Backpacks weighing you down with too many books? Are you tired of getting overdue notices? What about those book pages that are torn or missing, or have coffee rings and bent corners? These are just a few of the headaches facing users of print books. Whereas, e-books are portable, cleaner, available on multiple devices, and you don’t have to drive or take the bus to use or buy one.
In 2000, HSLS subscribed to its very first e-book, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. Some 17 years later, users now have access to over 4,000 e-books through various HSLS subscriptions. In 2016, the most popular e-books by usage were:
| HSLS Licensed/Purchased E-Book | 2016 Usage | |
| 1. | Sparks and Taylor’s Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual (9th ed.) | 21,004 |
| 2. | Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine (19th ed.) | 9,316 |
| 3. | Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 | 5,901 |
| 4. | Clinical Periodontology and Implant Dentistry (6th ed.) | 5,516 |
| 5. | Morgan & Mikhail’s Clinical Anesthesiology (5th ed.) | 5,448 |
| 6. | Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach (9th ed.) | 4,896 |
| 7. | AHFS Drug Information (2017) | 4,477 |
| 8. | Quick Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2016 | 4,067 |
| 9. | Anesthesiologist’s Manual of Surgical Procedures (5th ed.) | 3,858 |
| 10. | Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2016 | 3,622 |
| 11. | Miller’s Anesthesia (8th ed.) | 3,551 |
| 12. | Current Surgical Therapy (11th ed.) | 3,254 |
| 13. | Pharmaceutical Care Practice (3rd ed.) | 3,215 |
| 14. | Red Book (American Academy of Pediatrics) | 2,786 |
| 15. | Campbell-Walsh Urology (11th ed.) | 2,691 |
| 16. | Basics of Anesthesia (6th ed.) | 2,639 |
| 17. | Clinical Anesthesia (7th ed.) | 2,338 |
| 18. | Motor Speech Disorders (3rd ed.) | 2,237 |
| 19. | Cancer Nursing (7th ed.) | 2,016 |
| 20. | Health Policy Issues: An Economic Perspective (6th ed.) | 1,997 |
| 21. | Scientific American Surgery | 1,935 |
| 22. | Rutherford’s Vascular Surgery (8th ed.) | 1,873 |
| 23. | Tintinalli’s Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide (8th ed.) | 1,826 |
| 24. | Laboratory Animal Medicine (3rd ed.) | 1,815 |
| 25. | Sabiston and Spencer Surgery of the Chest (9th ed.) | 1,779 |
In 2016, 64% of the HSLS book budget was spent on e-books, while 36% went to print books. Of the overall collections budget, a mere 0.5% was spent on print materials.
Locating E-Books at HSLS
There are several methods for locating HSLS e-books:
- Search for the title in the Pitt Resources Quick Search box
- Search for the title in PITTCat for the Health Sciences
- Browse Health Sciences E-Books by Subject
- Search the full text of over 1,000 HSLS e-books in the E-Book Full Text search box
To access e-books remotely from an off-campus location, follow these simple steps:
- From the HSLS home page, navigate to the e-resource you want to access.
- Click on the e-resource’s link.
- A Pitt Passport pop-up box will appear.
- Enter your Pitt Computer Account username and password. (If you haven’t already done so, you’ll need to set-up Pitt’s multifactor authentication.)
- The e-resource is now ready to be used.
In order for EZproxy to work correctly, you must set your browser to allow cookies.
For more information about e-books, contact the HSLS Main Desk at 412-648-8866 or Ask a Librarian.
~Jill Foust