Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences

Abstract

The latest edition of Introduction to Reference Sources in the Health Sciences is a towering achievement, and continues the high standard set by previous editions of this tool for health sciences reference work. In this edition, Jean Blackwell, AHIP, joins Jeffrey T. Huber and Jo Anne Boorkman, AHIP, FMLA, on the editorial team, replacing founding editor Fred Roper, AHIP, FMLA. Before delving into specific resources and topics, the work begins with a concise, yet thorough, overview of issues in managing today's health sciences reference collections. The chapter authors conducted a survey of health sciences librarians (reproduced in the appendix) to get a sense of current library issues, practices, and concerns. Attention is given to the impact of online formats and the web in building, managing, organizing, and presenting reference collections. Individual chapters cover resources to assist with specific types of reference questions, including drug information, statistics, consumer health, history, biography, terminology, and grants. Additional chapters describe specific types of resources, including government documents, translations, conference proceedings, handbooks, indexes, and more. A brief section on point-of-care and evidence-based clinical resources is also included. Rather than simple laundry lists of reference tools, each chapter begins with useful background information on how each type of information is created and gathered. For example, the drug information chapter provides an overview of the drug approval process before delving into specific resources. The statistics chapter provides a clear overview of a challenging area and includes two useful appendixes. The first defines frequently used terminology, and the second provides an overview of the content of the “Rainbow Series,” or Vital and Health Statistics Series. In addition to providing full bibliographic information, the annotations provide enough information on organization and content to allow readers to determine if a resource will provide an answer to a specific question. In most cases, the annotations are descriptive, although the consumer health chapter provides qualitative comments for some of the cited resources. Most of the chapter authors do superb jobs in presenting free web resources, alongside traditional print and online subscription-based works, and providing URLs for websites corresponding to traditional print resources. However, in a few isolated cases, freely available web resources seem overlooked. Some free web resources that are very useful in reference work, such as MAUDE and the Wayback Machine, are not mentioned at all. The terminology chapter does not mention any websites, and the web resources in the drug chapter feel tacked on to the end of the chapter. For example, instead of being covered in the section devoted to “herbal medicines and natural products,” the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine website is listed and described under “Web Sites” at the end. One possibly useful addition to the book would be a section on when and how to use Google in reference work. The introduction to the index and database chapter has a brief discussion of Google's pros and cons, and the Google Language Tools are mentioned briefly in the translation section, but such useful tools as Google Book search is mentioned only briefly in the section on digitization, and Google image search is not mentioned at all. Two other sections would be useful to include in subsequent editions: tools for locating tests and measurement instruments and an expanded section on rankings. The U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Finder and the Joint Commission's Quality Check are included for hospitals, but it would be useful to also include a section on suggested sources and tips for locating the best physicians, schools, and academic programs. Overall, the book has a consistent style throughout, especially given that each chapter was written by a different author. The index is very useful, containing listings both for subjects as well as for specific resources by title. It is very clear that the chapter authors did not just try to simply update content from previous editions, but rather stepped back and took a fresh look at the resources and tools available today in their respective areas. The work is also very current, especially given the amount of work that must have gone into gathering all of this information. One cited resource was dated fall 2007, and such timely topics as pharmacogenomics and health literacy are addressed. This book is highly recommended for all health sciences library collections. It will be useful not only for students and new health sciences reference librarians, but also to keep seasoned reference librarians up to date on the latest tools and resources.