UHMLG Summer Residential21st June, 2013

“With surgical focus…”:Supporting the disembodied

at the RCS Library

Tom Bishop Head of Library and Surgical Information ServicesThe Royal College of Surgeons of Englandtbishop@rcseng.ac.uk

The Royal College of Surgeons of England

“…an independent professional body committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients.”

RCS Library – late 19th C view

Library Reading Room

Some number crunching• Over 50,000 books (earliest 1471)• 57 incunabula• c2000 periodical runs• c30,000 tracts and pamphlets• 4.7 linear km of shelving• 200 e-journal subscriptions• Archives – c2800 boxes • Museums – 54,000 specimens• c20,000 RCS members

The backdrop: Surgeons• Time poor – many professional demands• Reorganisation of the NHS and training

bodies• Revalidation and recertification: new

requirements from 2012 onwards• Too many sources of information… Too much

to read… Too complicated to navigate…• Specialisation, sub-specialisation,

sub-sub-specialisation…

The backdrop: Us

• Library Review 2009/10 – proposed expansion of electronic resources

• NHS Evidence experience – LSIS managed the Specialist Collection for Surgery, Anaesthesia, Perioperative and Critical Care

• Membership benefits – tangibility…• Geographically dispersed membership

Current Awareness: What?

• Focus on tailored specialty-based information supplemented by broader ‘general’ content

• Flexible approach to levels of evidence…• Target = monthly bulletins• Links to full text (RCS subscription or free)

wherever possible, leveraging (sorry…) existing resources

Current Awareness: How?

• Key = collaborative with surgeons• Initially 0.6 staff, plus input from managerial

group on project initiation and ongoing strategy

• Two pilot specialties – Cardiothoracic Surgery and Urology

Current Awareness: Again, how?

• Campaign Master – used by College for email marketing campaigns. Allows for detailed analysis of usage and usage patterns, plus known ‘look and feel’, reinforcing College branding

• SIMS - College membership database, records surgeons’ specialist interests, used throughout College for communications activities

• CT bulletin

• CT bulletin

• CT bulletin

• CT bulletin

• CT bulletin

• CT bulletin

Developments…

• Increased dedicated staff resource – 1.6 (2 x 0.8) plus greater resilience

• Two more bulletins – Vascular Surgery and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

• Prototyping Patient Safety bulletin• Website archive accessible to all Members

• Plastics bulletin

• Plastics bulletin

• Plastics bulletin

More number crunching• 29 bulletins sent since 2012• Open rates = 35-48%, average 41%; industry

standard = 7%• Click through rates = 25-42%• Of 163 email campaigns across all RCS

departments in 2012-2013, current awareness bulletins held five of the top ten click through rates.

• Three unsubscribes to date.

Oh, will the number crunching ever cease?Number of unique journals checked per bulletin

Number of articles assessed for relevance in a month (May 2013)

Cross-specialty 41 plus 25 other sources

Cardiothoracic 57

Urology 47

Vascular 46

Plastic & Reconstructive 36

Total 227 journals plus 25 other sources

Cross-specialty 1,432

Cardiothoracic 1,824

Urology 894

Vascular 1,580

Plastic & Reconstructive 1,033

Total 6,763 articles assessed for relevance

Qualitative as well as quantitative• I just want to thank you for the new Current Awareness Service for

Cardiothoracic Surgery. It is a fantastic idea and as a trainee, extremely useful and educational for me. Although I browse table of contents for various journals regularly, it is so much more convenient to have everything on the same page, with access to the journals. (Cardiac Research Fellow)

• I must congratulate you on this new venture. We are suffering from information overload and a tool such as this is excellent in providing a digest of relevant up-to-date literature. It took me a while to work things through but I am now impressed by the ease of access. I think the editors have chosen a good range of topics within urology and it is certainly a service I would like to use regularly. (Consultant Urologist)

• I think this is an invaluable educational resource for all surgeons practising the specialty, from SpRs to new and established consultants. Even those examining for the exit exam in the speciality will find something of interest. It is the best thing the RCS has done to further post graduate education in the entire field of cardiothoracic surgery. Well done. (Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon)

…and beyond?• Orthopaedics – let’s try something different…• Sponsorship opportunities• Business case to expand further – more

resource, some economies of scale• Spin-offs – Twitter journal club? Provision to

non-members?• Usage can inform collection development• Platform review?

War damage 1941