few times to print/download the needed section or full reading requirement.

When accessing books through the library catalogue, click on the “Open source in new window” option for easier viewing, navigation and printing/downloads. Students and faculty working in hospitals may have access to ClinicalKey through their local health authority. Medical students, residents and physicians who are members of CMA will have unlimited access to ClinicalKey through their association membership. https://www.cma.ca/En/Pages/cma-fee-category-schedule.aspx

Ebooks purchased (or already owned) to date:

Title	Access model
Anesthesia Secrets 4e, 2011	Unlimited
Blood and Bone Marrow Pathology 2e	Unlimited
Bradley’s Neurology in Clinical Practice 7e	3 concurrent users
Brocklehurst’s Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology 7e	Unlimited
Chestnut’s Obstetric Anesthesia: Principles and Practice 5e	3 concurrent users
Clinical Sports Medicine: Medical Management and Rehabilitation 2007	Unlimited
Complications in Anesthesia 2e, 2007	Unlimited
Comprehensive Pediatric Nephrology 2008	Unlimited
Current Surgical Therapy 11e	3 concurrent users
Electromyography and Neuromuscular Disorders 3e, 2013	Unlimited
Electromyography in Clinical Practice 2e, 2007	Unlimited
Essentials of Pain Medicine 3e, 2011	Unlimited
Fundamental Neuroscience	Unlimited
Goldman’s Cecil Medicine 24e	Unlimited
Gray’s Anatomy 40e	3 concurrent users
Head and Neck Pathology: A Volume in the Series: Foundations in Diagnostic Pathology 2e, 2013	Unlimited
Human Brain 6e, Nolte	3 concurrent users
Larsen’s Human Embryology 5e	3 concurrent users
Manual of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology 5e, 2011	Unlimited
Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry 6e, 2010	Unlimited
Miller’s Anesthesia 8e	3 concurrent users
Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics 20e	3 concurrent users
Neurology in Clinical Practice 6e	3 concurrent users
Neuromuscular Case Studies 2008	Unlimited
Neuromuscular Disorders: Treatment and Management	Unlimited
Pain Management Secrets 3e	Unlimited
Pain Procedures in Clinical Practice 3e	Unlimited
Pathology of the Lungs 3e	Unlimited
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 4e	3 concurrent users
Principles of Regenerative Medicine 2e, 2011	Unlimited
Schmidek and Sweet Operative Neurosurgical Techniques 6e	Unlimited
Simulation in Anesthesia 2007, Gallagher	Unlimited
Thompson & Thompson Genetics in Medicine 8e	3 concurrent users
Zakim and Boyer’s Hepatology 6e, 2012	Unlimited

Proposed cancellation of ClinicalKey

May 6, 2016 Michele Charlton 5 Comments

Along with the other libraries in the Dalhousie University Libraries system, the W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library will have a significant collections budget shortfall for 2016-17. Reducing book purchases and spending endowment funds will help reduce the shortfall, but additional cancellations will be required.

We are in the process of cancelling ClinicalKey as our first step toward balancing the 2016-17 budget.

ClinicalKey, an Elsevier product, has two main components: journals and ebooks. This subscription cost more than $100,000 CAD in 2015/16 and was the second most expensive item on our budget.

The majority of journals included in ClinicalKey are duplicates of titles the University Libraries already subscribe to in another Elsevier package.

The ebooks portion of ClinicalKey is required to support the Health professions and Medical curricula is well used, and provides unlimited access to students. To date, the vendor has not been able to provide a model that would allow us to subscribe to just the ebook portion.

In order to support the curricula, a portion of the funds saved by cancelling the ClinicalKey subscription will be repurposed to purchase ebooks. Replacement of the required ebooks will be phased in over two budget years.

Over the next six weeks liaison librarians will review titles identified as most relevant to the curricula in consultation with faculty. The Resources team will then purchase replacement ebooks and, in a few cases, print books.

Although ClinicalKey is a large, well-known education resource for Medicine and the Health Professions, we must be good stewards of the Dalhousie Collections funds while also meeting our user needs. Due to the increased annual renewal cost, the duplication of journal content, and the unfavorable currency exchange rate, we are making this difficult choice. The contingency plan outlined here will fill in the collection gaps left by the absence of this product.

Deadline for comments regarding this decision: 5 pm Friday, May 13, 2016. Please send your comments to: Patrick Ellis or Ann Barrett at Kellogg.Library@Dal.Ca

Update: ACP withdraws ebooks

November 24, 2015 Michele Charlton Leave a Comment

Updated December 4, 2015:

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has withdrawn their books from the StatRef ebook platform. Their decision means that effective December 1^st, 2015 Dalhousie users will no longer have access to the ebooks: MKSAP for students 5 and Internal medicine essentials for clerkship students. However, MKSAP for students 4 is available in print at both the Kellogg and UNBSJ libraries and a newer edition of both titles is on order at both libraries (rebranded “IM Essentials: Text and IM Essentials: Questions”). Neither book is available electronically to institutions.

