Posted by Steven M. Bergson, MLIS.
Contents
1.0 Introduction
1.1 What is a FAQ?
1.2 Where can I find the latest version of the Medical Libraries FAQ?
1.3 How can I contribute to the FAQ?
2.0 Definition
2.1 What is a medical/health science(s) library?
3.0 Training
3.1 Where can I take courses on medical librarianship?
3.2 What conferences can I attend to keep my knowledge and skills up-to-date?
4.0 Cataloguing and Classification
4.1 What are the major MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) classes?
4.2 What are the major classes of Black's Dental Classification?
4.3 What are the major classes of the Barnard scheme?
4.4 How can I copy catalogue records from NLM's catalogue?
5.0 Organizations
5.1 What national organizations can I join to network with fellow professionals?
6.0 Collection Development
6.1 What tools can I use to assist me in selecting materials?
6.2 What are some of the major books and journals about medical librarianship?
6.3 How many books should a medical library have? Which core books should my library have?
6.4 How many journals should a medical library have? Which core journals should my library subscribe to?
6.5 How do I get copies of journals that are not in my collection?
6.6 Which indexes should my library have?
6.7 What are the major medical databases? How can I search Medline for free?
7.0 Reference
7.1 In what way does medical reference service differ from other types of reference service?
7.2 Can I get/give answers to difficult medical reference questions through the Internet?
8.0 Technology
8.1 Is there special software designed for medical libraries?
8.2 Which library listservs and newsgroups can I subscribe to?
8.3 Which other major WWW sites are there that are of interest to medical librarians?
1.0 Introduction
1.1 What is a FAQ?
FAQ is an acronym for Frequently Asked Questions (or as some have argued Frequently ANSWERED Questions),
a periodic posting of information regularly requested on Usenet newsgroups. FAQs posted to news.answers
are archived at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers. Hypertext versions of posted FAQs
can be found at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html.
The general Libraries FAQ can be found on the Libraries FAQ Homepage at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1107/.
The Medical Libraries FAQ arose partly out of seeing questions asked on bit.listserv.medlib-l and partly out of a need to complete an assignment for one of my courses at GSLIS.
1.2 Where can I find the latest version of the Medical Libraries FAQ?
The Medical Libraries FAQ is posted on the 23rd of every other month to the usenet newsgroup
soc.libraries.talk. If enough people request it, it may also be posted to the MEDLIB-L listserv. A
hypertext version of the Medical Libraries FAQ can be found at https://members.tripod.com/~medlib/mdlbfaq.htm.
1.3 How can I contribute to the FAQ?
Your comments concerning updates, additions or corrections to this FAQ are always welcome.
I am especially looking for information about medical librarianship outside the U.S.
and Canada. Please send suggestions to Steven Bergson at safran-can@geocities.com.
2.0 Definition
2.1 What is a medical/health science(s) library?
In CanHealth (published in 1985 by the CHLA in Ottawa), David S. Crawford and
M.A. Flower define a health science library as "a library which contains clinical or related
materials to serve the information needs of practitioners of one or more of the health
science disciplines as they progress through their student days and into their careers as
clinicians or researchers, or both. Such a library provides information resources concerning
specific care for individual patients and broader literature coverage of advances in the
general field of medicine. It may also provide access to clinically sound public information
for patients and their families." (pg. 4).
3.0 Training
3.1 Where can I take courses on medical librarianship?
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers many continuing education courses and offers a 1-year postgraduate NLM Associate Program. McGill University's library school in Montreal
(Canada) had offered a summer course called "Information Resources: An Introduction to Health Sciences Libraries", though I
don't know if they still do. Some schools, such as the University of Western Ontario Graduate
School of Library and Information Science offer courses on "Information Sources and Services in
Science and Technology", which have classes on aspects of medical librarianship; in the UWO
course this past term, one class was used to discuss the differences between two medical
databases, while another focused on information needs of nurses. University of Toronto's Faculty of Information Studies offers a course called Health Sciences Information Resources
(LIS2136H).
