ENABLING SINGLE POINT ACCESS TO E-JOURNALS: SGPGIMS LIBRARY INITIATIVE.

Presented by : Stuart Glover , Programme Lead, HLG 2010Presented at: CILIP Health Libraries Group Conference: Keeping information centre stage amid changing scenery 19th & 20th July 2010 at The Lowry, Salford Quays, Manchester.

Ms.Prabha Manoj KumarMs.Prabha Manoj KumarLibrarianLibrarianSGPGIMS, LucknowSGPGIMS, LucknowIndiaIndiaEmail: prabhagola@gmail.comEmail: prabhagola@gmail.com

• LinkOut is a service of Entrez that allows to link directly from PubMed and other Entrez databases.

• LinkOut aims to facilitate access to relevant online resources.

• LinkOut Help contains information on using – LinkOut

– providing links to external resources and, for libraries,

– information on creating and managing an institutional LinkOut account that will allow users to link directly from PubMed to local library resources.

– It also contains information on two related services

1. Outside Tool

2. Document Delivery Service.

What LinkOut Is?

Why PubMed LinKOut?

• PubMed is the main search engine for biomedical literature.• It is the most important online tool for the majority of

physicians.• It is freely available wherever there is internet access. • It requires no registration, no subscription, and no fees.• Citations are available since 1950 to present. It covers 5,000+

indexed journals published worldwide and includes links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

• LinkOut for Libraries links users directly from PubMed citations to library holdings – electronic full-text and print when the provider/library of an e-journal is a LinkOut participant.

• Today 99% of PubMed Citations have a LinkOut link.

LinkOut Participants

As of July 2010, there are 3046 LinkOut participants out of

which 2385 are libraries participating from all over the world.

964

14751728

19342130

2385

1341

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24852740

3046

1238

1648

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2004 2005 2006 2oo7 2008 2009 2010

Libraries

All Providers

Graph showing the increase of LinkOut participants from all over the world since 2004

Indian Scenario

Among 300 plus medical colleges and institutions in India only nine are PubMed LinkOut participants.

• Cadila Pharmaceutical Ltd• Christian Medical College, Vellore• National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai, • Pramukhswami Medical College, Gujarat• Regional Cancer Centre Library, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala• Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences• SDM College of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad, Karnataka• Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai• Tuberculosis Research Centre

Need for Implementing PubMed LinkOut at SGPGIMS

• Acquisition, metadata organization and system management of increasing e-resources had become a complicated task.

• In spite of advantages in terms of access and search capabilities, the library’s online resources were underused.

• Users frustrated with navigating different interfaces to retrieve information.

• Enabling easy, timeless, single point access and optimum usage of e- resources.

• Providing patrons with seamless linking from database citations via PubMed to the library’s online journal holdings.

• Open access linking to titles to which library does not subscribe through applying filters in “My NCBI account”.

Steps to Setting up LinkOut

• Get a LinkOut Account 

• Enter information about the library

• Entering electronic journal holdings 

• Get LinkOut icons 

• Make LinkOut icons display (activate your icons) 

• Publicize LinkOut 

How to get a LinkOut account

• Send an email message to NML.

• Enter “LinkOut Registration Request” in the subject line.

• NLM responds via email with library’s user name and password for LinkOut.

• Also provides link for the Library Submission Utility http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/linkout/libHld

LinkOut page for SGPGI Library Submission Utility

Submission of Holding List Provider Wise

Checking boxes in Holdings Submission

Checking Boxes in Case for Embargo

Embargo period

Activating Icon

Maintenance Of LinkOut

• Only Librarian is authorized to edit and update holdings on LinkOut submission utility periodically in order to keep it current.

• The customized link to access PubMed is posted on the intranet page.

• Users are encouraged to use this link for easy and timeless access.

Awareness Of LinkOut Among The Users

Initiatives were taken to publicize LinkOut among the patrons by

the librarian as follows:-• Face to face interaction by going out and taking the library to its

users

• Promotion and marketing by emails /intranets to all the library users and sending online tutorial information .

• Organizing training session and orientation courses at least twice in a year.

How Linkout works

Users can access PubMed by adding libraries as filter. Login in “My NCBI” account which is customizable for an individual.

Or

By “Original” or “Classic” LinkOut i.e by Clicking the pubMedsearch@sgpgilibrary on institute’s intranet page or typing http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?holding=iinsagplib

My NCBI

Add in filter

By “Original” or “Classic” LinkOut

By Clicking the pubMedsearch@sgpgilibrary on institute’s intranet page or typing http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?holding=iinsagplib we get the following result.

Icon showing institutional access

Usage Statistics

RESULT• LinkOut enables single point access to the library

online collection totally free of cost.• Remarkable increase in the usage of online journals

and databases.• Reduction in queries related to full-text availability in

the library thus saving time.• Reduction in request for interlibrary loan for full text

electronic articles as local libraries can also be used as filters by the users in “My NCBI Account”.

• Increase in level of confidence among the users as they have become aware of the library resources.

• Professional enhancement of the librarian to provide such a value added service.

Conclusion• LinkOut has really brought a quantum change in the way the users access journals in the campus.• LinkOut is a tremendous tool and has been helpful in bringing together all of the Library’s journal holdings into one single platform easy-to-use system/program.• Plan to add up the print holdings on the Pubmed Linkout at earliest.• In developing countries like in India where there is always a budget crunch there is a strong need to educate the medical librarians about the features of PubMed LinkOut as it is totally free.• Training programs or workshops needs to be organised by NLM fully funded at national level or international level so as to promote the usage of this product which will further maximize the usage of e journals.

References

1. Hill DR, Stickell HN. Brandon/Hill selected list of print books and journals for the small medical library. Bull Med Libr Assoc 2001 Apr; 89(2):131-53.

2. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/linkout/doc/liblofaq.shtml3. Armstrong, AR Implementing PubMed's LinkOut to Full-Text E-Journals:

Challenges and Solutions. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries 2004; 1(2): 39 – 48.

4. www.ovid.com/site/products/tools/Pubmed_Linkout.doc5. Cecchino, Nicola J, Full-Text Linking Demystified. Journal of Electronic

Resources in Medical Libraries 2008; 5(1): 33-42.6. Nahim AM, Canese K. LinkOut for Libraries Now Available. NLM Tech

Bull. 2001 Mar-Apr; (319): e7. 7. Dorothy, KR, Implementing a Personalized Resource Management

Program for a Small Medical Library by Using LinkOut. Medical Reference Services Quarterly 2006 Fall 25(3): 77-85.

If you have any comments or questions, If you have any comments or questions, please contact: please contact:

Ms.Prabha Manoj KumarMs.Prabha Manoj KumarLibrarianLibrarianSGPGIMS, LucknowSGPGIMS, LucknowIndiaIndiaEmail: prabhagola@gmail.comEmail: prabhagola@gmail.com