Growing population demands, greater access

RGUHS to dole out e-books for students

Now, accessing information is going to be as simple as a click of the mouse for the students of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) and its affiliate colleges. The university will be offering a plethora of e-resources to its students and faculty.

“RGUHS already has an online bank for e-journals. But it is used by postgraduate students. Now, undergraduate students will be able to access e-books online. They may have to pay a minimal subscription fee, but now, they will be able to access important textbooks that were not available earlier,” said vice-chancellor KS Sriprakash.

Sriprakash also added that it will be a part of the university’s HELINET (Health Science Library and Information Network) system.

Students will also gain access to other applications such as virtual audio-visual 3D anatomy models.

“Through these models, you can peel away layers of the human anatomy virtually. You can learn about specific regions of the body and rotate the models at 360 degrees,” said

Dr R Rama Raj Urs, university librarian and consortium coordinator of HELINET.

“What’s great about taking things online is that you get speed and accuracy, and it’s also economical. Moreover, you can access information round-the-clock,” added Urs.

Currently, there are over 600 universities that are affiliated to RGUHS in Karnataka, and this will be made available for them as well.

The online resources, which also include a database of international pharmaceutical abstracts as well as an electronic tool called five-minute consult, provides information on the diagnosis and treatment and follow-up procedures for over 2,000 medical conditions.

“Students will be given IDs and passwords to log in to the system. They can also come to their respective libraries and access e-books and other multimedia products,” said Urs.

Currently, the university is conducting an orientation programme for students and faculty members for colleges affiliated to RGUHS.

“After the orientation is over, we are looking to getting this up and running in January,” said Urs.