While it is a challenge to meet the ever-changing and diverse information needs of a modern academic health center like the HSC, HSLIC strives to make these needs central to our mission. This requires providing access to a broad and comprehensive collection of library materials to address the wide array of research questions posed by library users. However, without a large collection budget, ownership of these materials may be out of reach. One approach is to rely on a network of libraries for access, in which warehouse facilities such as the Texas Joint Library Facility (JLF) play a crucial role. The JLF provides interlibrary loan to its vast collections. Article requests are filled free of charge to the JLF’s partner libraries including HSLIC as a member of the South Central Academic Medical Libraries Consortium, as well as the Southeastern Conference Libraries and the Greater Western Library Alliance. This list represents a substantial number of libraries across the U.S.
Making information more freely available to libraries and library users is important to HSLIC, so we recently donated over 3000 volumes from the print journal collection to the JLF. These 3000 volumes will fill gaps in their journal runs to provide more complete coverage and access to more people.
Ideas of resource sharing are not new and have prevailed as part of the dialog since the late 19th century when interlibrary loan was first introduced. What has changed is the incredible speed and convenience in which an article can be delivered to the user’s e-mail.
In recent years, universities have put a premium on space, causing libraries to re-envision their physical spaces into interactive learning commons in support of students and their success. This too pushes libraries to rethink ideas of access, ownership, and storage of print collections.
By being a part of this network of libraries, HSLIC remains flexible to the diverse needs of the campus, while contributing to the success of multiple academic libraries and their users.