"Read more than 2,500 books online FREE!" This invitation is extended by the National Academies Press (NAP) Web site. The Press publishes the reports issued by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, as well as over 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, health care and engineering.
The NAP collection is now included in the book section of JEFFLINE’s Cyber Café. The collection is particularly strong for issues in health policy, quality, ethics and evaluation. It’s an interesting mixture of focused reports and broader policy documents.
Browse books by subject category or search by keyword in title or text. A few of the subject categories relevant to Jeffersonians include:
- Medicine/Public Health
- Food and Nutrition
- Behavioral Science
- Biology
- Science and Ethics
Current, But Also Comprehensive
Current publications are included, so electronic versions are available at approximately the same time print versions are released. Recent publications dominate the catalog, but some outstanding works continue to be available from as far back as the 1960s.
Some examples of 2003 releases include:
- Priority Areas for National Action:Transforming Health Care Quality
Karen Adams and Janet M. Corrigan, Editors, Committee on Identifying Priority Areas for Quality Improvement. 160 pages, 2003.
- When Children Die:Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families
Marilyn J. Field and Richard E. Behrman, Editors, Committee on Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families. 712 pages, 2003.
- The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century
Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century. 400 pages, 2003.
- Sharing Publication-Related Data and Materials: Responsibilities of Authorship in the Life Sciences
Committee on Responsibilities of Authorship in the Biological Sciences, National Research Council. 120 pages, 2003.
Document Delivery Service
While you can read the entire book online and print out individual pages for free, NAP also offers most of its publications for sale. Prices vary according to the size and medium of the work. In some cases, such as symposium proceedings, individual chapters can be purchased instead of the entire book.
Download-on-demand is available for about 10% of the collection, as of this writing, but the Press is actively working toward that model of delivery. Other titles are available in print form.
Jeffersonians may also request print copies of books and reports via Scott Library’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. Students may place up to 10 ILL requests for free each academic year. Faculty and staff pay $5 per request.
NAP an Enlightened Publisher
It’s particularly encouraging to see a publisher provide current full text so that scholars and students can access it freely online. While the Press hopes that online browsing will encourage users to buy individual books, it is unusual among publishers in offering the entire works online. NAP’s free access policy is a generous model, in the spirit of true scholarship.
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