Developing and Managing the Brown University Library Collections
Collection Policies by Subject:   Medicine

• Library Liaison:
  Janet_Crager@brown.edu

• Description of the Academic Program
  The listing of degree programs offered by the Brown Medical School includes M.D., M.D./Ph.D., Masterof Public Health, and Master of Medical Science.

  Major areas of interest include the work of the following Research Centers, Institutes, Programs, and Initiatives:
  Biomedical Ethics, Center for
  Brain Science Program
  Brain and Neural Studies, Institute for
  Brown-Marine Biological Laboratory Graduate Program
  Environmental Change Initiative
  Fetal Treatment Program
  Fetal Medicine, Program in
  Genomics and Proteomics, Center for
  Program in Public Health
      Brown University AIDS Program
              AIDS Research Center
      Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Center for
      Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Centers for
              The Nicotine and Tobacco Research Center
              The Physical Activity Research Center
              The Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center
      Gerontology and Health Care Research, Center for
      Primary Care and Prevention, Center for
              Women's Health Initiative
              Osteoarthritis Initiative
              Cholesterol Education and Research Trial
      Clinical Trials and Evidence-Based Healthcare, Center for
      Statistical Science, Center for
      International Health Institute
      Community Health Promotion, Institute for
  U.S. Cochrane Center at Brown University
  Liver Research Center
  Hallett Center for Diabetes at Rhode Island Hospital
  Chronobiology and Sleep Lab
  Women’s Health, Center of Excellence in
   

• The Collection Today
  At the inception of the Program in Medicine, the collecting strategy included the affiliated hospital libraries, even though their collections were never under the direction of the University Library.   The University Library was assigned the task of acquiring material to serve the research interests of Brown faculty while the hospitals were to provide clinical support.  In the intervening years, the line has blurred as much research has moved off campus and as the education of campus-based first and second year medical students has become more clinically oriented.
  Besides serving the Medical School, the medical collection supports the study and interest of  undergraduates in the PLME and pre-med programs. Community Health is another area that permeates both undergraduate and graduate interests, especially since the program recently began offering a Masters in Public Health and since the University has targeted this area under the Plan for Academic Enrichment.
  See the link at

• Journals
  Over the last few years, Library consortial deals with a number of the major publishers in the life sciences have enabled the Library to provide access to a tremendous number of electronic journals.  This desktop access to a growing portion of the collection certainly provides improved convenience but also fosters a much greater use of the collection than what was feasible before, especially for medical faculty and students who are primarily based off campus.  The Library has subscribed to online access from the following important publishers:
  • Elsevier
  • Academic Press (subsequently purchased by Elsevier)merged with Springer
  • Springer
  • Kluwer (merged with Springer)
  • Wiley
  • Blackwell
  • Cambridge
  • Oxford
  • Nature
  • Science

  Collections of electronic books have been made available through MD Consult and through Books@OVID.

• General Collecting Guidelines
  The Library attempts to maintain a RESEARCH level collection.  A RESEARCH (Collecting Levels) level collection includes the major source materials required for dissertations and independent research.  It also includes important reference works and a selection of specialized monographs.  With the heavy reliance on journals, the literature of the faculty and medical students is also an important literature of the undergraduate life science concentrators.

• Specific Collecting Guidelines
  • Language: English, original or in translation.
  • Imprint Date: Current imprints. As needed - retrospective materials in support of research needs and replacements to missing or damaged volumes.  Infrequent - acquisition of out-of-print material.
  • Types of Material Included: Monographs and journals.  Selectively, proceedings and textbooks.

• New Medical Titles Cataloged
  • Medicine, General, R, RA
  • Public Health, RA, RB
  • Internal Medicine, RC
  • Surgery, RD
  • Medical Specialties, RE-RL
  • Therapeutics, Pharmacology, RM, RS
  • Nursing, RT
  • Other Medicine, RV-RZ

• Abstracting & Indexing Services
  • MEDLINE through PubMed, OVID and MD Consult
  • Biological Abstracts
  • CINAHL
  • Global Health
  • POPLINE
  • TOXline
  • Additional abstracting and indexing services for Medicine are on the Medical Connections web site.

• Related Collections and Other Resources
  The primary resource for medical materials is through the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and its DOCLINE system that allows for rapid transmission of information from member institutions anywhere in the country or directly from the National Library of Medicine.  NLM provides 2 hour delivery service for clinical emergency requests.
  The resources of the Ivy League institutions' libraries are available to Brown faculty and students via the Borrow Direct service.  The Virtual Catalog makes the resources of the participating members of the Boston Library Consortium available upon request. BLC members include Boston University Medical School, University of Massachusetts Medical School and Tufts Medical School.  The nursing programs at Rhode Island College and The University of Rhode Island contribute a unique aspect to the health science collections at those institutions.  Rhode Island hospital libraries currently share their journal holdings through CRIARL and are planning to add their monographs to the holdings of RI academic institutions in the HELIN database.
  For further information, check with the Interlibrary Loan Office (Phone: (401) 863-2750; Email: sci-ill@brown.edu

• Selected List of Key Internet Resources
  • National Library of Medicine
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Centers for Disease Control
  • BIOSIS Biology Browser
  • TOXNET
  • Additional internet resources are listed by subject on Medical Connections.