Like most other people, I cringe at the very thought that the fall semester is only a month away. Didn’t the summer just start? Where did all the time go? Why couldn’t we have a summer that is all year long? Oh well, such is life. But here is the good news, if there is good news in contemplating that the summer days are numbered: in September when tens of thousands of students return to or come to Rutgers for the first time, the Libraries will have a better collection of information resources waiting for them.
Cover of the May 1917 issue. (American Vogue) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vogue,_portada_de_mayo_de_1917.jpg
Fiscal Year 2016 that ended on June 30 started off as a very challenging year for collection development, due to the loss of about $1 million of purchasing power in the collections budget in the previous year. Thanks to the strong support and guidance from the new Libraries administration and the tireless work of all the colleagues involved in collection development, we have more or less turned a corner. The University Librarian’s Report from the July issue of the newsletter includes a summary of major acquisitions that the Libraries made in FY16. Additionally, at the end of FY16 we purchased the British Periodicals collections and Vogue archive, two valuable humanities resources that have been on our wish list for a very long time. It is fair to say that, since last year, the Libraries have been making considerable progress to improve access to all kinds of scholarly resources (online journals, e-books, and primary sources) that the entire Rutgers community can benefit from.
Our collection development program is continuing the upward trend that began last year. Since July 1, which is when the new fiscal year started, we have been focusing on acquiring and upgrading resources essential to the education mission of the University, in anticipation of the beginning of the new academic year. These new resources include:
- ProQuest ebrary Academic Complete: a collection of about 140,000 current scholarly e-books on all academic subjects.
- Springer Nature STM (Science, Technology, and Medicine) and social sciences frontlist e-books: over 7000 newly published titles from the largest STM e-book publisher, paid for with a funding increase from the universities.
- Academic Video Online: Premium (AVON): over 50,000 videos on Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities, Science & Engineering, and Health Sciences topics from many reputable producers such as BBC and PBS.
- ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) Global: 1.7 million full-text dissertations and theses from both American and international institutions.
- Clinical resources: In the spring, the Libraries received a funding increase from the universities for five new clinical resources. UpToDate and Bates’ Visual Guide are already available. VisualDx, DynaMed Plus, and JAMA Evidence will be added soon.
Some of the resources are available now and others will be available later in the fiscal year. We are confident that these new resources will greatly enhance the Libraries’ support for undergraduate, graduate, and medical education at Rutgers. Yes, even when summer is ending, there will be a lot to look forward to in the fall!
