Utilization of the BackMed email discussion list in a specialized health sciences learning center: a cost-benefit analysis

INTRODUCTION

The BackMed discussion list is a free electronic system maintained by Swetsblackwell.com that enables hundreds of health sciences libraries across the United States as well as overseas to quickly post lists of excess as well as wanted journal issues and books. This paper examines the utilization of the BackMed system by a highly specialized health sciences learning center in a successful attempt to systematically rebuild its periodicals collection.

BackMed is a public list available through a free email subscription, which can be received as individual real-time messages or batched as a daily digest. Hundreds of messages are posted to this informal exchange system every week. Using email, health sciences libraries can request needed materials from other libraries as well as disseminate listings of excess serials and books at no charge.

To keep costs for the fulfilling libraries at a minimum, postage reimbursement is usually all that is required from the requesting library. Libraries in the United States can take advantage of a reduced postage rate from the United States Postal Service (USPS) for mailing packages of books and journals. Larger domestic shipments can be sent by United Parcel Service (UPS), while foreign transactions are typically handled at the most economical rate available.

Payment for most exchanged materials is done using the “universal” currency of U.S. postage stamps in various denominations and combinations as the preferred reimbursement mechanism. Checks are occasionally used for larger payments, while some fulfilling libraries waive reimbursement either partially for amounts under a specified amount or fully for consortium members.

The BackMed list provides a cost-effective, efficient mechanism for health sciences libraries to replace missing serial issues and strengthen collections. For libraries with excess materials, BackMed provides an environmentally conscientious disposal alternative while at the same time sharing needed materials with other libraries.

LITERATURE REVIEW

An extensive review of both the health sciences as well as library literature yielded few relevant analytical studies of the costs and benefits of an active Internet-based health sciences periodicals exchange system. Stankowski described several traditional and pilot email-based general exchange programs that were in operation in 1995, including the Duplicates Exchange Union List (DEU-L) from the American Library Association; BACKSERV, a list hosted by Readmore; and Faxon's SerialsQuest for matching medical periodicals among Medical Library Association (MLA) institutional members [1]. Geller further addressed the potential benefits of using both the Internet as well as email for the rapid exchange of periodical issues. Her analysis included not only varied perspectives but also detailed information from several vantage points, including the conversion from paper exchange lists to electronic formats; a European analysis focusing on EUROBACK and associated prohibitive postal fees; and the electronic trading of back issues through the United States Book Exchange (USBE) [2]. The experience of the Rowland Medical Library at the University of Mississippi Medical Center was also included in Geller's analysis. Lucas provided an in-depth description of the BackMed list structure, as well as the role of the Rowland Library in the electronic exchange process in 1995. This analysis demonstrates that substantial value was added to the library's periodical collection despite a heavy time commitment. For a general medical library collection in a university setting, Lucas concludes “these new e-resources are valuable tools for filling in gaps, extending title holdings, and replacing worn out or ‘surgically altered’ volumes and issues” [3].

BACKGROUND

The Blair-Lippincott Learning Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is a specialized facility that provides informational services in the areas of ophthalmology and otolaryngology and their related support areas. Since its founding in 1922, the learning center has steadily grown to a collection of approximately 15,000 items in a variety of formats including books, journals, audiovisual media, and computer resources. For the first seventy years of its existence, the learning center was supported and funded by the Eye & Ear Hospital of Pittsburgh and its medical staff. In 1992, when the hospital became an integrated part of UPMC, the Blair-Lippincott Library/Learning Resource Center administratively became a part of the Falk Library of the Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. Economic and political factors caused the Blair-Lippincott Library/Learning Resource Center to be officially closed in 1996. All unique books and journals were transferred to the Falk Library, and the facility, whose furnishings had been underwritten by private funds, was turned over to the departments of ophthalmology and otolaryngology. The former library director was engaged as an independent consultant to reestablish the Blair-Lippincott Learning Center as a viable resource for use by the ophthalmology and otolaryngology departments. To rebuild the periodical collection, the BackMed list was heavily utilized as a mechanism to acquire materials in a cost-effective manner. Emphasis was placed on the acquisition of recently published materials from 1996 to the present.

