Sources of information on medical geography

Adequate research in the peripheral field of medical geography requires familiarity with the literature of medicine, geography, and other environmentally oriented fields. The pertinent literature of the two primary disciplines, as well as that of anthropology, nutrition, and human bioclimatology, is surveyed from a bibliographical point of view. A brief review of historical sources is presented, followed by a discussion of the contemporary organizations, both international and national, active in the field. Emphasis is placed on the publishing programs and projects, maps, atlases, symposia, reports, and other literature sponsored or stimulated by these organizations. Regional bibliographical surveys for East Africa, India, and the Soviet Union are also noted. Pertinent aspects of bibliographies, indexes, abstracts, library card catalogs and accession lists, and other resources are listed, with emphasis on the various subject headings and other approaches to them. Throughout, the sources of information are approached from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary viewpoint.     

Serials standards work: the next frontier

Serials, one of the more complicated areas of library technical endeavors, has lacked the benefit of standards for a long time. Even now, with standards beginning to be available, the majority of institutions are not working within standard serials formats. A survey to determine the use of serials standards in libraries was conducted in 1988 by the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, Serials Section, Committee to Study Serials Standards. In the spring of 1988 a survey was sent to a group encompassing the Association of Research Libraries members, CONSER participants, United States Newspaper Program participants, Microform Project libraries, and some vendors and librarians who attended the Committee meetings on a regular basis. The survey questionnaire assessed the current level of serials standards awareness of librarians and vendors. Topics included the type of serials systems used, standards relevant to serials control and union listing and whether or not they are implemented, types and levels of training staff received in the application of standards, benefits of the standards, and areas where standards are most needed.     

Analysis of the use of reference services in an academic health sciences library

In 1991, the Reference and Information Services staff of the Alfred Taubman Medical Library at the University of Michigan gathered data on the use of the reference desk, including the frequency and types of assistance requested by different user groups throughout the year. Recommendations based on the results of this study led to improved service as well as more efficient use of staff resources.     

The literature of women and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS): implications for collection development and information retrieval

The purpose of the study was to identify the pattern of publication about women and AIDS in scientific journals. Bradford zones were identified in each of six databases. The study determined that journal scatter for this subset of AIDS literature differed from the scatter in the general literature; further, the information indexed in the six electronic sources demonstrated little overlap. Consequently, key journal and newsletter titles identified by this study should form the core of any collection focusing on women and AIDS. The assurance of quality patient care management demands that librarians consult multiple resources for information retrieval that can assist health care providers, patients, and caregivers to enhance quality of life as well as to provide optimum care.