Number 50 March 14, 1996

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:
HTML coding by Eric Albright, maldacht@duke.edu
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About BLAB

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CONTENTS

50.1 Discussion: Weeding Pre-1914 Medical Books

Joanne Crocker

Larry Wygant

Connie Rinaldo

The Editor

50.2 Discussion: Managing Restricted-Access WEB Journals

Theresa Baker

50.3 Announcement: Book Review Editor for BMLA

Connie Poole

50.4 Announcement: Serials Price Study at U.T. San Antonio

Danny Jones

50.5 Announcement: 1996 NASIG Meeting

Anne McKee

50.6 Review: Society for Teachers of Family Medicine Publs. List

Danny Jones

50.7 Inquiry: Credit Card Purchases

Pamela Rose

50.8 Inquiry: Medical Video Productions

Carolyn Rymer

50.9 Inquiry: Usefulness of AASHLD Statistics

Danny Jones

50.1 DISCUSSION: WEEDING PRE-1914 MEDICAL BOOKS

From: Joann Crocker, Univ. of Nebraska <JCROCKER@UNMCVM.UNMC.EDU>

Our library is planning to weed a small collection of pre-1914 medical books, most of which circulated for many years and are in poor condition. Can anyone recommend any retention criteria or tools other than _Morton's Medical Bibliography_ or the ALA Collection Management and Development Guide No.5, _Guide to Review of Library Collections_?

From: Larry Wygant, Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston <WYGANT%LIBRARY@mhost.utmb.edu>

Some thoughts on Joann Crocker's problem:

First she needs to decide why she is saving the volumes. Is it for their monetary or historical information value? She says that they have circulated (I suppose they have ownership marks?) and are in poor condition. Except for the most significant books, those in poor condition usually have little monetary value.

If she has decided to select some for retention there are a number of articles in the literature (AB Bookman's Weekly has done occasional issues devoted to collecting medical books). One article that I found particularly useful was W. Bruce Fye's "Collecting in the Field of Medicine" (AB Bookman's Weekly, 65:3242+ Ap 28 '80). Fye suggests some obvious candidates ( Nobel prize winners, works by Osler, Cushing, Mitchell, works on penicillin before 1950, etc). He also suggests works published before the date of organization of a specialty society. For example, the neurosurgery speciality society was formed in 1920 so works on that subject published before 1920 could be or could become historically important. His article includes a list of specialty societies and their dates of formation.

From: Constance Rinaldo, Dartmouth College <Constance.Rinaldo@Dartmouth.EDU>

I have found catalogs from rare book dealers to be helpful tools in assessing books. A couple of others:

Guide to the literature of the life sciences. [by] Roger C. Smith [and] W. Malcolm Reid. 8th ed. Imprint: Minneapolis, Burgess Pub. Co. [c1972]

Scientific books, libraries and collectors : a study of bibliography and the book trade in relation to science / John L. Thornton and R.I.J. Tully. 3d rev. ed. with minor corrections. London : Library Association, 1975.

Subject collections : a guide to special book collections and subject emphases as reported by university, college, public, and special libraries and museums in the United States and Canada /compiled by Lee Ash and William G. Miller, with the collaboration of Barry Scott, Kathleen Vickery, and Beverly McDonough. 7th ed., rev. and enl. New Providence, NJ : R.R. Bowker Co., c1993.

Another helpful source that I consulted during a recent quick-and- dirty weeding project was the index volume of Dictionary of Scientific Biography to identify historically important authors who may have been overlooked (or out-of-scope) for Morton's Medical Bibliography.

50.2 DISCUSSION: MANAGING RESTRICTED-ACCESS WEB JOURNALS (continued from last issue)

From: Theresa Baker, Univ. of Kansas Medical Center <Tbaker@kumc.wpo.ukans.edu>

I'd like to respond to the MANAGING RESTRICTED-ACCESS TO WEB JOURNALS discussion.

At the University of Kansas Medical Center, we subscribe to several Web journals including Immunology Today, Online Journal of Knowledge Synthesis for Nursing, and Nucleic Acids Research Online. We provide access to the journals through the Library's home page (http://www.kumc.edu/service/dykes/dykeslib.html). Access restrictions are handled by limiting the pages with the login and password to people coming in from KUMC IP addresses. We chose not to include this information in our online catalog because anyone can telnet into it. This protects both the publisher and the library...we do not want outsiders tying up any of our simultaneous uses!

This system is not perfect (we occasionally receive phone calls from students who are trying to connect from an AOL account, and cannot access the login/password page). However, in this transitional phase of electronic journals, we feel that we are doing what we can to work with the current license agreements.

50.3 ANNOUNCEMENT: BOOK REVIEW EDITOR FOR BMLA

From: Connie Poole, Southern Illinois University <poole@lincoln.siumed.edu>

I would like to reinforce to the BLAB community the call for BMLA Associate Editors that appeared in the February MLA News. One of the positions to be filled is that of Book Review Editor. I have served in this capacity for the past four years and really commend it to someone of the collection development bent with good editorial skills. Book reviewing dovetails nicely with selection activities: to be looking not only for books for the collection but also for books to be reviewed by BMLA. A major reward is that the editor keeps those books not chosen for review. The value of these was not insubstantial. But, I fear that sounds too mercenary. It is fun matching books with reviewers and MLA members are very receptive to doing reviews and meeting deadlines (for the most part). Publishers are truly grateful to have their books reviewed. And I've even heard a heart-warming story of a publisher who contacted the reviewer of their book and used the reviewer's feedback in revising the next edition. I commend this position to you. The deadline was March 1, but anyone interested might want to contact Michael Homan anyway. I would be happy to talk with anyone who is contemplating this. I enjoyed it thoroughly and now am eager to have a replacement.

