BrowZine – New Resource Available from the GLI

BrowZine – New Resource Available from the GLI

Remember when your print journals were delivered in the mail and patrons could come to the library to read through the most current issues of JAMA, NEJM, and many other titles? While many hospital libraries provide access to an extensive number of electronic journals, the platforms hosting these journals are mainly designed for article level searching, not for browsing and reading. The ability for doctors, nurses and staff to come to the library in order to find and read their favorite journals has largely been lost.

BrowZine, the new service from Third Iron, is an application for iOS and Android devices that allows readers to easily find, browse and read many of the e-journals available from their library. BrowZine arranges e-journals by subject in a newsstand format so users may find titles on the shelf, select an issue, and review tables of contents. BrowZine also integrates into popular authentication systems used by libraries, such as proxy and VPN, so users may easily retrieve full text. For libraries with no remote authentication system, Third Iron provides the BrowZine Pairing Service, a hosted proxy solution, so users may use BrowZine from anywhere.

With BrowZine, articles may be saved, exported to bibliographic management tools such as Zotero, and links sent to colleagues via email or social media. The My Bookshelf feature of BrowZine gives users the ability to save favorite titles and be notified when new articles are published.

BrowZine is used at leading hospital libraries from around the world and is being well received by health care providers. JoAnn Krzeminski, Library Director at Sladen Library, Henry Ford Health System, notes: “Our doctors and medical staff love the ease of use BrowZine provides for accessing our library-specific journal collection in a browsable format. BrowZine was a great product to begin with and it is continually adding new features that enhance the user experience.”

For libraries, BrowZine is a new way to deliver e-journal access and to better serve their fast growing populations of mobile users. For doctors and hospital staff who already use mobile devices at the bedside, BrowZine provides a great way for them to connect with their favorite journals anytime!

(Editor’s Note: This is the first of an occasional series of blog postings highlighting vendors or resources available through the HSLANJ GLI.  Thank you to BrowZine’s Ted Tyson for providing this copy.)