3.2 What conferences can I attend to keep my knowledge and skills up-to-date?
The only three conferences I could find refrences to were:
The 1997 South Central Chapter/MLA Annual Meeting to be held October 3-7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more info or to request an application contact Marsha Greer, SCC Mayo Drake Scholarship, Library Service (142D) VA Medical Center, Shreveport Highway, Alexandria, LA 71306, Phone: (318) 473-0010 ext. 2549; email: greer.marsha@forum.va.gov.
The 1997 Asian Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference to be held in Perth, Australia Oct. 12-16 (more info available from its site at http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/edge/edge.html).
The 1998 Medical Library Association meeting to be held May 23-27 in Philadelphia. (more info available from its site at http://medstat.med.utah.edu/mla98/).
4.0 Cataloguing and Classification
4.1 What are the major MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) classes?
QS: Human Anatomy
QT: Physiology
QU: Biochemistry
QV: Pharmacology
QW: Bacteriology & Immunology
QX: Parasitology
QY: Clinical Pathology
QZ: Pathology
W: Medical Profession
WA: Public Health
WB: Practice of Medicine
WC: Infectious Diseases
WD 100: Deficiency Diseases
WD 200: Metabolic Diseases
WD 300: Diseases of Allergy
WD 400: Animal Poisoning
WD 500: Plant Poisoning
WD 600: Diseases Caused by Physical agents
WE: Musculoskeletal System
WF: Respiratory System
WG: Cardiovascular System
WH: Lymphatic Systems
WI: Gastrointestinal System
WJ: Urogenital System
WK: Endocrine System
WL: Nervous System
WM: Psychiatry
WN: Radiology
WO: Surgery
WP: Gynecology
WQ: Obstetrics
WR: Dermatology
WS: Pediatrics
WT: Geriatrics. Chronic Disease
WU: Dentistry. Oral Surgery
WV: Otorhinolaryngology
WW: Opthalmology
WX: Hospitals
WY: Nursing
WZ: History of Medicine
4.2 What are the major classes of Black's Dental Classification?
D Dentistry in General
D01-D09 Form Numbers
D1-D17 Basic Sciences
D2-D29 Operative Dentistry
D3-D38 Prosthetic Dentistry
D4-D47 Orthodontics
D5-D59 Dental Health
D6-D69 Oral Pathology
D7-D79 Oral Surgery
D8-D89 Dental Practice and Management
D9-D95 Anesthesia
4.3 What are the major classes of the Barnard scheme?
A Generalia
B Natural Sciences, including Anatomy and Physiology
C General Medicine
D History of Medicine
E Epidemiology, Medical Statistics and Medical Geography
F Specific Diseases and their causative agents, including Immunology, Bacteriology, Parasitology
and Medical Entomolgy
G Pathology and Haemotology
H Diagnosis and Clinical Medicine
I Materia Medica, Pharmacy and Therapeutics
J Hygiene, Public Health, Social Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence
K Aviation Medicine
L Tropical, Military and Naval Medicine
M Industrial Medicine
N Locomotor System (Osteology, Arthrology, Myology)
O Cardiology and Angiology (Circulatory System)
P Neurology and Psychiatry
Q Opthalmology
R Oto-rhino-laryngology and Respiratory System
S Gastro-entyrology and Endocrinology (Digestive System and Ductless Glands)
T Dermatology, Urology and Sexology
U Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Paediatrics and Geriatrics
V Surgery
W Dentistry (Odontology and Stomatology)
X Veterinary Science
Y Agriculture (Plant and Animal Industry)
Z Geography, Anthropology and Sociology
4.4 How can I copy catalogue records from large medical libraries using the Internet?
Telnet to the Harvard University (telnet://hollis.harvard.edu) or National Library of Medicine (telnet://locator.nlm.nih.gov; login as "locator") catalogues, search for the titles
whose records you need and e-mail the records to yourself. At the start of the NLM sessions, you
will be prompted for your e-mail address so that records can be sent to you.
