Brandon/Hill Medical Book

The authors of the Brandon/Hill list of print medical books and journals have been releasing biennial updates for forty years. Every year, the list contains hundreds of books and journals that give assistance for small libraries in the selection process to offer visitors. It can potentially serve as a library consortium as well. The list of books and journals is categorized by subject, followed by an index organized by author/editor.

Medical book and Journal list purpose:
The purpose of the Brandon/Hill list is to provide small libraries with a list of medical books and journals that have the highest quality of information. The reason why it was created was because of the immense number of medical books that were released every year. Since 1970, the number of published medical books doubled on average. Many of these books contained similar titles, but were contrasted greatly by the quality of information they provided. To minimize the overwhelming confusion experienced by many medical librarians, the Brandon/Hill list began and was released once every two years for the past forty years.

Brandon/Hill List Statistics:
The first Brandon list released in 1965 contained a medical book count of 358 and 123 medical journals. Over 600 books and 140 journals are now contained on the list today. Another major change since its origin in the 1960s, is the inclusion of the word “print” to the lists official title. It is called Brandon/Hill Selected List of Print Books and Journals for the Small Medical Library. People who are looking for electronic info will not find any luck with the Brandon list. Although Brandon/Hill acknowledged the importance of electronic publications as an emerging source of quality information, they have not yet, as of 2001 implemented electronic informational resources.

Other Publications:
Many other lists, such as A Core Collection of Medical Books and Journals has been presented by British researchers as an alternative to the Brandon list, but has not been active since 1997. The Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has endorsed the Brandon/Hill list and A Core Collection but have stopped mentioning it.

Minimal Medical Book and Journal List:
To help librarians purchase a smaller and more affordable amount of books from the list, as well as minimize complications, librarians and medical staffs have requested that a smaller list be made in medical book selection. In response, Brandon/Hill assembled the “minimal core list” for medical book selection. While the medical book and journal value in the full list amounts to about $77,300, the minimal list is worth approximately $14,300. It is designed so that smaller librarians can update their medical book library by choosing a few titles from each category.

Content of the Medical Book and Journal List:
The publicans range from extremely detailed, to general in nature. The science journals, however, are clinical and detailed in nature because general journals are not cost efficient. With the ease and accessibility of the internet less-detailed, general journals have been rendered obsolete. In the 2001 medical book list, 89% of the books were published in 1998 or later.

Medical Book Library

Libraries are faced every year with the tough decision of discarding medical books. If a medical book contains information that is considered to be obsolete and no longer useful, should a library discard the medical book? It is a decision that effects the flow of accurate informational research. While this question may be quite controversial, there are many reasons why discarding the medical books is an easy decision. Libraries face many problems with housekeeping and upkeep and the majority of large libraries simply do not have enough room to indefinitely hold older medical books. Although it may be tough to throw away medical books donated to the library or purchased for a large sum, it is usually necessary.

Many librarians are familiar with the saying, “Let no book remain on the shelves unless someone fights to keep it there.” If this were held into consideration when it comes time to make extra space for updated medical books, then libraries would find themselves keeping all of their medical book content. This is simply not plausible though. Although libraries see every gift and purchase as a precious asset, especially with their tight budgets, many books continue to go unused. All information is vital to a library, but the information contained must be controlled in an effective manner, especially for medical books. For example, because of the every-changing advances in scientific knowledge, a medical book can become obsolete within months.

Before a library discards a medical book, it must put many notions into consideration to ensure that it is a proper decision. If a medical book contains a significant amount of historical material and information not found elsewhere in a library, it may consider keeping it. A library may also discard a book if it is certain that it can borrow the book from another nearby library. Also, if a medical book was referred to in the past, the library should take this into account before getting rid of it.

In addition, a library should ask the question “Is there a reason for us to keep sets of medical books, regardless of their accuracy or amount of usage?” Larger libraries may serve a large amount of people and may consider keeping all of its medical books in its archives or in an place that is easily retrievable. Smaller libraries have no need and no means to keep outdated material because they do not serve a large enough amount of people and they have insufficient space.

Library Study:
Based on a study of several libraries, a large number keep every edition of medical books or keep one set in each subject field while discarding the others. Many libraries choose to discard all older edition medical books or transfer them to “dead storage” if they have means of doing so. A small portion of libraries choose to keep everything, regardless of the quality or condition of the medical books and they are not permitted to discard anything.

Based on findings, it is ideal for a library that serves a large region to keep the first and last edition of each medical book set. For smaller libraries, there is no justification for them to keep sets that will only be used once or twice within a few years.

