We are being moved out of our office space and not able to take much with us. I have been collecting the journals (both INS & AVA) for as long as I can remember. We kept all of them in our space. When we move there will be no place to store them. My question is....What should I do with them? Are they really of any value or should I just keep the last 3-4 years and dispose of the rest? Would anyone want them? Your thoughts would be appreciated. I really don't know what to do with outdated references. Thanks, Marjorie Ashley CRNI, Charlton Memorial Hospital, Fall River, MA
I have a hard time discarding any journal. Sure as I throw it out, I will do a literature search and find that I need something that I discarded. Do you have a hospital library that could use them? or could you donate to a library from a local nursing school? Evidence-based practice means you could need these again.On the other hand many journals are now available online, so you could locate an electronic copy of a specific article if needed. That may require paying a copyright fee though Lynn.
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861
If you subscribe to a journal, then online access to the content is usually free as part of your subscription. I got rid of all my old journals a few years ago, no library wanted them because they have online subscriptions as well. If you want a few of the articles, then scan and save them to your computer, otherwise...recycle them. Maybe a mission trip or underserved country would take them, but they are costly to ship.
Chris Cavanaugh, RN, BSN, CRNI, VA-BC
Thanks for your comments. I also asked our librarian and got a similar answer. It is really hard, Guess I will save the last few years and one or two of the first issues. Marjie