This week we are again going to look at a database instead of a book. Consumer Health Complete is an Ebsco database with a special, more colorful, user friendly interface. The cost of the database is $2500. It is not included in the regular Ebsco suite of databases which are provided to us free of cost, so we must bear the entire cost ourselves. Previous to last year we used Bristol Myers Squibb funds for this. We no longer have this grant.I had chosen this database as the one to be axed to make funds available for Academic Search Premier ($5000 per year) because of it's low usage statistics. In the first six months of this year it was accessed 34 times. At that rate it's nearly $37 per access.
Then I decided to use Serialssolutions' (our journal management system) new overlap analysis tool. I discovered that Consumer Health Complete has only 28 unique titles! All the rest are included in other health related Ebsco products already in the suite we get free, such as Health Source Consumer Edition, Biological Reference Collection and Nursing and Allied Health Collection! So basically we are paying for the special interface, which I actually don't like as much as something like the Mayo Clinic site and WebMD freely available on the web.
So, low user stats, few unique titles, funds needed for another more highly used database--that spells three strikes to me. You'll have a hard time convincing me otherwise (but you can try).
Plus YA has gotten a new Teen Health and Wellness database with grant funds, which we will also put on our database pages.
9 comments:
Definitely not worth $2500. Even with the attractive interface, when you get down to the nitty gritty (article result list), it's the same old EBSCO. I think the Mayo Clinic site offers consumer health information that matches (and sometimes exceeds) what is available here. Even if we still had the BMS grant, I would vote to drop this and look into other resources.
Gong!!!
The cost/benefit analysis simply does not add up. Mayo Clinic, NIH, and WebMd provide a great deal of the information found here. When you consider the lack of unique titles, I say save the cash for something more useful.
This seems like a no-brainer. Toss it!
In total agreeance with the previous comments from my three esteemed colleagues -- right down to the GONG!
Let's say good-bye to Consumer Health Complete and save our pennies for something that offers us unique information.
I say ditto. MLH
Nobody even tried to convince me to save this, so out it goes.
CH says: Pitch.
GS says: I never use it, and have never been asked for it. In checking it, the reference books included do not seem to include the entire book. We have most them in paper copy. Most of the information here seems to be available somewhere else.
Just realized in reviewing some of these entries that I had never entered my decision. Discontinue.
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