In the last year, HSLS users consulted over 30,000 documents from e-books available through the vendor Stat!Ref. For example, Sparks and Taylor’s Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual had over 7,000 downloads during the year. These statistics give evidence that HSLS users want and use our e-book collections.
However, we face one troubling issue–our users also experience turnaways from time to time. That is, when trying to click through to a Stat!Ref e-book, they receive a notice that the e-book is in use and unavailable. This occurs because most of our e-books allow a limited number of concurrent users (number of people who can be viewing the same e-book at the same time). For example, Stat!Ref allows 10 concurrent users, which is not always adequate. If you do get turned away from a Stat!Ref e-book or any other e-book, please try again in a few minutes, as the situation generally doesn’t last long. However, if it happens for too long or repeatedly, e-mail Ask A Librarian. It may be possible to increase the number of users for specific titles if they are extremely popular. For example, we will increase the concurrent users allowed for Sparks and Taylor this fall because the book will be used in a course assignment.
Stat!Ref also contains a number of other vital texts, such as ACS Surgery: Principles & Practice, AHFS Drug Information, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies, and the ICD-9-CM. All of our e-books can be accessed in numerous ways:
- Search for the title in the Pitt Resources Quick Search box
- Search for the title in PITTCat for the Health Sciences
- Browse e-books by subject
- Search the full text of HSLS e-books in the E-Book Full Text search box
~ Leslie Czechowski