Journal usage in NHS hospitals: a comparison report of total usage at an acute NHS Trust and a specialist NHS Trust in the North West of England

Abstract

Background : Health care libraries spend a large amount of their non-pay budgets on the purchase of scientific, technical and medical journals. In a typical hospital library in the National Health Service (NHS) North West Strategic Health Authority (SHA), this can represent between 80 and 90% of the collection development budget. Methods and results : Data were collected from 1 December 2005 to 30 November 2006 using COUNTER-generated usage statistics obtained from publishers' administration tools. Between the two trusts included in the study, 93 376 full-text article downloads were recorded; of these, 15 952 or 17.1% articles were downloaded from national core content journals via Proquest. Photocopies made by users for their own use were recorded whenever this data were available. Conclusions : NHS staff at the sites included in this study recorded a high volume of journal usage. There was a marked difference in usage patterns between the acute and specialist trusts in the study. The journals provided by national core content represented a much higher proportion of total usage at the acute trust (29.9%) compared with the specialist cancer trust (4.5%). This study supports the view that the local purchasing of journal titles is an important component of the overall journal-based information provision to NHS staff.

eBook management in NHS libraries in the North of England: perceptions and practice

“…The bulk of previous research focuses on eBooks in academic libraries. Researchers have explored eJournal management in the NHS (Glover, Addison, Gleghorn, & Bramwell 2007), but very few attempts have specifically investigated the management of eBooks. Easton, Adam, Durnan, and McLeod (2016) recently investigated user typologies in Scottish NHS libraries, concluding that most users were eNinjas (preference for non-traditional study and information provided through technology).…”

Interlending and document supply trends in NHS North West health libraries 2003/2004 to 2006/2007

“…Within the last 5 years, NHS libraries in the North West have seen a surge in the purchase of electronic resources, particularly medical and nursing journals. In a recent study of journal use at two NHS Trusts in the North West of England, over 90 000 articles were downloaded over a 12‐month period 4 . Over a similar period, the impact of open access and of publishers making their backlists available free of charge after due embargo periods has been witnessed 7 .…”

“…In a recent study of journal use at two NHS Trusts in the North West of England, over 90 000 articles were downloaded over a 12-month period. 4 Over a similar period, the impact of open access and of publishers making their backlists available free of charge after due embargo periods has been witnessed. 7 HighWire Press, a major platform which hosts many top society journals, including the British Medical Association Publishing Group (BMJPG) journals, has over 3.5 million articles available free of charge.…”

“…Health care libraries spend a high proportion of the non-pay budgets on periodicals and interlending and, in those libraries with large collections, document supply activities can take up a significant proportion of staff time. 4,5 In addition to interlending and document supply between LIHNN members, many NHS NW health libraries are also members of other schemes such as the Nursing Union List of Journals (NULJ) and the Psychiatric Libraries Cooperative Scheme (PLCS). Libraries may also be members of the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC), the British Medical Association (BMA) Library or the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM).…”

Information Technology: Retrospective

“…Models for the procurement of electronic resources within the NHS began to play an important role regionally and nationally soon afterwards and articles signalled precursors to this development 36 or described their development 37 and evaluation 38 . The perceived efficacy locally of relying on journal provision through regional and national procurement began to be analysed soon after 39,40 …”