A global snapshot of the state of digital collections in the health sciences, 2013

Abstract

Two hundred twenty-nine health sciences libraries (HSLs) worldwide were surveyed regarding the availability of digital collections, evidence of the type of digital collections, level of access, software used, and HSL type. Of the surveyed libraries, 69% (n=157) had digital collections, with an average of 1,531 items in each collection; 49% (n=112) also had institutional repositories. In most cases (n=147), these collections were publicly available. The predominant platforms for disseminating these digital collections were CONTENTdm and library web pages. Only 50% (n=77) of these collections were managed by the health sciences library itself.