Identifying Core Medical Electronic Resources for Consortium Negotiation: A Survey in Taiwan

In 2010, the author was appointed by the Medical Library Committee of the Library Association of Republic of China (MLCLAR) to conduct a research project on all medical libraries in Taiwan. The project was to investigate the willingness of supporting the MLC consortium purchase as well as to identify core medical e-resources for purchase. The author first selected mostly subscribed e-resources; then, questionnaires were sent out to 335 medical libraries in Taiwan in June 2010 and 180 copies returned in August. With 153 valid ones, the return ratio is 45.67%. 66.68% of the respondents agree to support the MLC consortium purchase. ANOVA analysis shows significant differences among different categories of libraries. The core medical e-resources are also identified. From September 2010, the MLC has emailed requests to e-resource vendors and has received feedbacks by October. Cochrane Library, MicroMedex, CINAHL, and EndNote assented to offer special discounts for small- and medium-sized libraries. In December, the LAROC officially announced these new offers to all medical libraries. The author suggests that the MLC utilize the economical benefit and wide-ranging variety of resources provided via consortium, while carrying on more price negotiations on e-resources. In this way, abundant resources may be provided with better offers for medical libraries in Taiwan.