Fees for information services to hospitals: a California experience

The project was directed toward planning, developing, and implementing a subregional biomedical information network among the forty-three health care facilities (hospitals) of the four-county area served by Loma Linda University's health sciences library. The project coordinator contacted administrators and health care professionals in the forty-three institutions to present a plan for the network. The health care facilities were encouraged to support the continuation of the network through contract fees. The availability of specific information services was assured through contractual agreements. It was anticipated that the subregional network would be self-supporting after the twelve-month project period (December 1, 1976-November 30, 1977). The working territory (40,429 square miles) encompassed Mono, Inyo, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. The project resulted in nine of the forty-three hospitals signing annual contracts for library services. It is recommended that projects of this kind extend beyond a year's duration in order to educate health professionals concerning the value of access to biomedical literature in improving patient care.