Library Access Problem Solved?

 

I have a couple of previous posts here about the disappointment of losing online access to medical journals.  The loss was due mainly to the arbitrary decisions of administrators and their lack of any ability to compromise. I offered several times to pay $1,000/year for online access to journals at the Biomed Library and was told that was not possible. More recently I donated $100 to become a Friends of the Library member with the benefit of online access to University of Minnesota Libraries. After the donation I learned that access to only occur through a terminal in a U of MN library. So every time I needed to read a paper – I would have to drive 40 miles (round trip) to get that level of access.

I read hundreds of papers per year – several of them more than once.  I must stay current and research topics for my blog and presentations. Reading one paper often results in needing to read many of the references – the amount of reading can snowball. Driving every day for access and probably having to print those references out in this age wastes both time and resources. It is still hard for me to believe that University library systems cannot charge for at home access that I can get for free through a county library.  I think they are trying to maintain a tradition that you can only get this as a perk if you are affiliated with our institution. That minimizes the role of the people paying the taxes to keep the institution afloat.  

Luckily I have patched together a system that seems to work fairly well to get the research papers that I need.  This is a Minnesota solution so although I would see if similar systems exist in your home state – there is no guarantee.

The centerpiece of the plan is my county library (Anoka County).  I tried this about 5 years ago and they did not have the necessary systems in place – but now they do.  The main option was affiliation with a much larger library system in Ramsey County. Once I was registered in both places – I had access to much more current digital media at the Ramsey County Library and the interlibrary loan system Minnesota Link (mnlink.org). Now if I am searching for a reference my Zotera app takes me to any full text references at either Ramsey County Library or Minnesota Link if I am logged in. If there are no full text references immediately available – I can search for them at Minnesota Link and expand that search if necessary to a national interlibrary loan system. The search returns a formatted reference that allows me to request the PDF and I typically get that the next business day. 

County library access is generally good but not 100%.  I would estimate it is in the 80-90% range for most medical and psychiatric references.  Many of the papers I have requested are from esoteric journals.  To cite one example – I had immediate access to a 1999 paper from the journal Depression and Anxiety today when doing some research for a friend. 

I continue to maintain my American Medical Association (AMA) and American Psychiatric Association (APA) memberships and the associated subscriptions.  The AMA subscriptions are a bonus because of the JAMA Network of subspeciality journals in 14 different specialties and access to the precursor journal Archives in Neurology and Psychiatry. The APA is much more restrictive than it used to be. Access as part of membership is restricted to the American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP).  That includes access to the American Journal of Insanity (AJI) - the forerunner before the AJP.  The AJI is indispensable in looking at historical trends in the field in the 19th and early 20th century. Researching  The precursor journal of Psychiatric Services used to be included in the membership but no longer. There are an additional 4 journals that could be provided but they all require an additional subscription fee.

I have standing subscriptions to Nature and Science magazine. I also invested in a Nature+ subscription for $30/month.  That allows me to access 55 journals published by that group but there are significant limitations. For example, I only have access to the past 5 years of journals and not older archives.  There are also some high-quality journals like Neuropsychopharmacology that are not included. In those cases I am hoping for an open access article or the authors sending me a copy of their paper through ResearchGate.

An additional bonus is that these libraries also allow access to a number of popular media sites that would otherwise require a paid online subscription of payment per view. That includes major newspapers and popular magazine that often include articles that I respond to on my blog.  

That is where my research access stands today.  It is a significant improvement at anytime since this became a problem 8 years ago.  The access to research journals through two county libraries and interlibrary loan was a game changer.  Although it is free to county residents it is paid for by property taxes and state income taxes and and I pay my fair share there. It also takes me back to my hometown county library where I worked during my college days. I was the audio-visual guy at that time and mailed materials out to different counties and individuals in a multi-county area. When I was not mailing, I was repairing 16 mm films for mailing.  Libraries provided critical access by both direct mailing and bookmobiles that travelled to different towns to provide access. It is good to see libraries providing modern access to necessary research materials and relieving some of the burden of publishing profit motives on the public. 

 

George Dawson, MD, DFAPA

Graphics Credit:  Click on the photo or complete information, graphics credits, and open access licensing information. This is A reading room in the State and University Library (Statsbiblioteket- now Royal Danish Library) in Aarhus, Denmark.