Bloomsbury Medieval Studies

Bloomsbury Medieval Studies (BMS) is a good interdisciplinary resource that provides access to all of Bloomsbury Publishing’s offerings on Medieval Studies in one place. One strength of this product is the global view of the medieval period it takes, as opposed to the Eurocentric view of most of the other products currently on the market. The pricing is based on tiers and quite reasonable. The license terms and conditions are mainly in line with industry standards, although there are a few you will want to look at for possible negotiation. The user interface is clear and easy to use. This is a new product that currently has an update schedule of every six months. This makes the perpetual access model of dubious value, but an annual subscription could easily be worth the cost.

Making Collection Management Manageable: A Three-Phase Approach to an Annual Subscription Review

Annual subscription reviews are a normal part of many libraries’ operations, but this process is time consuming and can be particularly challenging for institutions with small e-resources staffs. The approach pursued by the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University includes strategies other libraries may find helpful in moving beyond cost per use in their reviews. In early fiscal year 2019, the Michael Schwartz Library identified a need to systematically review all subscriptions annually. The library operates with a flat budget and cancellations are often required to manage inflation. Previously, subscription reviews were in response to immediate needs (e.g. budget cuts, changes in consortium offerings, etc.). Largely due to staffing and time constraints, examining the entire corpus of subscriptions was outside of the scope of past reviews. A new subscription review process was developed to prepare the library to make data-driven decisions regarding cancellations for the next fiscal year. The methodology developed for the new subscription review consisted of three phases with each phase narrowing the number of resources considered for cancellation. The first phase was an evaluation of resource performance from an acquisitions perspective and incorporated cost per use and annual price increases. In the next phase, subject librarians evaluated resources in their respective disciplines based on several criteria and were required to rank resources in order of retention priority. In the final phase, faculty were surveyed on content quality, frequency of use in instruction, and other criteria for those resources deemed “cancellation eligible.”

PO 8254 LESSONS LEARNT FROM SCALING UP AN ONLINE SYSTEM FOR REVIEW AND MANAGEMENT OF PROTOCOLS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

BackgroundThe transition from paper-based to online submission of health research protocols using the RHinnO Ethics (RE) platform has been shown to improve efficiency and quality of ethics reviews. However, despite these documented benefits, there are only a total of 40 installations in 12 out of the 54 countries in Africa. We analysed facilitators and barriers to adoption of RE by Researc Ethics Committees.MethodsWe used a retrospective analysis to identify determinants of adoption or rejection of RE by grouping feedback from users into key emerging themes identified through three stages of RE adoption: 1) contractual 2) trial 3) full implementation.ResultsA total of 3947 protocols have been managed through RE by March 2018. Of those reached, 25 per cent adopted and continue to use RE. Of those that rejected, 14 per cent rejected after the trial. At the contractual stage, the key determinants of adoption were the guarantee of sustainable funding, pre-existing good IT infrastructure, and the assurance of technical assistance from the providers. The key determinants of rejection were concerns of cyber security, limited control and ownership by Researc Ethics Committees and cost of the annual subscription. At the trial stage, the determinants of continued adoption and use were continued IT support from providers and a proven comparative advantage over the paper-based system. The key determinant of rejection was limited support from organisation leadership. Those who have continued through the implementation stage emphasised financial sustainability and continuous improvement of the RE as key determinants.ConclusionAccelerated adoption of RE will require increased adaptability of the platform, decrease in cost of annual subscription, improved confidence in security and ownership of data. Developers, Research Ethics Committees and sponsors of RE need to develop a cost-effective funding strategy to increase efficiency, economies of scale and benefits related to harmonised and standardised digital platforms.

“Just-in-Time” Unmediated Document Delivery Service Provides Fast Delivery, Helps Identify Collection Gaps, but Incurs Extra Costs

A Review of: Chan, E. K., Mune, C., Wang, Y., & Kendall, S. L. (2016). Three years of unmediated document delivery: An analysis and consideration of collection development priorities. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 35(1), 42-51. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2016.1117288 Abstract Objective – Examine the collection development opportunities and challenges of an unmediated document delivery service. Design – Case study. Setting – Large comprehensive public university in the United States of America. Subjects – 11,981 document delivery requests. Methods – This library implemented Copyright Clearance Center’s Get It Now (CCC-GiN) service in November 2011 to supplement existing holdings, provide access to embargoed content and help support two new programs. The CCC-GiN service was offered in addition to regular ILL service. Statistical analysis was done using usage data collected for the academic years 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015 (excluding June and July). Usage data included: order date and time, fulfillment date and time, publication name, publication date, article name, article author, publisher name, cost, delivery e-mail address. Taylor and Francis publications were added to the CCC-GiN service in November of 2014. Main Results – The average yearly cost of titles with the largest number of CCC-GiN requests was compared to the annual subscription cost of the same titles. If the annual subscription cost was less than the average yearly cost of CCC-GiN requests, the library purchased a subscription. Patrons ordered older journal content through CCC-GiN requests. This suggested that backfile subscriptions could be cost effective means of providing content. The authors are in the process of analyzing what historical journal content should be purchased. The addition of Taylor and Francis publications resulted in an increase in the average cost per article. Taylor and Francis publications were popular with patrons, helping boost the total number of requests. The date of the Taylor and Francis materials ordered through CCC-GiN tended to be more recent compared to other publishers. The authors suggest CCC-GiN is a possible solution for acquiring embargoed material. Average fulfillment time increased during the three year time period from 1:34 (hr:min) to 3:52. The percentage of requests outside of ILL working hours was consistent across all three years (62% each academic year). The authors note CCC-GiN service provided the most expedient way for patrons to receive requested material. A number of the most requested CCC-GiN publications were also available in print format. The quality of print serials data was uncertain hence the decision was made to not upload this data to the CCC-GiN service. This resulted in some overlap in requests with the library’s print holdings. Older content was requested through CCC-GiN rather than through traditional ILL. This resulted in increased costs from copyright fees that would have been avoided using traditional ILL services. Conclusion – The authors reference the impact of e-commerce on library patron expectations about ease of access and just-in-time delivery. They found that the CCC-GiN service meets these expectations as patrons were able to access a broad selection of materials in a timely and easy to use manner. From the analysis come suggestions to help reduce costs associated with the service. They include adjusting system settings to cap spending limits, limiting who can use the service, selecting only titles that cover a gap in the collection, and including quality print serials holdings data to prevent purchase of already owned material. The authors also discuss using a mediated rather than unmediated service to help lower costs but they note this would slow down turnaround time. The authors close by saying each library will have to consider its own needs and those of its patrons with respect to ease of use, delivery time, and cost.