Library Notes

“The library would benefit from more updated text collections" and "there are still some journals the library doesn’t offer” are some of the responses illustrating the opinions of users answering questions in the most recent Galter Library LibQUAL+ survey. Quite a few respondents indicated that they appreciate the efforts the Galter Library has made to expand the e-journal collection. Some remarked that the book and textbook collections seem dated or that missing books are not replaced. Still others offered suggestions about specific journal titles to add or discontinue, and new subject areas in which to collect. We have grouped user questions and comments into generalized categories and addressed them below.

How to find resources - books, journals, databases - at Northwestern University and affiliated libraries

"The library needs instructions on how to find computer, engineering, or X (other literature)."

The Galter Library collects selectively in areas such as informatics and bioengineering. The Northwestern University libraries’ joint online catalog, NUcat, provides the most comprehensive inventory of print and electronic resources from all of these libraries. Most licensed electronic resources are accessible to users on both campuses. Inter-campus borrowing is available for print resources not held at the Chicago campus libraries. Each library’s Web site provides a means of identifying electronic resources of particular interest to that library’s primary user population. The Galter Library has developed Health SmartLibrary as a means for its users to identify and link to a pertinent and personalized menu of electronic resources (books, journals, databases), to obtain electronic news alerts, etc.

Are you having a problem identifying what’s available or how to get to it? Please feel free to contact Galter Library staff at a library service desk. You can also arrange for an information consultation with the Education team. Links are listed on the Web site under Library Information.

Making collection decisions for the library

"The library needs gateways in X language and journals from X country to reflect demographic changes."

The Galter Library collects and licenses core resources that are deemed to be most useful to and in scope for its primary user population based in the Feinberg School of Medicine. Presently, since English is the predominant worldwide scientific language, collection guidelines indicate that foreign language materials, other than dictionaries, are not collected. However, the library does create records and links to free, open access, multilingual, scholarly, biomedical electronic resources from other countries, including those of Latin American countries, India, and Japan.

Books: In the past few years, the Galter Library has been able to purchase and license a current and more diverse array of print and electronic books. Print books are selected and purchased to support the curricula, to provide overviews of biomedical subjects (eg. textbooks), and to cover subject specialty areas that are the focus of medical school-based research and areas of excellence. A variety of criteria are used when selecting books for the collection. Electronic book access is usually available for the current edition only and availability is subject to publisher and provider policies. Not all desired book titles are available electronically, so print book acquisition is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Journals: "The library still needs to get more electronic journals" and "I always wish for more electronic journals" are some of the journal-specific comments we received in the survey. The Galter Library has made a concerted effort to convert as many of its previously print subscriptions to electronic access. New titles are licensed “electronic only” when possible. Only a few dozen print-only journal titles remain for which institutional electronic access is not yet available.

"I would like a comprehensive collection from dates further back than a year or two": Some journals are only electronically available for the most current several years; back years are not always available. Sometimes, back year archives/collections need to be licensed separately and at substantial additional cost. Backfile purchases are weighed against acquiring new titles.

"The collection is not competitive with other medical libraries": Discontinuing or adding journal titles is a continuing balancing act as the library tries to meet present and future local user needs. The Galter Library has conducted studies of what our peer institution libraries license and collect, and we monitor these studies as guides to our own collecting.

When are collection decisions made?

"I haven’t found books on my subject published within the last five years" or "X title is important to my research": The Galter Library acquires print books throughout the year. Subject currency is dependent on what is being published, and some book editions are only updated every few years. Annual reviews are done of potential new electronic resources (journals, books, databases). Print and electronic journal subscription lists are also re-evaluated annually. Electronic resources are often licensed in collaboration with other Northwestern University libraries through the Electronic Collections Committee. Fiscal year budgets dictate how many new resources the libraries can acquire or license each fiscal year, while maintaining currently desired collections and electronic licenses.

What are some recent collection projects the library has conducted?

"The X subject collection is weak" and "why doesn’t the library collect more publications in which faculty publish?": The Galter Library purchases print books written by Feinberg School of Medicine authors. Periodic reviews are made of the collection including spot checks of coverage in subject areas. Studies have been done on Galter Library coverage of journals in which Feinberg School of Medicine faculty publish.

"Why didn’t the library replace X book recorded as missing?": Unfortunately, print books are sometimes damaged or not returned by borrowers. That status is reflected as "missing" in the online catalog, NUcat. The library periodically runs reports on missing or lost books and makes decisions on which ones should be replaced. Individual print journal volumes sometimes cannot be replaced and a gap in the collection is the result. Users who do not return library materials are billed for replacement costs. Library users who need a book that is listed as being “missing” should speak to a library staff member at a service desk about borrowing the book from another library or identifying alternative books in the subject area.

It should also be mentioned that the Galter Library has conducted several inventory weeding projects, most recently for its 1850-1950 and historical book collections, and the records for all books are being included in the online catalog, NUcat. (The remnant card catalogs in the Lower Level will soon be removed.)

How can users recommend specific resources (books or journals) or new subject areas to explore?

"The library should get X journal" and "Many journals in my professional specialty aren’t available": The Galter Health Sciences Library cannot collect or license everything desired or recommended, but efforts are made to evaluate the collection on a periodic basis, making decisions based on fiscal realities and most importantly, ensuring that access to necessary information resources is available to its primary user community. Requested titles are kept in an “under consideration” file.

The Library studies usage patterns of currently held and/or licensed journals. Interlibrary loan request studies are taken into consideration when deciding what new journals to acquire. Library users are represented on the Library Committee which meets regularly to discuss library policies and directions, including those related to collections. Individual library users are invited to fill out a Request for purchase online form found on the “Library Information” page of the Galter Library’s Web site. Please feel free to recommend a particular title or resource, or arrange to speak to a collection team member about particular issues of interest or concern. The Galter Library’s mission is to meet users' information needs as much as possible.

How does the library publicize new resources and other collection changes?

Collection additions and updates are periodically made in issues of Library Notes. For example, some 2005 electronic collection highlights appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of the library’s online newsletter, Library Notes. Library users can view title-by-title new electronic resource listings in the Galter Library’s Web site’s "News" section. New books (print and electronic) are announced in the monthly New Acquisitions List.

Additionally, the Library’s Communications Committee and Health SmartLibrary development group members are discussing additional ways to alert library users to new electronic resources of potential interest.

A newsletter for patrons of the Galter Health Sciences Library

Fall 2005 New Series #38

Collections: Current and Future Directions

Ramune Kubilius, MALS, Collection Development/Special Projects Librarian, r-kubilius@northwestern.edu

Fall 2005
New Series #38