Narrative
The FAU Libraries are requesting $13,852.23 to purchase major electronic reference works published by Elsevier.
Description
A one-time purchase of four electronic encyclopedias from Elsevier would provide perpetual online access to the reference volumes below:
• Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (2009) ($5,552.76): Explores all areas of the discipline in its focused entries on a wide variety of topics in neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and other related areas of neuroscience. Each article is written by an expert in that specific domain and peer reviewed by the advisory board before acceptance into the encyclopedia. Written at a level suitable for university undergraduates, the breadth and depth of coverage will appeal beyond undergraduates to professionals and academics in related fields. The articles encompass 10 volumes (12,502 pages), making this the authoritative reference for the field.
• Encyclopedia of Sleep (2013) ($2,214.84): This award-winning 4-volume set (2,736 pages) is the largest reference, either online or in print, on the subject of sleep. Topic areas include sleep across the life cycle and in other species, sleep and women, sleep and the elderly, pediatric sleep, sleep deprivation and loss, sleep mechanisms, sleep physiology and pathophysiology, sleep disorders, neurobiology, chronobiology, pharmacology, and impact of other disorders on sleep.
• Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Second Edition) (2013) ($2,762.94): This 7-volume (5,504 pages) encyclopedia maintains the reputation of the highly regarded original, presenting the most current information available in this globally crucial area of research and study. Major themes of the work include the evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity.
• Encyclopedia of Biological Chemistry (Second Edition) (2013) ($3,321.68): This 4-volume encyclopedia (3,232 pages) represents the current state of a dynamic and crucial field of study. It pulls together over 500 articles that help define and explore contemporary biochemistry, with content experts carefully chosen by the Editorial Board to assure both breadth and depth in its coverage.
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions — among them ScienceDirect and ClinicalKey — and publishes over 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. FAU subscribes to Elsevier’s large journal package, the Freedom Collection.
The electronic encyclopedias in this proposal would promote FAU research in the university’s key strategic areas of neuroscience, ecology, marine science, and biochemistry.
Elsevier online reference works come with unlimited usage and access rights. The reference sets would each be cataloged like any other e-book, and the articles will also be individually discoverable in SearchWise, FAU Libraries’ discovery platform that searches throughout a cross-section of library databases at one time. This feature will promote discovery of these reference entries.
All content is compatible with mobile devices (tablets, smart phones, etc.), via the free Adobe Reader app or any other PDF viewer app. Faculty are welcome to use the articles as supplemental readings for their courses, since students would all be able to access them together at any time. These titles would be accessible to all students and researchers, whether on campus, via IP authentication, or off campus via EZproxy.
The requested amount will cover the purchase of the four titles. Elsevier does not charge access fees for these e-books, since we already subscribe to the journal package on the ScienceDirect platform.
Target Student Population to Be Served by the Project
This project would primarily serve undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Science. In the College of Science (total enrollment of 6,459), the Department of Biological Sciences currently serves 2,770 undergraduate students and 188 graduate students, and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry currently serves 255 undergraduate students and 29 graduate students.
http://iea.fau.edu/Reports/Headcount.aspx
