This week we welcomed the first cohort of new medical students at the Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS). To support both KMMS students and staff, colleagues from Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU), the University of Kent and the Drill Hall Library have been working together to get things ready. Committed to an excellent student and staff experience, we set up a library that will support medical students across the two universities.
Digital First
Following the “Digital First” strategy of KMMS, we prioritised digital resources and are now able to offer almost all core resources on our reading lists in a digital format. Our e-book collection includes more than 250 titles from Elsevier’s Clinical Key Student platform, a selection of key titles from OVID’s Health Library and a wide range of individual titles. The medical textbook collections of Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press will be available using an Evidence Based Acquisition model. We bought 37 new medical journal subscriptions and enriched the backfile collection of both libraries by adding the complete New England Journal of Medicine and the complete JAMA archive. All of these resources were either bought via Kent or via CCCU and can be accessed by students and staff of the respective university.
Innovative Resources
Innovation is a key value for KMMS and the library was supported to introduce a range of new resources tailored for medical students. RX Bricks is an innovative web platform that offers a repository of curricular material covering the Foundations of Medicine. It consists of short, interactive lessons called “bricks” that will be embedded into KMMS Learn, our Virtual Learning Environment. KMMS is the first UK medical school that uses RX Bricks in a one year pilot. In addition, the library will offer its students “Complete Anatomy” a modern and up-to-date anatomy app, and “Capsule”, a question bank developed by Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Discovery Tools and Frontline Services
KMMS LibrarySearch, KMMS Reading List Software and Google Scholar will allow students and staff to discover resources from both universities using a single interface. KMMS students and staff will be able to place reservations and borrow books at both institutions and a courier service will return the items to their home library. Our Frontline Services developed processes and a joint documentation that will enable them to help and support KMMS students across campuses.
Digital Capabilities and Research Skills
Lead by the vertical theme leads for Innovation in Healthcare, KMMS started the “Digitally Enabled Doctor of the Future” initiative. The aim of this initiative is to educate doctors, who are confident and competent to work in a digital environment and have developed a culture of innovation. The library will play an active part in this project by teaching information and digital literacy, supporting digital champions and by participating in research. The library will also work closely with the vertical theme lead for Scholarship and Scientific Enquiry to develop students’ research and academic skills.
It was an intense and exciting year for me, but the KMMS library wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of my colleagues from Kent, CCCU and the Drill Hall Library and their tireless commitment to set up modern and innovative medical library for the Kent and Medway Medical School.