The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Library Collection Management Policy Lindsay Harris, Government of South Australia, SA Health Abstract This Collection Management Policy contains guidelines for the development and management of the Library collections of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (hereafter referred to as TQEH). The policy defines the client groups served by the Library and describes its general role in supporting the information needs of the staff, researchers and students of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and by extension, the staff of SA Health as a whole. The Library’s relationship to external entities in the development of its collections is also outlined.

There is little in the published literature on creating and implementing service agreements in libraries as distinct from reports on the outsourcing and contracting out of discrete functions or entire services. This paper examines the role of service agreements in Australian health libraries and their operation in libraries. Aspects considered are the definition of service agreements, what they are and are not, how they are developed, the scope and contents of such agreements and areas likely to cause difficulties. The experiences of Australian health libraries in the implementation of service agreements and key features in their success or failure are also discussed.

In mid 2008 The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Library conducted a User Information Needs Analysis to review the Library’s overall level of performance in supporting the information requirements of Library users. As well, the survey was designed to identify areas of unfulfilled need amongst those client groups. This survey was based upon a previous 2005 User Information Needs Analysis, with some modifications in the questions posed, and was partly intended to chart the Library’s progress in dealing with issues and service gaps identified in that first survey. The results of the User Information Needs Analysis will contribute to informing the direction of future Library services and to overcome perceived gaps in the delivery of services.

The User Information Needs Analysis was sent to 100 departmental heads and unit managers in the course of April - June 2008. Some 50 completed surveys were returned by the end of June 2008, reflecting a 50% return rate by unit managers, as against a 60% return rate from a distribution group of 85 unit heads in 2005.

Departmental heads and unit managers were asked to reply on behalf of their whole department or unit to ensure the results were representative across the work group and they were encouraged to consult with their staff in completing the questionnaires.

Australian health librarians would be familiar with the general background to the origins of open access publishing. These encompass the escalating costs of periodical prices that are far in excess of national inflation rates, the unending pressure on library budgets, the consequent incapacity of libraries to keep pace with mounting subscription costs and the emergence during the past decade of huge STM (scientific, technology and medical) publishers which have reduced competitive forces in the market place. That STM publishing is big business is unquestionable. In 2002 the merchant bankers Morgan Stanley estimated the global STM publishing market to be a seven billion US dollar industry with scientific journals the fastest growing sub-sector during the previous15 years. ( Liesegang 2005 p162 )

Health Libraries Australia has made a sustained effort to advance the development of a national approach to the delivery of electronic health information since holding a national forum back in 2003. Lindsay Harris plots the progress to date.