The CDI-Library of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL) intends to develop learning and growth abilities that allow it to fulfil the vision of “being an outstanding library on the Portuguese and international level, exemplary in its methodologies of performing and being up to date, focused on the customer – the user of the documentation and information”.

Fig. 1 – Reading and Multimedia Research Rooms

In its mission to “organize, manage and diffuse resources and documentary sources, so as to contribute pertinently and clearly towards the education, research and decision-making in medical practice”, its main aim to be a dynamic support for teaching and research at the FMUL, through the development, preservation and making available of the documentary sources brought together over almost two centuries of existence.

In the current context of globalization of the digital age, the CDI-Library continues to make its electronic resources available as a fundamental strategy through the following procedures:
• Progressive and sustained transition from a collection on paper support to a collection largely also electronically supported at the FMUL;
• Transition of physical consultation and access to electronic resources only at the library to a model of institutional Internet subscriptions, providing access and consultation 24 hours per day, seven days a week outside the library wherever the user may be via VPN (virtual private network).

The CDI-Library Portal and Management of Electronic Resources

Management and divulging of the electronic resources take place in the following ways through the CDI-Library portal:
• forming the FMUL digital library,
• being the virtual face of the FMUL Library,
• being a marketing and information tool at the service of the community at large.

As the FMUL digital library, the portal is the only Access point to the different sources of information on digital support, thus facilitating guidance and consultation of the several different resources, organizing Access to information considered relevant for the institution’s aims, and also presenting newsworthy items in the field of biomedical documentation and information.

As the virtual face of the FMUL library it presents and divulges the resources and services, develops the providing of remote services and explores possibilities that might attenuate the limitations of space the library faces.

As a marketing tool it is an information source for the community in general, promoting the image of the FMUL on the outside.

Fig. 2 – CDI-Library Portal

Selection and Management of Electronic Resources

The Web functions associated to the development of digital technology in PDF format have led publishers to increasingly make available the electronic versions of their publications.

Intermediaries and consortia also appeared as a response to publishers’ needs and those of libraries in order to deal with the high costs associated to making publications available on an electronic format.

The CDI-Library’s policy of acquisitions and development of collections has an integrated view of the several different resources in the sense that the electronic format is set within the continued process of the print collection and covers areas or fields that are not included in them. The printed and electronic collections are seen as a whole that contributes towards the coherence of the entire collection.

There is an articulation between the users’ needs and the potential of the market supply, namely the new products that bring together products of greater relevance and that might cover gaps presented by previous products subscribed to by the library.

With a subscription to the B-on Consortium on the government level in 2004, there was a quantitative and qualitative leap in the availability of electronic resources for the Higher Education libraries in Portugal.

Main Electronic Resources in the Area of the Portal O3 – Digital Library

Electronic Periodicals – A to Z list of the set of titles of periodicals, with direct links to the full texts. This list includes the collection of periodicals subscribed to by the CDI-Library and also the courtesy accesses provided by the editors.

In this collection we can highlight the set of periodicals published by BMJ Publishing.
http://group.bmj.com/products

Subscriptions to Nature Publishing, among these Nature, Nature Genetics and Nature Medicine http://www.nature.com/nature/archive/index.html

B-on A consortium that brings together the main publishers of electronic periodicals, on a common platform, for access to over 18,000 electronic magazines. Subscription on government level for Higher Education Institutions.

Uptodate and Dynamed Databases that provide clinical information about different specialties based on scientific evidence, allowing doctors to solve problems in clinical practice using evidence-based medicine.

EndNoteWeb Bibliographical reference manager, available free on the Web.

ISI Web of Knowledge Scientific information portal, developed by the Institute for Scientific Information and which includes four databases, where we highlight the Journal Citation Report, which allows one to assess the ranking of the periodicals, and the Web of Science, where it is possible to consult citation indexes by author and scientific production.
Subscription on government level for Higher Education Institutions.

Statistical Analysis of the Use of the CDI-Library Electronic Resources

With the aim of assessing the level of use of the electronic resources, as well as the degree of satisfaction in relation to these collections, questionnaires were given out to users between the 9th and 15th of June 2009 in the CDI-Library premises, in the Biochemistry Institute and in the University Clinics of Paediatrics and Neurology.
Below we present the statistics referring to an analysis of a survey of 43 users (27 women and 16 men).

Graph 1 – Users qualifications level

Graph 2 – Distribution by professional categories

Graph 3 – Frequency of consultation

Graph 4 – Type of support for the resource consulted

Graph 5 – Need for help in research

Graph 6 – Relevance of the publications

Graph 7 – Place for consulting the resources

Graph 8 – Degree of satisfaction with the collections

From the analysis of the responses to the questionnaires we consider that most of those questioned consult the electronic periodicals rather than the printed ones, finding them to be more advantageous than paper publications. These advantages are also pointed out by those questioned who prefer the printed document and have to do with issues of accessibility within the physical space of the library and outside it, acknowledging the importance of the service made available by the FMUL through the VPN, as well as a 24/7 timetable all week long.

Electronic resources imply skills on the research level that have not yet been achieved by all the users. So a relevant number of those questioned state they need help to consult the databases, which denotes the importance of training the users and the role that the library should carry out in favour of information literacy.

Despite all the potential acknowledged for electronic resources, we would like to end with the following reflections:

“The quality and quantity of library space continues to be of critical importance to the life of the University. Students want to work and study in the Libraries, within reach of print resources, with reliable internet connectivity, with high-end workstations equipped with specialized software, with excellent printing and copying services, and with expert staff nearby for consultation and assistance”

In “Strategic Plan: 2006-2009 / Columbia University Libraries”

“Reading books, those which we take from the beginning to the end, will remain because no one has invented anything better. But books for consultation will be replaced by hypertexts, which are more efficient, economical and occupy less space. Long live the book in the next millennium!”

Umberto Eco on http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ilustrad/fq31109809.htm

“There will never be too many computers; but books are in short supply” Marty Petricca

Emília Calado Clamote
António Vaz Carneiro

Library – Centre of Documentation and Information
tel. 44162, 44164
e-mails: clamote@fm.ul.pt; avc@fm.ul.pt