The Medical Library Association’s Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in the Health Sciences
Edited by Laurie L. Thompson,
Esther Carrigan,
Mori Lou Higa and
Rajia Tobia
Intended for both experienced practitioners and those new to the field, this unique guide will be an indispensable tool for librarians who must differentiate among the many choices of medical resources.
ISBN: 9781555707194
Published: 2011
8.5 x 11 | 450 pp. | $295.00
In a field where resources must be accurate, dependable, and up to date to be useful, the task of developing or maintaining a collection can be stressful--and expensive. The Medical Library Association’s Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in Health Sciences will make the process infinitely easier and more efficient.
Featured Review
"This reference work provides the selection assistance needed to maintain a quality health sciences/medical collection. In a time of reduced budgets and ever-increasing numbers of new books, journals and e-resources, buying the 'right' titles is essential. The Master Guide gives collection developers an important, useful tool that is both concise and reliable."
Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Laurie L. Thompson and Associate Editors Esther Carrigan, Mori Lou Higa, and Rajia Tobia, 108 expert contributors have compiled the best titles in an impressive range of disciplines and specialties in the health sciences literature, making their selections on the basis of quality, value, and professional importance.
The guide:
Encompasses 35 specialties, plus additional sub-specialties,
basic sciences, and emerging disciplines
Provides over 1,600 authoritative recommendations
Covers both the monographic and serial literature, in print and also in digital and online formats, including audiovisual resources
As many as twenty of the top titles in each discipline are arranged by the G01 Biological Sciences and G02 Health Occupations tree schedules of the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings. Each entry contains full bibliographic information, followed by an annotation describing the scope and coverage of the work, any significant features, and intended audience. The editors also indicate whether the work is appropriate for a hospital collection, a well-rounded academic collection, specialized collections, and/or for a core consumer collection.
Hardcover.
"The Master Guide is a valuable new collection development tool for health science librarians or anyone developing health science collections….I will use the Master Guide and recommend it to any librarian engaged in collection development with health science literature."
Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries
"This Master Guide features basic information on selected medical and health sciences resources. The editors' goal is to provide a selection tool similar to the Brandon-Hill list (of selected titles for a small medical library, for nursing, and for allied health), which ceased in 2004. It does not aim for comprehensiveness, but focuses on the top authoritative monograph and journal titles in each health and medical field or subfield. Subject areas are chosen and defined using the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) schedules. The contributors for each subject area were charged with choosing the top ten monographs and journals for that area. "Must have" electronic resources such as BIOSIS Previews and TOXNET (CH, Sup'01, 38Sup-358) are included. Major subjects are covered extensively. Thirty-nine resources are listed for general nursing, nursing research, and nursing theory. Each of the 21 nursing specialties covered could potentially list ten journal and ten monographic resources, giving the library's nursing selector a firm base of information for purchase or licensing decisions. Newer subjects like genomics, proteomics, and bioengineering are included, as is the increasingly requested area of ethics..."
CHOICE, November 2011
"This reference work provides the selection assistance needed to maintain a quality health sciences/medical collection. In a time of reduced budgets and ever-increasing numbers of new books, journals and e-resources, buying the 'right' titles is essential. The Master Guide gives collection developers an important, useful tool that is both concise and reliable."
CHOICE, November 2011 (Cont.)
Esther Carrigan
Esther Carrigan, MLS, AHIP, is Associate Dean and Director at the Texas A&M University Medical Sciences Library. She earned her M.L.S. in Library and Information Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Ms. Carrigan has been on the faculty of the Medical Sciences Library at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas since 1983, holds the rank of professor and is a distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. She has served on a number of committees and has had leadership roles within the Medical Library Association, its Veterinary Medical Libraries Section and South Central Chapter. Her research interests include veterinary grey literature, collection development, organizational culture, and the assessment of library services and collections. She has presented her research in these areas at many national and international meetings and has published on these subjects in numerous journal articles.
Laurie L. Thompson
Laurie L. Thompson, MLS, AHIP, has over 30 years experience in health sciences libraries, including 6 years at the National Library of Medicine; 11 years in administrative positions at the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, George Washington University (including a year as interim director); and 5 years as Director of Libraries at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. She was appointed Director of Libraries at UT Southwestern in April 2003 and was named Assistant Vice President for Library Services soon thereafter. Ms. Thompson is active in the Medical Library Association and served on its Board of Directors 2006-2010. She is also active in the South Central Chapter of the MLA and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, and serves on several boards of directors. She is Chair of the University of Texas System Advisory Committee on Library Affairs and was appointed to the advisory board of the state resource sharing consortium, TexShare. She is an evaluator for the Commission on Higher Education’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Ms. Thompson’s publications include “Journal Collection Development: Challenges, Issues and Strategies,” co-authored with Mori Lou Higa (Wood, Introduction to Health Sciences Librarianship, 2008), which won the 2008 Dan Richards Prize for outstanding writing in collection development, and Bibliographic Management of Resources in Health Sciences Libraries (Current Practices in Health Sciences Librarianship, v.6, 2001). She has written several articles on the licensing of electronic resources and has developed and teaches a day-long seminar in negotiating licenses for electronic resources. She received her MLS from the University of Hawaii.
Mori Lou Higa, MLS, AHIP,is Manager, Collection Development, Library, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. She holds a MLS from San Jose State University. Mori Lou joined UT Southwestern Medical Center in 1993 as an Information Services Librarian. Since then, she has managed the new North Campus branch library, led the library’s strategic planning activities, and established the library’s first digital infrastructure department, leading implementation efforts for the library’s first link resolver and federated search engine. Mori Lou presently manages the library’s collection development activities and a staff of three. She has authored articles on various collection topics, the use of focus groups in the strategic planning process, and the redesign of a library's organizational structure. She has also served as a column editor for the Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries and peer reviewer for Health Information and Libraries Journal.
Rajia Tobia
Rajia Tobia, AMLS, AHIP,is Executive Director of Libraries at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she has held a number of positions in public and technical services, including Associate Library Director for Collection Development. She began her career as Serials Librarian and Medical Center Librarian at the University of South Alabama Biomedical Library in Mobile, Alabama. She is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals and has served on a number of committees within the Medical Library Association and its regional chapter. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries and has contributed articles to a number of journals during her career in health sciences librarianship. Ms. Tobia has participated in developing and implementing several National Library of Medicine grants and contracts aimed at outreach to health professionals and public librarians in the south Texas region. She received a MLS from the University of Michigan.
ful, the task of developing or maintaining a collection can be stressful--and expensive. The Medical Library Association’s Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in Health Sciences will make the process infinitely easier and more efficient.
