Number 42 August 4, 1995

Edited by David Morse (University of Southern California) dmorse@hsc.usc.edu

Editorial Board members:

Email address for all correspondence and subscriptions: dmorse@hsc.usc.edu

WEB Edition Published at Duke University:
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About BLAB

CONTENTS

42.1 Responses: CD ROM Textbooks - Danny Jones

42.2 Book Review: Writing and Getting Published - Linda Hulbert

42.3 Book Review: Medical Science International Who's Who - Linda Hulbert

42.4 Book Review: Biomedical Engineering Handbook - David Morse

42.5 Book Review: The Human Body, an Illustrated Guide - David Morse

42.6 Query: Chinese-English Medical Dictionary

42.7 Query: Jones and Wood Publishers - Ruth Makinen

41.1 RESPONSES: CD-ROM TEXTBOOKS

From: Daniel H. Jones, U. Texas Health Science Center <jones@blis.uthscsa.edu>

Our survey gave some interesting information. Looks like CD-ROM texts are not abundantly available in medical libraries. Maybe the timing was not good - summer vacations, etc. I'll update if there are more responses later.

The following responded that they provide CD-ROM texts in their library:

Library	Title	Contact name	Contact email
Univ Ark Med Sci	SAM-CD	Mary Hawks	hawks@liblan.uams.edu
Tx A&M Med Sci	SAM-CD	Naomi Fackler	n-fackler@tamu.edu
Houston Acad Med	MAXX SAM-CD Stat-Ref! Harrison(test)	Dawn Bick	dbick@library.tmc.edu
Stanford Univ	SAM-CD	Mary Buttner	mary@krypton.stanford.edu
Dartmouth	SAM-CD	Fred Pond	fred.pond@dartmouth.edu

The following responded that they do not provide CD-ROM texts

Bay Med Ctr	Barbara Kormelink	kormelink@mlc.lib.mi.us
Univ Cal - Davis	Jo Anne Boorkman	jboorkman@ucdaavis.edu
UTHSC San Antonio	Danny Jones	jones@uthscsa.edu

41.2 BOOK REVIEW: WRITING AND GETTING PUBLISHED: A PRIMER FOR NURSES

From: Linda Hulbert, Saint Louis University <HULBERTLA@SLUVCA.SLU.EDU>

This is two book reviews for the price of one. I must be in a crabby mood because I have nothing especially good to say about anything, but I do have two absolutely lousy books to bring to everyone's attention. And they are major disappointments because they could have been good.

I'm not going to give out the ISBN cuz I don't want anyone to buy this book. First of all, here's a book on writing and when I looked at its references, one of the first citations is incomplete - no year!

It goes from bad to worse. The index is weak, or maybe it is adequate to the book and there is nothing in there. There is nothing about literature searching. Under library there are three entries: book catalogues - this is not what you think this is: "The author can request book catalogs from the selected publishing houses if access is not available through other channels. Often librarians have these catalogs. Publishing house catalogs enhance a computerized library search." p. 114.

Under library there is also : Idea source: "The best place to look for a topic is not in a library. A library offers too many distractions, a surfeit of options. The plethora of ideas in a library is overwhelming. Besides, this resource only tells the nurse what has already been written. There is a time for research, but not at the beginning of a writing project, not when the nurse does not yet have her topic." p. 8

There is one paragraph instructing the future writer to go to the library and read all the books that relate to her topic even tangentially. Well, I think that about covers it. How disappointing! I know the nurses would have liked a book on this subject, but I think it speaks for itself.

41.3 BOOK REVIEW: MEDICAL SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL WHO'S WHO. 6TH ED.

From: Linda Hulbert, Saint Louis University <HULBERTLA@SLUVCA.SLU.EDU>

The other book is MEDICAL SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL WHO'S WHO. 6th edition Stockton Press. Again, I am really disappointed. The information is grossly out of date. I looked for our BMOCs (Big men on campus) and found one. However, he has not been vice-president of the medical center for 4 years and that is the way he is listed. I couldn't find any information verified since 1993, and most of it predates it. It's extremely expensive ($495) and the index is really sad. Our one example is a thoracic surgeon and he is in the index under anatomy and biochemistry... hhhhuh? There are many very important people missing like McKusick, Robbins, DeBakey, etc. Maybe everyone knows this about this source - altho it has made it to it's 6th edition. The reference department was sort of horrified and we will be returning it to the publisher - fortunately, it came damaged so we can use that excuse too!

