LibQUAL+ 2006 Survey

Speak up! Be Heard.

The 2006 LibQUAL+™ survey starts Monday, February 27th. The survey is designed to gather valuable information from our library users in order to:

- determine levels of quality of service
- help us plan for future initiatives, such as the Mearns Centre for Learning
- develop better ways to provide the services needed most

If you have been selected to participate in the survey, please submit your completed response before March 10th, 2006.

For participating, you can enter your name for a draw to win an iPod Nano, donated by the University of Victoria Libraries.

For more information about LibQual+™ and the University Libraries, please visit our site on the Libraries Gateway: http://gateway.uvic.ca/lib/admin/surveys/index_libqual.html

If you have any questions or require assistance concerning the survey, please contact Lisa Hill at 721-8233 or email libqual@uvic.ca.

Thank-you for your anticipated support!

UVic Libraries Joins New BC Health Libraries Consortium

George Eisler, CEO, BC Academic Health Council, announces the following:

On behalf of the e-HLbc Consortium under the auspices of the BC Academic Health Council and the BCAHC Operating Committee I am very pleased to announce the historic agreement by all health authorities and educational institutions involved in health provider education to join a new provincial electronic library consortium. Library services of the College of Physicians & Surgeons of BC as well as those of the BC Ministry of Health are founding partners in the Consortium.

The consortium was established to provide consistent, province-wide access to high quality electronic library resources for the health care delivery and academic health sectors, thus assuring access to timely, relevant and reliable health information. It enables practice of evidence-based care, research and education by assuring that all health care professionals, researchers and students in BC have access to the tools essential for making informed decisions. These are essential prerequisites for improvement of health outcomes, for enhancement of the quality of care, and for capacity building in health research and education.

The Consortium provides geographic equity between urban and rural settings, between students and their preceptors and practice based instructors, and between academic and practice settings. Library consortia are a proven way to minimize the cost of associate license fees.

The scope of the initial three-year licensing agreements with e-library vendors (EBSCO and OVID) provide each member organization with broad access to a suite of resources including abstracting and indexing for 9,300 journals, about 1,500 full-text journals, 360,000 records to evidence-based reviews, and access to MEDLINE. Annual costs of approximately $1.4 million will be shared roughly equally between the health care and advanced education sectors.

Establishment of the Consortium was made possible through tremendous individual and collective contributions by health librarians and administrators in both industry sectors, by a significant financial contribution from the BC Ministry of Health, by the expertise and support provided through the established electronic library consortium in the post secondary education system (ELN) and by the consensus building collaboration forum provided by BCAHC.

The Consortium is expected to come into effect as of April 1 2006. A province-wide multi-stakeholder Implementation Team guided by a dedicated implementation project manager is hard at work to assure a smooth and successful start-up and includes an extensive communication strategy.

Congratulations and thank you to all who contributed to this significant achievement.

George Eisler
CEO, BCAHC

BC Academic Health Council
#402 – 1770 West 7th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. V6J 4Y6
Phone: 604.739.3910
Fax: 604.739.3931
www. Bcahc.ca