5.0 Organizations
5.1 What national organizations can I join to network with fellow professionals?
The only two I have become aware of are the Canadian Health Libraries Association (established
1976) and the Medical Library Association (USA), which has earned an international reputation
for supporting the interests of libraries and librarians in the health field and has been around since
1898. Their respective URLs are http://www.library.ubc.ca/life/chla97/ and http://kumchttp.mc.ukans.edu/MLA/.
6.0 Collection Development
6.1 What tools can I use to assist me in selecting materials?
Birnhack, Juliette. "Acquisitions, Selection and Sources of Audiovisual Materials" In Her
Audiovisual Resources in a Hospital Medical Library: Their Organization and
Management. New York: Mansell, 1987
Edielberg, Lawrence (ed.) Health Sciences Video Directory. New York: Shelter, 1977.
Graves Medical Audiovisual Newsletter.
Health Sciences Videolog.
List of 7,000 video programs on health-related subjects for professionals and laypersons.
Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine.
[list of journals indexed in Index Medicus]
List of Journals Abstracted [Excerpta Medica]
Medical and Health Care Books and Serials in Print. New Providence: R.R. Bowker (annual)
National Library of Medicine Current Catalog.
Roper, Fred W. and Boorkman, Jo Anne. Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health
Sciences. Chicago: MLA.
Primarily intended for library school students and written by 2 experts.
Shearer, Barbara Smith and Geneva L. Bush. Finding the Source of Medical Information: A
Thesaurus-Index to the Reference Collection. Westport: Greenwood, 1985.
Wasserman, Paul and Suzanne Grefsheim (eds.) Encyclopedia of Health Information Sources: A
Bibliographic Guide to Approximately 13,000 Citations for Publications, Organizations
and Other Sources... Detroit: Gale, 1987.
6.2 What are some of the major books and journals about medical librarianship?Bulletin of the Medical Library Association.
Carmel, M. (ed.) Medical Librarianship, 4th ed. (3 volumes) 1982-1988.
Health Sciences Library Review.
Jenkins. Medical Librarianship: A User's Guide. 1987.
Matthews, David A. and Fiona M. Picken. Medical Librarianship. Books on Demand, 1980.
Medical Reference Services Quarterly
Morton, Leslie T. and Derek J. Wright. How to Use a Medical Library, 7th ed. London: Library
Association, 1990.
6.3 How many books should a medical library have? Which core books should my library have?
According to Manual for Assessing the Quality of Health Sciences Libraries in Hospitals (Albany:
New York State Library, 1983), a library should, at a minimum, have 150 books in its collection
and purchase 30 titles annually. Keep in mind that these numbers rise as the size of the hospital
rises and that the manual is 13 years out of date.
Crawford and Flower suggested that "What is collected depends entirely on the purposes of the organization...and on the activities which those purposes generate. There is really no core' collection that will serve all types of health sciences libraries as adequate bases" (pg. 6). I would qualify that staement by saying that the size of any "core" collection that would suit all libraries would be much smaller than what we usually think of as a core collection. For example, since all doctors deal with some aspect of the body, almost every medical library has a copy of the classic text Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Medicine and Surgery (latest edition is 38th, edited by Peter L. Williams, et al and published by Churchill in 1995). Below are lists of what I think are some of the classic texts that no medical library should be without. If medical librarians out there believe there should be additions or deletions to these lists, please e-mail me.
[a national hospital directory]
e.g. Canada Hospital Directory / Annuaire des hospitaux au Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Hospital
Association. (annual)
Dorland Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 28th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1994.
"probably the most widely used medical dictionary"
Dupayrat, Jacques. Dictionary of Biomedical Acronyms and Abbreviations. New York: Wiley,
1990.
"excellent dictionary...highly reccommended for any medical or biomedical collection used by
researchers"
Macpherson, Gordon (ed.) Black's Medical Dictionary, 36th ed. Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble,
1992.
