Collection development and outsourcing in academic health sciences libraries: a survey of current practices.
(1/97)
Academic health sciences libraries in the United States and Canada were surveyed regarding collection development trends, including their effect on approval plan and blanket order use, and use of outsourcing over the past four years. Results of the survey indicate that serials market forces, budgetary constraints, and growth in electronic resources purchasing have resulted in a decline in the acquisition of print items. As a result, approval plan use is being curtailed in many academic health sciences libraries. Although use of blanket orders is more stable, fewer than one-third of academic health sciences libraries report using them currently. The decline of print collections suggests that libraries should explore cooperative collection development of print materials to ensure access and preservation. The decline of approval plan use and the need for cooperative collection development may require additional effort for sound collection development. Libraries were also surveyed about their use of outsourcing. Some libraries reported outsourcing cataloging and shelf preparation of books, but none reported using outsourcing for resource selection. The reason given most often for outsourcing was that it resulted in cost savings. As expected, economic factors are driving both collection development and outsourcing practices. (+info)
Interlibrary cooperation: from ILL to IAIMS and beyond.
(2/97)
A recent solicitation over the MEDLIB-L e-mail discussion list revealed over thirty diverse examples of hospital library-based interlibrary cooperative initiatives currently underway. Many are familiar and have been featured in the professional literature. Most go unreported and unrecognized however, comprising invisible resource-sharing infrastructures that hospital librarians painstakingly piece together in order to provide their clients with expanded service options. This paper, drawing from the MEDLIB-L survey as well as descriptions in the published literature, provides a broad overview of such recent interlibrary cooperative efforts. Examples include interlibrary loan networks, collective purchasing initiatives, holder-of-record or union catalog access agreements, arrangements to provide e-mail and Internet access, and consortia to share electronic resources. Examples were chosen based on the initiatives' diversity of participants, and represent a wide range of locations across the United States. Such initiatives focus on local, statewide, or regional collaboration, and several involve partnerships between academic medical center libraries and regional hospital libraries. An early example of a hospital-based interlibrary cooperative IAIMS effort is described, pointing to future possibilities involving the Internet and regional hospital system intranets. (+info)
Mapping the literature of dental assisting.
(3/97)
The purpose of this study was to identify core journals and the databases that provide access to these journals for the field of dental assisting. This study was completed as a part of the Medical Library Association (MLA) Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project to map the literature of allied health. There were three original journals selected for analysis using the prescribed methodology, Dental Assistant, the journal of the American Dental Assistants Association; Journal of the CDAA, the journal of the Canadian Dental Assistants' Association; and Dental Teamwork, published by the American Dental Association. Dental Teamwork ceased publication in December 1996; however, it was considered a necessary part of the analysis due to its extensive coverage of dental assisting as well as its numerous scientific articles with references. In Dental Assistant, there were 16 source articles, containing 206 citations. In Dental Teamwork, there were 31 source articles with 308 citations. In Journal of the CDAA, there were only 3 source articles with 14 citations. Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied to the journal citations. Four databases, MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, and HEALTH were analyzed for their coverage of these cited journals. This study may encourage the dental assisting profession to take a close look at its existing journals and to consider enhancing the content of these journals or the publication of additional journals in the field. Dental assistants of today need substantive literature that deals with all aspects of their chosen profession in order to meet the challenges of providing dental health care in the future. (+info)
Mapping the literature of dental hygiene.
(4/97)
Despite the long history of the dental hygiene profession, little research has been conducted on the characteristics of its literature. In this study, the bibliometric method was used to identify the core journals in the discipline and the extent of indexing of these journals. The study was a part of the Medical Library Association (MLA) Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project to map the allied health literature. Five journals were found to provide one-third of all references studied. Forty-two journals yielded an additional one-third of the references. MEDLINE had the best indexing coverage with 87% of the journals receiving indexing for at least one-half of the articles included. Limited coverage was provided by EMBASE/Excerpta Medica (11%) and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (9%). The findings identified titles that should be added by indexing services as well as those that should have more complete coverage. (+info)
Mapping the literature of diagnostic medical sonography.
(5/97)
Diagnostic medical sonography has been evolving as a recognized allied health occupation since the early 1970s, but no bibliometric studies of the literature of the field have been published. This study, part of the Medical Library Association Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's Project for Mapping the Literature of Allied Health, attempted to identify the core journals in diagnostic medical sonography and determine how well these journals are indexed by MEDLINE, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). Citation analysis was done using the three journals listed for the field by the Brandon/Hill list. Characteristics of two of these three journals affected the results to the extent that more data should be gathered to reach conclusions about the literature of diagnostic medical sonography as a whole. Results of the analysis do suggest that the literature of echocardiography, which is a special area of diagnostic medical sonography, is indexed much more completely by MEDLINE and EMBASE/Excerpta Medica than by CINAHL. Suggestions are made for librarians making collection development decisions in this area of allied health. (+info)
Mapping the literature of dietetics.
(6/97)
Research on the literature of dietetics, apart from the broader field of nutrition, has not been reported in the literature. The purpose of this bibliometric study was to identify the core journals of dietetics and to determine the extent of indexing coverage for these journals. The study was conducted as part of a larger project, the Project for Mapping the Literature of Allied Health, sponsored by the Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section of the Medical Library Association. Citations appearing in three journals between 1995 and 1997 were analyzed by the methodology common to studies in the project. Results revealed that dietetic literature relies heavily on journal literature and on those journals that are from associated health sciences fields. Of the indexing services examined, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica and MEDLINE provided the most complete coverage of the literature. The study's findings have implications for those involved with the literature of dietetics. (+info)
Mapping the literature of occupational therapy.
(7/97)
Occupational therapy, formally organized in the United States in 1917, is considered an allied health field. Mapping occupational therapy literature is part of a bibliometric project of the Medical Library Association's Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project for mapping the literature of allied health. Three core journals were selected from the years 1995 and 1996 and a determination was made of the extent to which the cited journal references were covered by standard indexing sources. Using Bradford's Law of Scattering three zones were created, each containing approximately one-third of the cited journal references. The results showed that three journals made up the first zone, 117 journals the second, and 657 the third. The most cited journal was the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. In the second zone, journals from twelve disciplines were identified. While MEDLINE provided the best overall indexing, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was the only database that indexed the three most cited journals plus nine of the currently active titles in occupational therapy. MEDLINE could improve its coverage of occupational therapy by indexing the journals of the British, Canadian, and Australian national associations. (+info)
Mapping the literature of perfusion.
(8/97)
Perfusionists select and operate the equipment necessary for monitoring, supporting, or temporarily replacing the patient's circulatory or respiratory function. There are over 3,000 perfusionists working in U.S. hospitals, medical and perfusionist groups, and as independent contractors. The purpose of this study was to identify the core literature of perfusion and to determine which major databases provide the most thorough access to this literature. This paper is part of the Medical Library Association Nursing and Allied Health Resource Section's project to map the literature of the allied health professions. It uses a bibliometric methodology to identify core journals. A group of forty-three journals was determined to make up the core journal literature of perfusion. MEDLINE provided the best overall indexing coverage for these journals, but librarians and perfusionists will wish to supplement its use with the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature in order to access the journals written primarily for perfusionists. The study results can guide purchasing and database searching decisions of collection development and reference librarians, encourage the database producer to increase coverage of titles that are unindexed or underindexed, and advise perfusionists of the best access to their core literature. (+info)