Yes, I find it a bit disappointing that quite a few of my subscriptions omit online first on my atoz listing, then if I link through to the publisher's site, they are still unavailable. I too rely on HealthILL list for this kind of request. Thankfully a lot of my readers who want these kinds of article are normally engaged in some kind of distance learning, so a bit of gentle questioning reveals that they have untrammelled access to fathomless resources, but no idea how to access them, or that they even exist. So we get there in the end, the library gets kudos (and CUDOS), and we are all happy (if a little frustrated by the system).

Kind Regards

Simon Alberici

Library Services
Healthcare Library
Jersey General Hospital
01534 442664



-----Original Message-----
From: UK medical/ health care library community / information workers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Beverley Walsh
Sent: 04 October 2012 12:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: How do you deal with requests for Epubs ahead of print?


Hi Matthew, I must admit my heart sinks when I see an article is an e-pub. I wish publishers would'nt dangle them in front of our readers only for us to have to admit defeat in obtaining them. I have found that even with an online subscription, e-pubs are not always included and I have to admit relying heavily on LIS ILLs to obtain them on many occassions.

I do always warn readers that I may not be able to get it for them, and they generally seem to accept this. As for the publishers, I just think it is another way for them to extract more money out of the health care system on top of what we already pay in subscriptions every year.


Kind Regards
Beverley Walsh BSc
Asst Librarian
West Suffolk Hospital
01284 713113

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-----Original Message-----
From: UK medical/ health care library community / information workers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mathew Stone
Sent: 04 October 2012 11:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: How do you deal with requests for Epubs ahead of print?

Hello everyone

How do you feel about "e-publications ahead of print", and how do you deal with them?

In our library, when a customer requests an "e-publication ahead of print" that we are not able to immediately access, we simply process it like any other request but in the knowledge that we may not find a library who can supply it.  Sometimes the British Library can supply them, but sometimes not (I'm not sure why this is).  In those cases where we can find no library to supply the article I will contact the library customer and tell them they have 3 remaining options:
a) wait until the article appears in print and then submit another request, at which point the British Library should be able to supply it.  Unfortunately there is no way of knowing how long this will take, it could be a year or two.
b) purchase the article themselves from the publishers website. (Would/do any libraries consider purchasing an article directly from the publisher?  Typical costs seem to be round 20-30 US Dollars, which works out at about double the cost of a standard British Library article request - spending an extra £10 to avoid a lengthy wait might be good value in some cases)
c) contact the authors of the article and see if they would be willing to share their research with you.

In such cases it seems to me that the library is not fit for purpose.  If libraries (especially specialist/academic libraries) are not able to supply (epub) research articles that are being quoted at conferences/in the press and already referenced in other research articles, how will this affect our reputation with our customers?

Does anybody think that the publishers are using these "e-publications ahead of print" to deliberately scupper the inter-library supply of articles?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!

Kind regards

Mathew Stone
Assistant Librarian | Health Library & Information Service | Fieldhouse Education Centre, BRI Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
T: 01274 36 4122
F: 4704
http://www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk
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