Bio-Medical Library Reference Blog

A question came from a faculty member last evening regarding how many simultaneous users could access his book, which we have via Myilibrary. I didn't know if his 110 students, including 50 in Duluth, could simultaneously access the text. He was unhappy with me. So I asked about our contracts and Katherine shared these points of interest:

Our contracts for e-books through Ovid, MD Consult, and Access Medicine are for unlimited simultaneous users. StatRef limits access to 5-7 simultaneous users. Ebrary Books are mostly single user access, with the exception of a number of Board Review books, for which we have unlimited access. It turns out that Myilibrary is limited to 3 simultaneous users. We partly confirmed this by the practical test of having three of us access the same book chapter at the same time at the desk. Thanks to Jim Stemper for explaining this and Amy Claussen for contacting the supplier and clarifying this with Myilibrary.

Another point of interest is regarding the specific texts included in these collections. MD Consult and Access Medicine are purchased as collections, the contents of which are subject to change without notice, as the vendors decide what are the most appropriate (and available) inclusions. But for all of the other contracts, the specific texts have been purchased, and should remain available.