Collection Management

1) Language: English is the primary language of our collection.
2) Source of Publications: Mainly from publishers in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia.
3) Currency: Supporting teaching and research in medicine demands current material. As such, material with the most recent publication date will be purchased. Previous editions of a text may be considered, if of historical significance, or proven suitable by a content expert.

1) Books: emphasis on monographs
2) Multimedia: preference for digital formats
3) Continuing resources: series and periodicals
4) Indexing and full text databases

Due to our distributed campuses priority will always be given to the electronic version of a given item. Print material will only be considered where no other reasonable alternative can be found. Point of care resources intended for use during clinical encounters are also purchased when they offer unique content not already found within our collection.

We collect material that supports the general requirements of an undergraduate and postgraduate medical curriculum, as well as any other educational program(s) offered by NOSM University.

Some exceptions will be made for material directly relating to the institution of NOSM University and individual requests, however, the following types of items will not be actively collected:

1) Popular literature on consumer health
2) Conference and symposium proceedings
3) Theses or dissertations from other institutions
4) Trade publications
5) Print journals

The Library Endowment Fund supports the purchase of resources that are indispensable to the education of our students. Library support is essential to ensuring that our faculty and students have access to the most relevant and current health resources possible as well as the rapidly growing volume of research evidence. The rapidity of medical publishing, and the corresponding impact to treatment, makes the currency and access to quality information paramount to health care. Please contact advancement@nosm.ca for more information.

At this time, the Health Sciences Library is not accepting print material donations.

As stated above, teaching and research in medicine demands current material. To this end we apply the following criteria on a regular basis to deselect obsolete and out of date material from the collection. Exceptions apply to unique materials relating directly to the institution of NOSM University and materials related to the history of medicine.

1) Remove duplicate copies unless it is a book that is used for Academic Reserves. When removing the duplicate give preference to hardcover and/or the volume in the best physical condition.
2) Multiple editions of textbooks – keep the two most recent editions. If we hold the newest edition electronically, keep only the newest print edition.
3) Remove books that are in poor physical condition.
a. If a book has high usage but is in poor condition it will be considered for re-ordering.
4) Consider removing physical multimedia items.
5) If a book has not circulated in the last five calendar years it will be considered for removal.
6) Do not denude any one subject area.
7) Consider retaining historical treatments of a subject. Within the NLM classification scheme they are usually given as X 11/X 11.1 (ex: WM 11 or WB 11.1).
8) Keep the two newest years of directories.