These books are kept on reserve at both libraries to ensure availability. Books on Reserve cannot be borrowed through Document Delivery but individual chapters may be available. Requests can be placed through Dalhousie Document Delivery.

Effective immediately ACP Smart Medicine will no longer be published (the content is in the process of being merged with Dynamed Plus). AHFS DI Essentials, which was bundled with ACP Smart Medicine on StatRef, will be available as AHFS Drug Information via MedicinesComplete.

Go Online with Your Reading List: eReserves Service for Faculty

August 13, 2015 Michele Charlton Leave a Comment

Make course-related articles and book chapters available electronically to your students! The Dalhousie Libraries are offering faculty an option to have links to licensed e-content added to their reading lists and uploaded to BbLearn or Brightspace (for the Faculties of Agriculture, Management (CFAME), Architecture and Planning and Health Professions [Social Work programs] ) by one of the Dal Libraries’ staff, with copyright clearance obtained if possible.

You can do this online via the Reserve page on our website.

Go to the Reserves page and select the appropriate library submission form
Login and fill in the brief course particulars
Choose “Upload Reading List for OWL” (you still have the option to fill out our regular form for “In-Library Reserves” if you don’t want your list annotated and added to your BbLearn/Brightspace course)

And that’s it! Once you’ve submitted your list, Libraries’ staff will create persistent URLs for electronic items and post the list to BbLearn or Brightspace for you.

A note of caution: Some publishers limit the number of readers who can use an ebook at the same time. This publisher-controlled limitation can make ebooks challenging to use as textbooks. Before adding one of the Libraries’ ebooks to your syllabus, check with your library liaison who can work with the Libraries’ Resources team to determine if a particular ebook will meet your needs. Not sure who your library liaison is? Check this list: http://util.library.dal.ca/Subspecialists/

We work with paper as well! We’ll seek copyright clearance for print material—articles and book chapters—through our Copyright Services Coordinator and then scan and upload the items into BbLearn or Brightspace. If we’re not able to obtain copyright clearance, the material will be placed on Reserve at the Service Point/Circulation Desk of your selected library and you will be notified of this change.

By offering this service the Libraries are hoping to build new partnerships with faculty, meet the students where they are, and provide quick and reliable access to library resources. We also hope you find it useful!

Note: Please allow at least 2 weeks for your reading lists to be processed. Lists are processed in the order in which they are received.For further information or to get started, please contact:

Nancy Melvin, Killam Memorial Library, 494-2147
Jan Pelley, Kellogg Health Sciences Library, 494-3895
Jolene Reid, MacRae Library, 902-893-4578
Amanda Sparks, Sexton Design & Technology Library, 494-6095
Please contact the Dunn Law Library directly for Reserve information at that location.
John Yolkowski, Dalhousie Libraries Copyright Services Coordinator, 494-4346

Thinking about adding an ebook as a textbook for your Fall or Winter courses?

August 10, 2015 Michele Charlton Leave a Comment

Some publishers limit the number of readers who can use an ebook at the same time. This publisher-controlled limitation can make it difficult for an entire class to use the same ebook. Other ebook publishers offer better access choices.

Ebooks also vary significantly in price depending on whether the Libraries subscribe to the ebook or buy the ebook. In some cases, there are user limits on ebooks that the Libraries¹ own.

Before adding an ebook as a textbook to your course, check with your library liaison who can work with the Resources team to determine if a particular ebook will meet your needs. Not sure who your library liaison is? Check this list: http://util.library.dal.ca/Subspecialists/

Dal Libraries adds 453 ebooks to collection

May 21, 2015 Michele Charlton Leave a Comment

The Dal Libraries have recently added 453 eBooks to our collection from the Canadian Public Policy and Canadian Health Research subscription packages. eBooks open on the ebrary site where they can be read onscreen.

Some of the titles that have been added include:

Planters, paupers, and pioneers: English settlers in Atlantic Canada
Immigrant skill selection and utilization: a comparative analysis of Australia, Canada and the United States
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder awareness and prevention strategies: learning from the reported alcohol knowledge and behaviours of college-age youth
Diabetes and the urban aboriginal population
“Poverty”: a whispered word in the NWT

Many other titles can be found through the catalogue or here: http://ezproxy.library.dal.ca/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dal

More information regarding downloading ebooks can be found on the Mobile Resources & Ebooks Subject Guide: http://dal.ca.libguides.com/mobile

ebooks can be downloaded to Bluefire reader for offline reading.

E-Book Survey Winner

April 29, 2015 Michele Charlton Leave a Comment

The names of all e-book survey participants were entered in a draw for an Amazon gift card, donated by Springer.

Congratulations to our winner, N. Jackson!

Thanks to all who completed the survey. The results will help us make decisions about future purchases and improve services at the Dalhousie Libraries.

Fill out our eBook Survey for a chance to win daily prizes!

March 23, 2015 Michele Charlton 1 Comment

Complete a five minute eBook survey at https://surveys.dal.ca/opinio/s?s=27818 for a chance to win prizes donated by Springer.
Prizes awarded daily until March 31st.
All names will also be included in the final draw for an Amazon gift card.

Thank you for your participation!

Archives for ebooks