The University of Florida Health Science Center (HSC) Libraries are active partners in the education, research, training and clinical needs of the HSC colleges, centers and institutes, the University of Florida and the state. The HSC Libraries include two facilities – the main library on the Gainesville campus and the Borland Health Sciences Library on the Jacksonville campus – and are affiliated with the College of Veterinary Medicine Reading Room and the Health Science Center Archives. The HSC Libraries provide services and programs to support the Colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Health Professions, and Veterinary Medicine; the McKnight Brain Institute; the University of Florida Genetics Institute; the Emerging Pathogens Institute; the Institute for Child and Health Policy; and the Institute of Aging; Shands HealthCare; the University of Florida/Shands Cancer Center; the University of Florida Physicians Clinics (12 primary and 21 specialty care); and the North Florida AHEC program. The HSC Libraries also support 52% ($291,000,000) of all campus research awards by providing up-to-date research content and information access and management support.
The main HSC Library in Gainesville, founded in 1956 along with the College of Medicine, is a 56,000 ft2 technology-enhanced facility whose users may access 106 computers on all three floors of the Library: 71 in the public areas (including 5 large-screen group study workstations in the Collaboration Commons and 3 scanning stations); 8 in private study rooms and 27 in the open computer laboratory. Free wireless access is available throughout the library, and patrons not affiliated with UF may request temporary access. In addition, there is seating and study space for a total of 640 patrons available on three floors, including 85 seats in 29 study rooms (14 individual and 15 small group study). The Gainesville Library is open an average of 97.5 hours per week, and, since July 2008, the library has averaged 24,646 visitors per month. Reference assistance and search help is provided at the Single Service Desk, which is open an average of 35 hours per week.
Borland Library in Jacksonville has seating and study space for 102 patrons, including 4 group study rooms and 24 individual study carrels, and is also equipped with free wireless access. Patrons may use 24 public computers: 12 general stations, 10 in the electronic classroom, one scanning workstation and a large-screen monitor with specialized medical software. Borland’s combined circulation and reference desk is staffed an average of 53 hours per week.
Library services include reference assistance, course-integrated library instruction, document delivery, interlibrary loan, photocopy services, course reserves, lockers and study rooms. Computer access to electronic databases, journals and catalogs is available onsite and remotely to users. Since 1999, the HSC Libraries have operated a Liaison Librarian program to facilitate partnerships with academic faculty and programs by assigning each HSC College or Department a dedicated librarian who works closely with its faculty, staff and students.
The HSC Libraries’ collection includes reference materials, journals, books, audiovisuals and electronic resources. As of June 30, 2008 the Libraries’ collection totaled 340,866 volumes, including 103,853 monograph volumes; 237,013 journal volumes; and 6,605 audiovisual resources. Our users have access to thousands of current online journal subscriptions supporting clinical practices and basic science research and more than 64,000 electronic journals and 219,574 electronic books campuswide. Total expenditures for the collection (including binding) in FY07-08 were $1,809,429.
Through the HSC Libraries’ website and via the UF Libraries’ Catalog, we offer access to several thousand electronic databases and journals that include broad and specific subject areas from Anesthesiology to Zoology. The HSC Libraries provide online access using three methods: via computers within the library; remote dialup access via a campus internet account; and via a pioneering proxy server method (‘EZ
Proxy’) implemented by our own Information Systems office, which administers it for the entire university. Complete access to library resources via proxy server is especially important for our off-campus users, since nearly 25 percent of HSC students are educated at sites remote from Gainesville – and more than half of all UF distance learning students belong to programs run by the HSC Colleges.