50.4 ANNOUNCEMENT: SERIALS PRICE STUDY AT U.T. SAN ANTONIO

From: Daniel H. Jones, Univ. Texas Southwestern Medical Center, San Antonio <jones@blis.uthscsa.edu>

Our library newsletter is now available from our homepage. In the March issue, which is just being mailed, I prepared a 1995-96 price comparison for selected publishers and titles we subscribe to. The comparisons are specific to our orders and do not represent all the journals from the publishers listed.

The URL for the comparisons is:

http://www-briscoe.uthscsa.edu/library/publications/lnissues /LN9603list.html

The URL for the newsletter contents page is: http://www-briscoe.uthscsa.edu/library/publications/lnissues /LN9603.html

50.5 ANNOUNCEMENT: 1996 NASIG MEETING

From: Anne E. McKee, Blackwell

The 1996 North American Serials Interest Group Conference Planning and Program Planning Committees are very pleased to announce that the registration and scheduling information for the 11th Annual NASIG conference are on the way!! They were mailed by first-class postage to all current NASIG members on Feb.14th, 1996. If after a reasonable time, you have not received your registration brochure, please contact Ruth Haest at the below numbers.

This years NASIG conference theme is entitled "Pioneering New Serials Frontiers: From Petroglyphs to Cyberserials" and it will be held June 20th-23rd, 1996 at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. We have a fantastic group of speakers and have planned some fun outings-you simply cannot miss this conference!

The full conference registration which includes: registration, housing for 3 nights and meals is: $300.00 for a single room and $275.00 for a double room. This price does NOT include preconferences, extra nights or tours.

Payment and the registration form must be mailed together. Registration is open to non-NASIG members after April 1st, 1996 and the registration deadline is May 20th, 1996.

The conference registration and brochure will be mounted on the 1996 conference homepage that is still. under construction. Point your browser to URL: www.unm.edu/~nasig.

For further information, please contact Ruth Haest, NASIG Registrar at 505-277-7218, Fax: 505-277-4446. Internet: nasig@unm.edu. (email preferred.)

We are looking forward to an exciting conference in beautiful mile-high Albuquerque. See you in New Mexico!!

50.6 REVIEW: SOCIETY OF TEACHERS OF FAMILY MEDICINE PUBLICATIONS LIST

From: Daniel H. Jones, Univ. of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio <jones@blis.uthscsa.edu>

I discovered this last week and thought others might be interested. The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine produces the STFM Publications List : Books, Monographs, Other Publications and Audiovisuals

The 1996 edition of the list is available free from the Society by telephoning 800-274-2237, ext. 4504. Each entry in the list includes a descriptive abstract and bibliographic citation including ISBN.

The following statement is taken from the inside cover of the 1996 list: The books on this list are marketed by STFM as a service to the membership. All publications are peer reviewed to determine their usefulness and applicability to our members. Inclusion on this list does not necessarily imply Society approval with the point of view expressed in the publication. Review of publications for marketing by STFM is available to all Society members and may be initiated by contacting the STFM office.

For inclusion, publications must meet one of three criteria:

1) Published by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine 2) Written or edited by a member of the Society 3) Not generally available through usual sources

50.7 INQUIRY: CREDIT CARD PURCHASES

From: Pamela Rose, Univ. at Buffalo <HSLMELA@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>

Do any acquisitions departments out there have use of an institutional credit card (e.g. Mastercard) for quickly purchasing books from these small presses and organizations which liberally advertise credit card ordering through special 800 numbers? We are a state university, and would probably have difficulty setting up such a mechanism through the bureaucracy, but it would make life a whole lot easier! Problems I see initially would be avoiding interest charges, and reconciling the statement with order activity for audit purposes. Apologies for cross- posting (I will be sending over Acqnet and our local SUNY networks).

50.8 INQUIRY: RECOMMENDATION ON MEDICAL VIDEO PRODUCTIONS

From: Carolyn Rymer, Hines VA Hospital

<RYMER.CAROLYN_JUNE@FORUM.VA.GOV>

I have a request from a doctor to subscribe to "Video Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery" Publ. Medical Video Productions. St. Louis, $308 per year. They publish several similar titles . I guess I feel like I have just landed from Mars, am not familiar with publisher nor any of these titles.

Does anyone have any comments, opinions, etc?

50.9 INQUIRY: USEFULNESS OF AAHSLD STATISTICS

From: Daniel H. Jones, Univ. of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio <jones@blis.uthscsa.edu>

The AAHSLD statistics are out and again the breakdown of collection expenditures seems useless for comparative purposes. Does anyone else care about this? The lumping of everything into monographs and serials, especially now that AAHSLD libraries are spending so much for databases and other types of materials, really doesn't tell us much about how we differ and how we are alike.