UpToDate Access for UC Academic Health Center Continues Until May 31, 2022

Currently, UC Health owns the master contract for the UpToDate (UTD) subscriptions. However, the UC Libraries and the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library (HSL) have been providing funding toward this contract in order to provide the UC Academic Health Center with access to UpToDate. Due to budget constraints at the UC HSL, the UC Academic Health Center’s UpToDate access will come to an end on May 31, 2022.

UC Health and all of its Epic users also have access to UpToDate. UC Health is currently in the process of looking into how their clinical leadership and Epic users will utilize UpToDate after May 31, 2022. An update on the status of UpToDate access for UC Health will be shared on a later date.

If you use UpToDate as a UC Academic Health Center user and you are not a UC Health user, here are two options with similar content but not similar format that you may want to utilize after May 31, 2022.

The HSL is aware that many prefer to use UpToDate, and we regret that the library can no longer afford to provide access at the current or future cost.

Why not cancel other resources and continue to pay for access to UpToDate?

  • HSL collections serve 4 Medical Campus colleges, plus the broader university community, and we strive to balance support to all 4.
  • Most journals and e-books are in collections where the content is determined by the vendor, not the library.
  • Every year we must decide how best to maintain a balanced collection with the budget available.
  • Decisions on whether to continue access to resources are made based on a long-standing rubric of usage, use restrictions, cost, accessibility, and availability of similar content elsewhere.

Collection funding

  • Unlike colleges and programs, the number of students enrolled does not result in more funding for UC Libraries.
  • The Provost annually determines the Libraries’ funding.
  • The Libraries’ collection budget has been flat for many years, and flat funding does not accommodate annual subscription increases ranging from 3-8%.

The Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library remains committed to our mission to connecting students, faculty, researchers and scholars to dynamic data, information, and resources.  Please submit any questions you may have about UpToDate or other library resources using this form.