Dear All
I've had several requests for a summary, so please find below. I'm none the wiser, but nonetheless entertained!
Kind Regards
Simon Alberici
Library Services
Healthcare Library
Jersey General Hospital
01534 442664
I fully sympathise - we have LOTS of these books and I eventually decided to stop buying them because it was getting ridiculous.
We don't have a policy as such but I will take into consideration all requests for purchase and then consider the library as a whole rather than the needs of the individual.
I am quite tempted to advise the user to buy their own copy as they are not that expensive!
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I tend to buy these as they come out in the publication lists I get. I also consult with departments to see if they are worth buying eg some GP books are not suitable for the type of trainee we get here, also we get very few radiologist trainees so it is not worth buying for them. I don't buy stuff that is not targeted for our UK trainees - eg sometimes I get asked for a US exam book - this is someone wanting to work outside the NHS so they need to fund themselves.
I've found most of the times MCQ/OSCE type books get heavy use by a wide range of people from medical students to registrars so they are in the main worth buying.
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We have a collection of MCQ type material and on the whole it is well used (we have titles that are a couple of years old with 40 - 50 issues on them each). Nearly all of it is limited to short loan (which for us is 7 days) and we buy multiple copies of the most popular titles where budgets allow.
We try to pick them off reading lists, but also get recommendations for Library users too. We haven't had the need to promote them - they seem to get well used without any help from us!
Not sure if this helps, but that is what we do...
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This answer should be in a cynical plain brown envelope, I think, and never acknowledged! We used to not buy them, because we didn't have adequate budget, but then our book purchasing fund increased a bit and I have to say, cynically, that I buy some of them now because it's good for the relationship of the library with medical trainees and for our loan numbers! It still doesn't sit well with me, though, as there are only a few comparable books for non-medics (e.g. OSCES for nursing students) and I've spent the last 14 years stopping this from being a medical-dominated library! Yours, having got that off my chest
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We buy them, unless we know that the exam format is about to change so that they'll have limited use for others in later years. In which case we borrow from elsewhere.
Some get taken out a lot, some much less so but on the whole they're relatively cheap and they do get used. Also we get some of our funding from undergraduate and postgraduate departments, so feel a bit obliged to keep the stock up to date!
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In our case, we seem to be buying them for the individual who is quickest at removing them from the library while we have our backs turned... :( Junior doctor exam books are the category that walks more than any other. We try to respond by purchasing ebooks as replacements whenever possible, but of course not all of them are available electronically!
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No policy as such here, but usually a firm no.
We do subscribe to Medical masterclass, and to be honest that's as far as I am willing to go.
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We've had this problem too - I was not thrilled when I found out our brand new STJ books had been written in, grrrr!
I've seriously considered trying to get these online, but haven't managed to find all of them yet - if you come up with a solution could you share it please?
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We buy these books but I agree that we do sometimes feel like we are buying them because of pressure from an individual, not for the wider library community. It is also difficult to keep a balanced collection as there are quite a few exams and occasionally we have staff taking the second or final part - but often not !
It also annoys us that these books often get annotated. Pencil is bad enough but it happens in biro or highlighter too.
We keep on buying them because we often can't get them on ILL for very long. If anyone has really good advice about acquiring them - or not- do let me know.
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Yes, Simon: my policy - after several books have been returned plus either biro or highlighter marks - is I Don't Buy. Most of these books are around £20 or under, which is less than a night out. Around London, that's about 4 pints of ale....
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I do buy these, but not everything - I try to get some for various departments and not just get all the ones requested by 1 particular person or department.
There are moments when I've been price-checking that I think "you've asked for x number and they are on special offer on a popular Internet bookseller, just get your own copy." In those cases, what I actually say to them is they've asked for a lot and we can't get them all, which ones are the highest priority?
However when push comes to shove, exam books get borrowed. If I spend some of our book budget on exam books I know they will be used, and the usage will be directly related to training / education. I just try to be fair in sharing out the resources between specialties.
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We certainly have a policy to buy exam aid books (the latest hot topic is situational judgement tests). We also have them in a separate set of shelves, rather than within the main run. They are possibly the most popular items with our medical students after anatomy and physiology.
We have also bought a small number of travel guide books for regions which are popular with the students going out on their distant electives.
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I agree with you - I don't have a policy I just don't buy them! If we get any money through charitable funds or something similar we periodically update the collection but not with the same regularity that we would with general texts. I think exam books should be bought by the trainee - it's a small investment for them for their future career. Invariably once someone has the book on loan they never return it before the exam even if someone else is waiting for it - they treat it like their own copy anyway which is immensely frustrating for us and their fellow students.
I would love to know what other people think about this as I feel it is an area we are not really on top of. I tend to rely on reading lists and limit purchases but we do have a policy of always responding to reader requests - when the readers are students I tend to suggest alternatives we have in stock or ILLs unless I think it has a general interest for students e.g. the Situational Judgement Tests, where we have added a couple of titles recently,
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not a policy as such but we do buy exam books. I can't see they are any different from other books on reading lists. Presumably other users of the library will be taking those exams in the future, so you are not really buying for an individual. Hope this is helpful
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I used to fret about buying these but came to the conclusion that they are what the reader needs and are supporting their education so why not buy them? They are generally not too expensive and are well used to boot.
The only exception I have made is that we do not buy exam books that prepare you for exams to go and practice in the states or elsewhere (USMLE). I took a view that these are not in the best interest of the organisation and people can buy them for themselves.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Simon Alberici
Sent: 12 February 2013 14:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Policy on books for exams?
Hello Everyone
I'm often asked for the latest MCQ / OSCE etc book, but sometimes feel more like the we're buying it for the requesting individual rather than the library. Maybe we should do a promotion and get the Lonely Planet books in for them to take on holiday when they've passed? Seriously though, does anyone have a policy on buying these types of books?
Kind Regards
Simon Alberici
Library Services
Healthcare Library
Jersey General Hospital
01534 442664
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