[Editor's Note: Let's have some more money-saving reviews like these in the next issue. The Stockton Press Who's Who really is resoundingly bad, and the worst of it is that it was heavily promoted through a telephone promotional campaign. I actually decided to keep the thing on the slim hope that the European and Asian coverage might be less slipshod than the U.S. coverage, but it will certainly make me more suspicious of Stockon Press offerings in the future.

And now, since your Editor is an old softy at heart, here are two books that are enough to redeem your faith in the publishing industry ...]

41.4 BOOK REVIEW: BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING HANDBOOK

From: The Editor

CRC Press is a maddeningly inconsistent publisher, but this book is definitely a keeper. It is really more of an encyclopedia than a handbook, with 193 chapters encompassing everything from "Human Performance Engineering" to "Artificial Kidney", from "Tissue Microenvironments" to "Biomechanics of Chest and Abdomen Impact." There are even 15 chapters devoted to topics in medical informatics. An absolutely first-rate work, whose title doesn't really do it full justice.

41.5 BOOK REVIEW: THE HUMAN BODY, AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE

From: The Editor

I first noticed this book in a book store and was completely enthralled with the quality and extent of the diagrams, schematics, and other art work. And it covers much more than just anatomy; it also illustrates the anatomical (including cellular) basis of disease states and surgical procedures as well. The intended audience is the general public (and it would make a terrific gift book for a young person interested in medicine), but it also offers a treasure trove of visual images that will be equally useful for health science educators and students. And to top it all off, it is a superb example of the sadly vanishing art of book design that is both functional and a feast for the eye.

41.6 QUERY: CHINESE-ENGLISH MEDICAL DICTIONARY

From: Barbara Ruelle, Emory University <libbar@emory.edu>
Subject: Query- English-Chinese medical dictionary

I'd like to ask if anyone can recommend a current English-Chinese medical dictionary. We have a group of Chinese nursing students arriving in August and feel that we should have on hand a current dictionary for their use. Any titles that I have located are too old - 8 years or so. Has anyone found a more recent edition? Thanks so much for your help!!

41.7 QUERY: FIELD AND WOOD PUBLICATIONS

From: Ruth Makinen, Univ. of Minnesota <r-maki@maroon.tc.umn.edu>

If anyone has more information regarding these Field and Wood Titles, I would appreciate hearing from you.

MANAGEMENT AND AVOIDANCE OF COMPLICATIONS OF EYELID SURGERY: We've only received v.1#1, (1994) after having prepaid ($355.00) for vols. 1-3. In April, the publisher told us that subsequent issues would be published and distributed by the end of 1995; now they say by the end of 1996.

JOURNAL OF UROGENITAL PATHOLOGY

Again, we've only received v.1#1 (1991) after prepaying ($135.00) for vol. 1. At one point the publisher said title would cease with v.1#2, which would be out in November, 1994, but now they say title will continue and v.1#2 will be out sometime during Fall, 1995.

OCULAR INFECTIOUS DISEASES

We received a sample issue v.1#1(1994).Were recently told that v.1#2 was at the printers.

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR PATHOLOGY We received v.1-4 (1987/88-1992/93). We've claimed vol. 5--publisher says vol 5#1-2 are at the printers and will be out Sept. 1995

PROGRESS IN AIDS PATHOLOGY

We've received vol. 1-2 (1989-1990). We paid our vendor #170.00 for 1995. Publisher says v.3 is due Sept. 1995.

SURGICAL PATHOLOGY

We've received v.1-5 (1988-1993) We paid our vendor for 1995 issues. ($170.00) Publisher says all 4 issues to v.6 will be published by the end of 1995.

BREAST CANCER, THE EVOLUTION OF CONCEPTS We've only received v.1#1 (1994) after prepaying direct ($215.00) for v.1-3. Publisher said on 7-28 that v.1#2 is at printers, will be out immanently.

Our new serials vendor has several of these titles listed as delayed publications. We are watching them carefully so as not to pay "up front" for any of them.

The BIOMEDICAL LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS BULLETIN (ISSN: 1064-699X) is published by the Medical Library Association's Collection Development Section with the cooperation of the University of Southern California Norris Medical Library. BLAB is published more or less monthly, and includes items of news and opinion contributed by its readers concerning biomedical library acquisitions. Editor: David H. Morse: dmorse@hsc.usc.edu. Paper mail: USC Norris Medical Library, 2003 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90033. Telephone: (213) 342-1134. The BULLETIN is distributed free of charge, in electronic form only. Back issues of BLAB are available at http://colldev.mlanet.org/BLAB/. Requests for subscriptions and all editorial correspondence should be sent to the editor <dmorse@hsc.usc.edu>.