Libraries are increasingly being called upon to extend access to their online resources to users beyond their core constituencies. Every institution has its own unique arrangements, but they all raise similar questions for the library: are these users included under our existing licences or are separate ones needed? Will we have to pay more, and if so, how much? Where can I go for advice? Learn about the guidelines Jisc Collections has developed, and hear from two librarians who have successfully implemented their own solutions: Anna Franca on KCL’s work with an NHS Trust and Ruth Dale on Nottingham’s overseas campuses.

1. Eresources for NHS partners at King’s
College London
UKSG Conference 2017, Harrogate, 10-12 April
Anna Franca, Head of Collection Development, King’s College London

2. King’s Health Partners
• One of 5 AHSCs established in 2009
• King’s College London
• Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT)
• King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust (KCH)
• South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM)
• King’s College provides the library service for two of the partners in
KHP – GSTT and KCH

3. From the past to the present…
• NHS staff enjoy excellent on-site access to
print journals
• Mid 90s onwards shift from print to
electronic particularly in STM
• UKRR removes thousands of metres of print
stock
• Results in loss of access for NHS staff who
aren’t permitted e-access under academic
licence

4. Access for the NHS at King’s in 2012-13
• Walk in access
• NHS OpenAthens (National, Regional, LMSPG, local)
• Affiliate status granted to some NHS staff
• Hard to explain
• Hard to promote
• Complicated and unsatisfactory
Image: http://www.clker.com/clipart-confusion.html

5. London Medical Schools Procurement
• Established in 2008
• Imperial, KCL, QMUL, UCL, St Georges
• Early attempts at extending access
• Consortial purchasing arrangement with the aim of extending access
to affiliated NHS Trusts
• Pragmatic and focussed on a small number of key resources
• JISC Collections manages negotiations and licensing

6. Finch
• “Key actions: licensing xii. Rationalise and extend current licence
arrangements for the HE and health sectors, so that as many journals
as possible are accessible to everyone working or studying in those
sectors. (Government, Funding Councils, universities, publishers,
learned societies)”
• Funds should be found to rationalise and extend to cover health sector
– suggested £1-2m on top of current costs
• Subsequently no funding has been found!
https://www.acu.ac.uk/research-information-network/finch-report-executive-
summary

7. Jisc AHSC Pilot 2012
• Objective: to seek a model that was relevant, scalable and sustainable for the licensing of
health resources for the AHSCs
• Participants
• Cambridge, UCL, Imperial, KCL, Manchester University
• Anonymous, Elsevier, Springer, Nature PG, Thomson Reuters
• Pilot based on neutral pricing
• Key lessons learned
• Low level of NHS usage relative to HEI (0.5%)
• Proposed business model: no charge for NHS trusts unless usage in current year exceeds 10%
• Led to the 2014-15 NHS (Finch) Pilot and provided background to the work at King’s
AHSC Pilot report: https://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/Documents/Reports/AHSC%20pilot-
%20August%202012%20report.pdf

8. Spurred to action
• NHS dissatisfaction expressed in GMC Survey, South London NHS Users Survey,
via CS staff in the library
• Number one complaint – ejournals need improving!
• Discussion with NHS commissioners and survey of education leads
• 400 recommendations
• Wiley, Elsevier, LWW, BMJ, Springer were most wanted
• More outreach - LWW Total Access already available
• Decision to advance by extending NESLi2 deals

9. So where has this got us?
• Total of 5,330 journals via 8 agreements:
 Future Science & Future Medicine, MA Healthcare complete collection, OUP –
Medical collection, Sage Premier collection, Sage Royal Society of Medicine Full
collection, Springer Compact, Wiley Full Collection
 Elsevier – NHS Journals Consult (not a licence extension)
 LWW Total Access (via LMSG)
• Costs range from 0% to 10% of the value of the academic licence fee
• Usage has been mixed with some disappointing figures but work
received positively by the Trusts
• Ebooks – OUP Oxford Medicine Online – 700+ titles

10. Outcome: how good or poor was access to online
journals?

11. Challenges
• OpenAthens link resolver management – time-consuming
manual work to amend dates/titles for collections
• Usage stats often mixed with King’s or figures are low
• Promotion and engagement
• Gaps in journal provision where NHS arrangements have fallen
away

12. What next?
• Plug gaps and develop ebook offering
• Reviewing current offering – why is some usage so low?
• Knowledge for Healthcare – work is underway to review the allocation
of funding for NHS Library and Knowledge Services including the
possibility of increased pooling of NHS funds to procure more at a
national level
• Will the need for licence extensions decrease as provision from the
centre improves (and funds to support it are diminished)?

13. Thank you
anna.franca@kcl.ac.uk