It's true, you can't judge a book by its cover. As I was reading the introductory chapter to Perspectives in Medical Geography, the editor referred more than once to special issues of a journal. That did not make much sense to me, so I went back and read the editor's acknowledgments and the foreword, and it became clear: This book is a compilation of volume 7, numbers 1 and 3, special theme issues, of the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, “Geographic Opportunities in Medicine.” For some reason, I felt a little misled, but I should not have. Lesson learned: especially when reviewing a book, always start at the beginning, which is not necessarily the first chapter. And considering that each issue is $209 for purchase by individuals, maybe being misled is not such a bad thing. Although Amy J. Blatt, the editor, is not a librarian, she is a biologist with a doctorate in geography and works for a medical testing company. Still, reading statements such as “Geography libraries are well-poised to be guardians [italics mine] of electronic geospatial information and data storage” (p. 7) makes me think that Blatt might be missing the point or at the very least be using the wrong terminology. Blatt has two main questions that are the basic considerations of the book, and her introduction discusses ways that she thinks librarians can or should respond to them. Using words like “should” and “must” just set the wrong tone for me. To be fair, she does have a positive outlook on the future of field of medical geography and how map and geography librarians can contribute to the field. The second chapter, however, has a much different tone. It has a brief but good explanation of the difference between medical geography and epidemiology. The terms are similar, but the focus is not the same. I actually searched both terms in Google, and John Snow and the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London was used as an example for both terms. The author covers different types of geographic data, metadata, archives, and online searching and discusses the accessibility and dissemination of information throughout her chapter. The remaining chapters discuss different aspects of medical geography, such as mapping of health care delivery or disparities, use of open sourcing or social media, different types of diseases and why they show up where and when they do, use of medical geography in different countries, and different ways librarians can facilitate use of geographic information. Two of the chapters discuss locations, relocations, or closures of medical facilities and the resulting effects; uses of medical geographic information; and the role of librarians to influence the decisions that are made. There are also discussions about budgets, how to start or expand library collections in this area, and whether the field should remain “medical geography” or be called “health geography.” Medical geography, particularly in terms of librarianship, got its start at Harvard University, so there is a bit of an East Coast feel to the articles, most of which are written by people with Harvard connections, as current researchers, former students, or researchers. One chapter in particular discusses how a large insurance company used geospatial data to collect information on their members that the members themselves for various reasons had not given. The authors said it was to address health disparities in their membership. I do not want it to sound like they were doing anything unethical or wrong, but this does point out the need for care whenever this type of publicly available data is used. I did not really know anything about medical geography, so reviewing this book was a nice introduction to the field. The book is well illustrated with maps and graphics, all the chapters have references and some have notes. It is indexed, and there is a good “Suggested Resources” section as well. Even in this era of tight budgets, this book would be a good addition to a collection for libraries wanting or needing something in this area, as there a very few books that cover this topic.
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Aug 11, 2017
Tobias Schäfer + 8
Open Access