1. By Aslam Mehdi
Librarian
JN Medical College ,AMU
ETBS-2012

2.  Introduction
 Background of ERMED
 Hypothesis
 Objectives of the Study
 Methodology
 General Findings/Results
 Recommendations for future study
 Conclusion

3.  UGC-Info net : Launched in 2003 covering 200 universities with
2011 journals in health sciences.
 HELINET : Launched by RGUHS in 2003, 650 journals, Ist e-
consortia in India .
 ERMED :Electronic Resources in Medicine, Started in 2008 by
NML. Covered 98 medical college so far, 2400 journals .
 medIND: Developed by ICMR & NIC in 1986, 40 biomedical
journals with back volumes.
 J-gate : Launched in 2001 by Informatics India , 7739 journals .
 Hinari : Launched in 2002 by WHO,7000 journals, accessible for
low income countries only.

6.  Consortia based subscription of online journals has
enhanced the flow of health information in India.
 Substantial increase in the use of E- journals at the
faculty of medicine Library.
 Shifting paradigm from Print journals to Online
journals.

7.  To analyze the Usage patterns of e-journals in a
university medical college for identifying the
areas for further research and development.
 To measure the effectiveness of the consortium;
ERMED (Electronic Resources in Medicine)
launched in 2008 by National Medical Library,
Ministry of Health.
 To make an evidence based study of the actual
usage of this consortium.

8.  Focused on usage statistics gathered as a web
administrator of the consortium.
 Statistics gathered from Feb 2010 to Jan 2011.
 Based on vendor supplied usage statistics from
publishers.
 ‘Only online journals usage data was gathered and
analyzed .
 A database was created with all information of the
users and usage for this period. Results were imported
into Excel sheet and trends were analysed using simple
statistical methods.
 Actual usage of 1780 health and allied Sciences journals
through ERMED consortium was analyzed.

9.  It was found that Online journals were accessed 4 times
higher than the print journals (710 online journals while
clientele consulted 165 print journals only)
 Total number hits at ERMED by the 224 faculty & 486 PGs
was 20,369 only.
 Table of Content Page was most the preferred option with
5625 hits.
 Total number of full texts downloads was 4042 only.
 Database Search Page was less preferred option which was
hit 2726 times only.

10.  Post Graduates/Senior Residents (486) accessed more
journals than undergraduates (1050).
 Only six publishers were found most widely used &
searched with above 200 hits.
 Journals with higher impact factor were accessed widely&
downloaded most frequently.
 It was amazing that out of 1780 journals covered under the
consortium; only 44.3% journals were used and 55.7% were
unused.
 Surprisingly facilities like Journal Page list and View & Print
option were not used by the scholars at all.

11. 25000
20369
Cumulative Usage (Feb.10 - Jan.11)
20000
18589
15743
15000
12570
10000 9982
7572
5000 5348
4428
3598
2628
1287
0 351
Feb.10 Mar.10 Apr.10 May 10 Jun.10 Jul.10 Aug.10 Sep.10 Oct.10 Nov.10 Dec.10 Jan.11
Months

12. 6000 5618
5000
4067
4000
3216
3000 2726
2000 1704
942
1000 601 598
453 444
0 0
0

13. 1000
924
900
800
Total Downloads (Feb.10 - Jan.11)
700
600 573
518
500 447
439
400 363
300
200 157 173
132 141
117
83
100
0
Feb.10 Mar.10 Apr.10 May 10 Jun.10 Jul.10 Aug.10 Sep.10 Oct.10 Nov.10 Dec.10 Jan.11
Months

14. Current Archives
1000
900
Current vs. Archives usage (Feb.10 - Jan.11)
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Feb.10 Mar.10 Apr.10 May 10 Jun.10 Jul.10 Aug.10 Sep.10 Oct.10 Nov.10 Dec.10 Jan.11
Months

15. No. of Hits No.of Journals
700
592
600
491
500 433 432
400
309 313 306
256 280 279
300
200
94
100 63 39
26 30 19 19 27 29 28
0

16. Print Online
100 94
90
80
70 63
60
50 41 39
40 30
26 27 29 28
30 22
19 19
20 15
9 10 11
7 7 6
10 0
0

17. 25.00
20.13
20.00 18.98
Top 10 Publishers (in %)
15.00
11.89
10.75 10.38
10.00 9.10
5.35 4.71 4.44 4.25
5.00
0.00

18. Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery: American Editon 4.85
American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs 5.09
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of India 5.17
British Journal of Ophthalmology 5.5
Kidney International 5.58
Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 5.82
Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology 6.14
Journal of Glaucoma 6.31
Annals of Surgery 6.55
American Journal of Nephrology 8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Top 10 Journals (in %)

19. Indian Journal of Dermatology 27
Indian Journal of Otolaryngology & Head Neck Surgery 37
Indian Journal of Medical Research 40
Journal of Anatomical Society of India 28
Indian Journal of Nephrology 58
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Top 5 Indian Journals (in %)

20. 119
15%
Medical College
397 Institute of Ophthalmology
51%
262
Dental College
34%

21. 69
17% 99
25% American Journal of Nephrology
Annals of Surgery
Annals of Otolaryngology, Rhinology &
Laryngology
72
18% Journal of Paediatric Orthopaedics
Kidney International
81
21%
76
19%

22. 28
12% Journal of Glaucoma
76
31 32%
British Journal of Ophthalmology
13%
Archives of Ophthalmology
37 Journal of Paediatrics Ophthalmology &
15% Straubismus
Ophthalmic Research
68
28%

23. 12
12%
29 Journal of Oral Implantology
28%
17 Implant Dentistry
16%
British Dental Journal
Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology
19
Journal of Conservative Dentisitry
18% 27
26%

24. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New
5921 Delhi
6025 5% Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi
5%
7653
6% Institute of PG Medical Education & Research,
45932 Pondicherry
7785
35% Government Medical College, Trivandrum
6%
National Medical Library
9065
7%
Tamil Nadu MGR Medical University, Chennai
10293 University College of Medical Sciences, New
8% Delhi
Government Medical College, Kozhikode
10655 14778
8% 11% G.S. Medical College, Mumbai
11207
9%
All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, Mysore

25.  Examine the impact of online journals in all
health science libraries covered under ERMED.
 Analyze which journals have been accessed
maximum in all medical libraries in India.
 Find out the list of journals which have not
been accessed at all.
 Conduct a survey of all the health science
libraries in India to gather data regarding the
patrons & user’s satisfaction.

26.  Evidence shows that there is a shifting
paradigm from print to online even in a
developing country like India.
 Consortium like ERMED has enhanced the
flow of health information and facilitated the
access of scholarly publications at the campus.
 Finally it is important to note that the study
was limited to a single library only while the
Consortium covers 98 medical libraries.