"classic dictionary in medicine...clear choice for any collection with interests in medicine"
Margalini, Sergio I. And Euclide Scrascia. Dictionary of Medical Syndromes, 2nd ed.
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1981.
"excellent source for its completeness...should be in virtually every collection"
The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals and Drugs. Rahway, Merck (annual)
I was not aware of any major medical books being available online until I looked at the Taylor
pathfinders. I did not have time to verify their usefulness or whether the sites were still available.
6.4 How many journals should a medical library have? Which core journals should my library
subscribe to?Four journals that I believe all medical libraries should subscribe to (because they all deal with a variety of medical topics, as well as general issues) are:
British Medical Journal
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
New England Journal of Medicine
The above three journals are the oldest continually-published medical journals in the world and are highly respected by professionals and public alike.
If a country has a national medical journal, the medical library should probably subscribe to that as well. In Canada, that would be the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For a list of journals that are available online, set your browser to http://www.gen.emory.edu/MEDWEB/keyword/electronic_publications.html. Even if you already subscribe to journals listed there, it might be a good idea to look at the electronic sites regularly. Often, online articles or tables of contents of journals are put online before your library receives the print version. For example, the Dec. 4 issue of JAMA was online by Dec. 5.
Some journals listed are only available electronically (e.g. Dental Bytes Magazine), while others are electronic companion supplements to the print editions (e.g. Synergy Online).
6.5 How do I get copies of journals not in my collection?
If your medical library is part of a consortium, they may allow interlibrary loaning/photocopying
of articles within the consortium. If not and you have Internet access, you can request a
photocopy or ILL through the appropriate medical library newsgroup or listserv (see 8.2 below).
Preface you ILL request with "ILL:" in the subject line. A third alternative is to order photocopies
through commercial document delivery companies (e.g. CARL; telnet to pac.carl.org for more
information).
6.6 Which indexes should my library have?
According to the manual mentioned in 6.3, a medical library should have at least (a) Index
Medicus and Cumulated Index Medicus or (b) Abridged Index Medicus and Cumulated Abridged
Index Medicus or (c) International Nursing Index.
Crawford and Flower were of the opinion that, "No library in the health field...can function without Index Medicus, or its alternate, Abridged Index Medicus and the recurrent indexes associated with them."
Index Medicus is the print version of MEDLINE, which is discussed below in 6.7.
6.7 What are the major medical databases? How can I search Medline for free?
The major medical databases are MEDLINE (the online version of Index Medicus, also known as
MEDLARS) and EMBASE. There are a number of differences between them, such as years of
coverage (MEDLINE covers journals from 1966 onward; EMBASE only covers journals from
1974 onward).
There are a few places that have offered free MEDLINE access. One such place that I know still works is: http://www.healthgate.com/HealthGate/MEDLINE/search.shtml. It offers an excellent graphical interface, but the searchability seems limited (e.g. I don't think one can search by field).
7.0 Reference
7.1 In what way does medical reference service differ from other types of reference service?
Although medical librarians are not medical professionals and information in medical libraries may
not be as reliable as a doctor's medical opinion, non-medical patrons may take information given
to them as hard, medical facts. Therefore, we must always preface our answers to non-medical
patrons in a way that lets them know that information from medical professionals is probably best
for them. We must also tell such patrons that we can not diagnose their problems, as we are not
doctors.
Some of the guidelines given by Foreman and Glasgow in Wood, Sandra M. (ed.) Curent Practices in Health Science Librarianship Vol. 1: Reference and Information Services in Health Sciences Libraries. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1994 include:
(1) we should maintain awareness of the range of information resources avaialable in order to fairly and impartially advise the client; (2) we must maintain a reasonable skill level in the systems available; (3) we must eschew bias in the selection of appropriate databases and systems; (4) we must make the client aware of our level of expertise; (5) we must be aware of the level of confidentiality required; (6) we must make clear the appropriateness of the online search and its limitations; (7) we must not fill the client's needs as we see them but rather use interview techniques to ascertain the client's needs; (8) we must inform the client of major errors in previous searches (when appropriate); and (9) we must resist attempts by the client to select inappropriate databases and/or systems.