Guidelines for Writing

Medical book reviews play an important role in the flow of information in the medical community. Thousands of medical books are released every year and the shear number can be quite overwhelming for medical researchers and librarians. Many medical books contain similar titles but the quality of the information is quite different from each other. Medical book reviews ensure that the best information is contained within medical libraries and used by professionals.

The Medical Library Association (MLA)
The MLA was founded to serve society by improving health through the provision of information. Members provide a vital role in the flow of information and the purpose is to provide education and proper conduct while performing medical research. It was also created so that members can give high-quality information pertaining to health to the general public. They firmly believe that better health information leads to better health decisions. The organizations also support medical research, information research done by librarians on a variety of topics, and the way information is put into the hands of medical practitioners.

Medical Book Reviews Conducted by MLA:
One important way that MLA provides a service to medical professionals and librarians is by offering book reviews conducted by members of the MLA and medical professionals. The purpose of medical book reviews is to ensure that quality information is contained within medical libraries and read by medical students, professionals, and the general public. Over the past forty years, the number of medical books has been doubling each decade. To avoid all the clutter and confusion, the book reviews determine if a medical book will provide useful and relevant information depending on the subject it is based on. The MLA publishes its reviews in its journal, Medical Library Association Journal (MLAJ).

Guidelines for Medical Book Reviews:
In order for medical book reviews to provide useful critical appraisals and serials, the MLAJ has set forth guidelines for reviewers to be approved and write the review properly. Reviewers are choose to write reviews based on their expertise in areas relevant to the subject of medicine.

The reviews for medical books are required to contain a brief summary of the book and what kind of information it provides for its readers. This will help the readers determine if the book is of interest to them. Also, the significance of the information provided in medical books should also be put into perspective for historical research, in addition to the usefulness of the medical book for descriptive work. The books should also be compared to works of similar subjects and information and what type of person would find the medical book useful.

Any information cited within the review should be presented in MLA format as well. Reviews should not exceed four pages and should be double spaced. If the review is too long, it may be edited for length. The reviews are accepted electronically via email through an attached file commonly used, such as Microsoft word format. For further information, go to www.mlanet.org.

Medical books

With the emergence of the internet, the way that information in the medical community is handled has changed vastly. A large quantity of medical books are contained on the internet and medical libraries are beginning to link to these online medical books from their websites. There is also a growing concern with the unbalanced way that medical books are used within the medical community, as more useful information from a quality medical book is ignored. Another shift shows attention to medical journals, with medical books being increasingly ignored. This poses the question, are medical books and their relevancy losing ground in a rapidly changing medical world?

The Advantage and Disadvantage of Medical Journals:
Medical journals have an advantage over medical books because they are released more frequently and are preferred by most physicians as a way of keeping up with the latest developments in the medical field. The contents and history of medical journals have also been indexed for the past 100 years, creating a rich archive of valuable information for historical purposes. While the medical journal has a role in the medical community that makes sense, others feel that the medical book is one of the most underrated vehicles for medical researchers.

The shift from print to online material has extended medical books and their role within medical research. But the point of medical books continue to be overlooked. The purpose of a medical book is not to contain information that would be topical, paralleling news in last weeks paper, but rather to accumulate information from several primary resources and presents a subject in its entirety within a context. It could compare present and past views on medical subjects and the medical book is, in a way, a means of saving time. Searching through medical journal archives for original information can take a massive amount of time to complete. Medical books attempt to give medical professionals a valuable shortcut for information retrieval. This is especially important in a world where clinicians value the finding of useful and relevant information as quick as possible.

Structure of Clinical Information:
Medical librarians are placed with the tough task of maintaining a resource library of medical books within a topical timeline and range of subjects and information. They are also responsible in categorizing it in a way that researchers can easily retrieve information that they need. There are four frames as an organizational method for librarians to classify their resources: prediagnostic assessment, diagnosis, treatment choice, and learning. A researcher searching for diagnosis information can easily find what they are looking for in this system.

Family doctors also can benefit from another medical book classification system for the swift discovery of relevant information: drug choice, dosage, adverse reactions, symptom and physical finding etiologies, nontherapeutic management options, ethics, prevention, and epidemiological information.

Online Material Access:
Unfortunately, even in the advanced stages of the internet age, very few efforts are being used to provide access to structural components of online medical books in collections that are available to the public. Also, online information from online medical books is not extensive enough to be used within a clinical atmosphere.