Key Messages from Past Biannual COAHL Meetings
Spring 2012 Meeting (Toronto)
- COAHL continues to support the Canadian Virtual Health Library (CVHL) and will work with the CVHL team to develop sustainable licensing and cost sharing models for national electronic resource licensing. We are very pleased to have COAHL represented as a Network Subscriber on the CVHL Board.
- The Thunder Bay Agreement to preserve the last copy of print materials by one of the Ontario university libraries is an important principle for COAHL. As an interim measure until the Agreement is implemented, COAHL members will support this principle by agreeing to consult with each other before weeding print journals to ensure that at least one member is preserving complete runs of health sciences titles.
- As journals change publishers, perpetual access to the backsets of previously licensed and often locally loaded volumes has become a major issue. COAHL will work to include clauses in the license agreements it signs which will assure ongoing access to electronic journal runs regardless of switches in publisher or vendor.
- COAHL libraries are essential partners in education and research. Members strive to find effective ways to innovate and measure the impact of their expertise. In particular, we will share our experiences in contributing to cyclical program reviews and accreditations of current and proposed new educational programs. When achievable, library services will be evaluated and the outcomes will be reported as an integral part of the academic review process.
Fall 2011 Meeting (Teleconference)
- Price increases are unjustifiable and unsustainable. Library collections budgets are either being flat-lined or reduced. Therefore any unjustifiable increases in the price of e-products are not acceptable.
- All products will be carefully evaluated for value. In order to assess best value for their investments, all libraries will be evaluating their licensed resources, in particular high-priced titles and packages. Products will be compared and products which are not highly valued or being heavily used will be canceled.
- New metrics are needed to demonstrate the value of our services. Libraries need to be accountable to their institutions. Value assessment is becoming increasingly more important in order to justify and compete for adequate funding to meet the needs of our users and our University administrations.
- Compliance with Canadian copyright is very complicated and challenging. University responses to the recent changes to the Access Copyright agreements have resulted in a rise in copyright related issues. There has been a major impact on libraries as they adapt their services and policies to meet copyright requirements and respond to inquiries from faculty. In some institutions new copyright specialist roles have been created to guide faculty in the best use of information resources in education and research.
- There are many new programs and more students at our institutions without any concomitant increase in funding and staffing for the libraries. The push from the Ontario government to increase enrollment at the undergraduate and graduate levels has resulted in a historically high number of students at Ontario universities. At the same time, the Council of Ontario University’s new Quality Assurance Framework (http://www.cou.on.ca/related-sites/the-ontario-universities-council-on-quality-assura/pdfs-%281%29/quality-assurance-framework---guide-may-2011.aspx) is being implemented to approve new undergraduate and graduate programs and to review existing programs. Both initiatives have resulted in an increased demand for library expertise, services and resources without the necessary funding for collections and staffing.
Spring 2010 Meeting (Thunder Bay)
- In times of fiscal restraint, COAHL member institutions will:
- look carefully at all resources and review all products; in particular, point of care products will be examined;
- require the flexibility to decide on specific resources (individual journal titles, individual book titles or packages) to best meet their needs.
- COAHL reconfirmed that it supports the purchase vs. the lease model for electronic resources
- COAHL members will strongly encourage all publishers to resolve the time gap between print and electronic availability with simultaneous or near-simultaneous e-publication
- In order to adjust products based on demand and funding, COAHL will best be served by either the option of concurrent pricing or unlimited access at reasonable prices
- COAHL continues to work on a document that will identify and describe the roles COAHL libraries play to support informatics competencies
- COAHL supports OCUL and will continue, through discussion and engagement, to bring the concerns of the health community - students, faculty and researchers - to the fore with regard to OCUL's development of new products and services.
Fall 2009 Meeting (Toronto)
- Informatics competencies: COAHL is mapping informatics competencies to relevant CanMEDS 2005 and MCC objectives. This document will act as a blueprint for a common curriculum for medical information literacy in Ontario.
- Collections: In the spirit of the Thunder Bay agreement the six COAHL schools will post to the listserv any materials within their collections which they are considering for de-selection. The numerous e-resources available are challenging our collections budgets: the COAHL schools will share usage statistics of commonly held resources to support decision-making at renewal time.
Spring 2009 Meeting (Toronto)
- Cochrane access in Canada: The National Network for Libraries for Health has arranged a trial period until December 2009 for Canada-wide access to the Cochrane Library. COAHL institutions are maintaining their subscriptions and will continue to be involved in disseminating information about the free access to all Canadians.
- ODESI - COAHL rep: This new gateway to statistical information features an easy search interface and powerful compilation and display mechanisms. Health data from government sources, including census figures are included. COAHL is pleased to have Neera Bhatnagar from McMaster University, participating in the development of this tool.
- Ovid presentation and discussion with Karen Abramson, CEO: The spring meeting offered a unique opportunity for COAHL members to inform Ovid about the unique health care and academic settings and challenges our libraries are facing. Ovid’s CEO explained the structure of the company and their plans for future growth.
- CISTI budget cuts: Libraries are very concerned about the impact of CISTI’s deep budget cuts . There is the potential for loss of health sciences collections, and an increase in document delivery charges which could result in libraries borrowing more from each other. COAHL strongly supports the development of a national health sciences library and hopes that CISTI will be able to fill that mandate.
- Presentation on University of Toronto Institutional Repository: Guests Kathy McConell and Rea Devakos explained how the U of T has set up policies and procedures and encourages researchers to deposit their publications in the institutional repository.
- COAHL strategic framework: The group discussed revisions to the Terms of Reference and Constitution documents. Final versions will be approved at the fall meeting and will be posted to the website.
Fall 2008 Meeting
- COAHL is preparing a list of Informatics Objectives that each university could use and which would be matched to MCC objectives, CanMeds roles and eventually to other existing competencies.
- COAHL discussed pursuing with Knowledge Ontario the possibility of offering evidence-based health information resources for all Ontarians.
- COAHL negotiations for resources may include affiliated hospitals depending on formal relationships and on vendor willingness to do so. Each university will discuss purchases with hospitals in their own region and make appropriate arrangements that benefit all parties.
- Point-of-care tools: COAHL members interested in comparing these resources for potential publication or conference presentation.
- Ovid rep presented Nursing@ Ovid portal. A trial will be arranged for all COAHL sites.