Introduction

Electronic Resources in Medicine (ERMED) Consortium is an initiative taken by Director General of Heath Services (DGHS) to develop nation wide electronic information resources in the field of medicine for delivering effective health care for all. The authorities decided to provide financial support required for the purchase of electronic journals under the ERMED consortium project for Government medical colleges and institutions. For private Medical colleges/institutions the payment per site for e-resources purchased by the consortium will be charged. The Consortium is being coordinated through it’s headquarter set up at the National Medical Library (NML).

NML Started ERMED e-journal consortium in 2008 with 40 members including 28 ICMR+10 DGHS + AIIMS + NTR Health University, Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh. It provided electronic journals from 5 publishers, which contained 1515 medical journals. The ERMED invested Rs. 2.6 Crore for electronic journals in 2008. The ERMED resources can be searched and browsed through a versatile search platform www.nmlermed.in.

In 2009 the ERMED members increased from 40 to 72 Government Medical Colleges/Institutes across the country. NML paid Rs. 7.55 crore for Government Medical Colleges/Institutes. The letter for self payment has been sent to some Private Medical Colleges/Institutes. ERMED is providing over 1600 medical journals in 2009 from 9 leading medical journal publishers, namely :-

1. American Academy of Pediatrics
2. BMJ Publishing
3. Cambridge University Press
4. Cengage Learning
5. IOS Press
6. Lippincott William Wilkins
7. Oxford University Press
8. Proquest
9. Royal Society of Medicine Press
 

The Definition of the consortium

The term consortia may be defined as “A cooperative arrangement of purchasing electronic recourses among a group of institutions, which will provide collective purchasing power and enable them to avail best possible bargaining facility to ensure highest discount price for electronic journals”.

Aim & Benefits of e-journal Consortium:

  • Round-the clock instant online access to multiple users through IP address and customer ID.
  • Access to users beyond the physical space and time of the library. Users can access library’s e-journal resources from their Departments.
  • Consortia models offered by publishers may help in:
    • Benefit of cross sharing
    • Resource increase by depth (back volume) and breadth (non subscribed title) to consortium members.
    • Negotiable price for subscribed titles.
  • Ultimate aim of any e-journal consortium is to make online journal literature available to unreachable medical scholars working in the country through electronic media.
  • Facilitates better management of information resources in electronic environment.
  • Hassles of archiving print resources and their management is reduced.
  • Dissemination of e-journal literature is more fast, more economical and efficient.
  • NML is already providing over 3380 print journal articles/ month across the country through postal service. Efficiency of the same may be enhanced if electronic options are available to NML.