METHODOLOGY AND STRATEGIES

In June 1998, the Blair-Lippincott Learning Center began to utilize the BackMed list to fill in missing areas of its collection, which had been transfered earlier to the Falk Library. Over the course of four years, a system has been devised, adjusted, and streamlined to use BackMed resources efficiently. After the initial step of identifying what items were needed on an issue-by-issue basis, information for forty-five titles was entered onto three-inch-by-five-inch index cards by title, volume, and issue. This format not only allowed entries to be easily adjusted as needed but also permitted a portable method to access BackMed at multiple sites (learning center, home, “on the road”). Early in the process, a decision was made to use a dedicated email account exclusively for BackMed-related activities. With the availability of numerous free email services (Yahoo, MSN Hotmail, Lycos), this decision proved to be sound, because it allowed student assistants and volunteers to assist in the project without intermixing or jeopardizing the security of personal or learning center–related correspondence. Another important consideration addressed early in the project was the need to check BackMed postings frequently. Because the number of email messages flowing through the BackMed network can easily exceed 100 per day, and it functions on a “first come, first served” basis, learning center staff are instructed to check the system several times per day and to send for materials daily.

At the receiving end of the process, materials are checked in upon receipt by crossing off received items on the index cards and recording the transaction on a log sheet noting the date, item or items received, sending library, and postage incurred. A cache of postage stamps in various denominations is kept, and reimbursement is made to the sending library within a few days. Reimbursement activity is maintained on a quarterly basis for institutional accounting.

After four years of active utilization of the BackMed system, the learning center conducted an analysis of the activity and performed a cost analysis of the materials received from libraries that participate in the BackMed system.

DATA ANALYSIS

First, the learning center established a cost-per-issue for nineteen titles that were in need of substantial or complete replacement issues. Twenty-six titles requiring minimal replacement issues were not included in the analysis.

These data were obtained by consulting the subscription page of each journal. Single issue costs were used when listed; for titles with no single issue cost specifically noted, the annual subscription cost was divided by the number of issues per year to yield an approximate cost-per-issue. Table 1 details the cost-per-issue for the titles selected. The average cost-per-issue was $40.75 for the nineteen selected titles.

Table 1 Cost per issue, nineteen titles selected for BackMed issue replacement

Next, the learning center staff examined the records kept for each BackMed transaction from June 1998 through June 2001 to determine how many issues had been received. Then, the total cost of the postage reimbursement was calculated. These data yielded the cost-per-issue of the items received from the BackMed system. Further analysis revealed the total value of the journals received and added to the collection.

During the four-year period studied, a total of 1,457 individual periodical issues were received from participating libraries on the BackMed discussion list. The total amount of postage reimbursed during this period amounted to $407.00, yielding a cost-per-issue of periodicals obtained from BackMed of twenty-eight cents. If the learning center had purchased these 1,457 issues directly from the publishers at the listed prices (with $40.75 as the average) and assuming that all of these items were still available for direct purchase from the publishers, $59,373.00 would have been spent, instead of $407.00.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this analysis can be expressed several ways.

• For $407.00, the Blair-Lippincott Learning Center received $59,373.00 worth of needed journal issues.

• The learning center saved almost $59,000 in direct costs to replace issues and strengthen its collection. Personnel costs for student assistants come to a total of $1,408. The learning center pays 40% of the $5.50 hourly rate for federally subsidized student assistants. Hours are calculated at five hours per week on BackMed-related projects, thirty-two weeks per year for four years. This brings the total savings to just under $58,000.

• For twenty-eight cents apiece, the learning center added 1,457 individual journal issues to the shelves.

The Blair-Lippincott Learning Center clearly benefited enormously over the past four years from the active use of the BackMed system. Not only have entire runs of specialized journal titles been restored to their full sets, but also several new titles have been substantially added to the collection on an issue-by-issue basis. While the clerical time investment of daily scanning of online postings, requesting materials via email, and processing journal receipts and reimbursements averages four to six hours per week, it was time well spent and has significantly bolstered the depth and breadth of the collections of the Blair-Lippincott Learning Center in a cost-effective manner.