From: "Julia M. Gelfand" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2012 17:28:08 -0700 Colleagues, It may be of interest that the University of California has posted a system-wide Request for Information (RFI) for Point of Care products. If you examine the RFI, many of the issues for these very expensive point of care products illustrate how unsustainable these products are for the medical library community, and it is perceived that this effort is related to basic practices in scholarly communications and licensing issues. Thus, the University of California's libraries, medical schools & centers are seeking justifications and additional information to establish a more transparent process in negotiating these products. By sharing the RFI, it is more for a point of information to those institutions that are also concerned about these spiraling costs for these point-of-care tools. Medical centers& hospitals do a routine RFI before a RFP to vet expensive products, instruments and equipment, and these resources certainly qualify at the annual unit and total subscription costs for the individual campuses and entire University system. We are informing library and publishing groups to post this news and to invite those who are interested to review the RFI for this process. Thanks for your consideration. The RFI can be found at: http://www.ucop.edu/purchserv/rfp/welcome.html . It is listed as UC Point of Care Products. Julia Gelfand Applied Sciences & Engineering Librarian University of California, Irvine Libraries [log in to unmask]