Collection policy

The purchasing policy of the Knowledge Centre Ghent is oriented towards a digital collection, so that the sources can be consulted at home.

The policy on purchasing books and journals varies according to the specific target groups that the KCGG has in mind. For more details, see which purchases are eligible per subdivision.

 

The purchase of books is primarily based on teaching requirements and is done in consultation with those responsible for the various curricula. Books are not purchased in the context of Master’s theses, PhDs, research projects or research in general.

If a digital version cannot be purchased, 1 hard copy will be made available in the Knowledge Centre. However, these textbooks can only be consulted in the Centre.

In addition to individual books, investments are also made in e-book platforms, which offer a broader selection of interactive textbooks.

Journals and databases are selected according to the needs of researchers and clinicians, and on the basis of a questionnaire. Every year, faculty chairs in Medicine and Health Sciences and Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as the department heads of the Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent are asked to send in a list of their Top 10 journals and/or databases. This list is only indicative and is not a guarantee that these journals/databases will all be purchased.

The KCGG also provides a number of basic journals and databases that are always included in the basic collection. These include: “Nature Medicine”, “British Medical Journal”, “New England Journal of Medicine”,” UptoDate” and “Embase”.

The KCGG has developed a procedure for checking which journals/databases are eligible for purchase. This procedure is repeated annually in the context of subscription renewals:

  1. First, the Top 10 questionnaire for existing subscriptions is consulted, so that these subscriptions are renewed first.
  2. Then consortia or package deals for journals are checked. This is the case, for example, with Elsevier, Wiley, Springer and Mary Ann Liebert.
  3. Next, the user statistics for the existing collection are obtained. Many journals are not requested specifically in the Top 10, but are very frequently used, with downloads costing less than €1/download. The Knowledge Centre would therefore like to retain these journals in the collection. Conversely, there are journals that are used too infrequently and cost too much per download. Account is taken of whether the journal in question covers a niche or general discipline and whether there is a high basic purchase price for the journal.
  4. Titles that are downloaded fewer than 100 times per year and were not included in the Top 10 selection are not renewed.
  5. New titles can only be added if they are part of a package or a consortium. There is no budget for the purchase of new stand-alone titles.
  6. In the case of some subscriptions, other faculties may already be paying, in which case there might be a possibility to purchase these jointly with the various faculties. This is the case, for example, with all journals published by Karger.

Every year, the collections come up for debate and are statistically analysed. Negotiations with publishers (price increases, consortia, package deals) help determine the possibilities.

If you have any questions about the collection policy, please contact the KCGG via: subscriptions.kcgg@ugent.be