7.2 Can I get/give answers to difficult medical reference questions through the Internet?
You can, but it is important to remember the points mentioned above, as well as the fact that
information provided without citations or from people with dubious credentials is unreliable.
When answering questions, it is important to cite your sources. It is generally preferred that you
try to look up the answer through conventional means before resorting to posting your query to a
newsgroup or listserv.
One way to ask (and answer) questions over the Internet is to post it to one of the medical library newsgroups or listservs mentioned below in 8.2. It is preferred that you preface your subject with a "?" or "REF:" to let people reading your message know that it is a reference question as they scan the messages.
8.0 Technology
8.1 Is there special software designed for medical libraries?
The only software I am aware of is the interlibrary loan package called DOCLINE (see its listserv
below in 8.2).
8.2 Which library listservs and newsgroups can I subscribe to?
The only two newsgroups I am aware of in this area are:
bit.listserv.medlib-l
the newgroup version of the MEDLIB-L list
uwo.lahla
the newsgroup of the London (Ontario) Area Health Libraries Association
this group has been inactive for at least a week, but maybe it will start up again
The following is a list of the medical library listservs:
General (International)
MEDLIB-L
listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
Education
H-INFOED
listserv@listserv.iupui.edu
Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Health Sceinces Librarians
MLALGB - Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Health Sciences Librarians Special Interest Group of the
Medical Library Association
send an e-mail request to: farrell@mayo.edu
more information available at: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~rfwhitco/mlalgb/home.html
Internet
HLICP - Hospital Library Internet Connection Project
listserv@health.nyam.org
Software
QUICKDOC-L (interlibrary loan package)
listserv@library.ummed.edu
Canada
CANMEDLIB
listserv@morgan.ucs.mun.ca
United States
ALHELA - Alabama Health Libraries Association
listserv@uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu
GMRLIST - Greater Midwest Region Health Science Libraries
listserv@listserv.uic.edu
HSRT-NET Health Sciences Librarians of South Carolina
listserv@vm.sc.edu
MAHSLIN-L - Massachusetts Health Sciences Libraries
listserv@library.ummed.edu
NNLM-NER - National Network of Libraries of Medicine
listserv@library.ummed.edu
SOCHAP - Southern Chapter Medical Library Association
listserv@ualvm.ua.edu
WNYHSL - Western New York Health Sciences
listserv@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu
Specific Libraries
RLML - Ruth Lilly Medical Library Database (Indiana University)
listserv@listserv.iupui.edu
RLMLLIB
listserv@listserv.iupui.edu
RLMLSTAF
listserv@listserv.iupui.edu
8.3 Which other major WWW sites are there that are of interest to medical librarians?
Health Sciences Internet Resources
http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/hsl_resources/index.html
An official publication of MLA's Educational Media and Technology Section.
Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/medicine/top.html
list of 14 FAQs on different health topics
http://www.social.com/health/faqs.html
list of 25 FAQs on different health topics (some same as above)
http://www.cybertas.demon.co.uk/medfaq.html#M
largest list of FAQs on different health topics (probably the most complete list)
Medical Libraries
http://www.yahoo.com/Health/Medicine/Libraries
page of links to approximately 30 medical libraries and the National Library of Medicine; also has
a link to a larger list of links
Medical Search Engines
Permission is hereby granted to quote reasonable extracts from this work, provided that proper attribution is given. You may also distribute this work (subject to the conditions above) in its entirety via e-mail, file transfer protocol (FTP), and the world-wide web (WWW), provided that the work is distributed in its entirety (including header information) and remains unaltered. Please let me know if you are making the FAQ available through FTP or the WWW.
Please send any questions, comments or suggestions about this FAQ to safran-can@geocities.com.