[Mla-cds] Reviews of Journals

[Ramune Kubilius]

Hello,

Sorry for the very delayed response re: "equivalent to a quality book 
review of a journal". I've not seen a summary of answers.

Reviews of books are handled in the professional journals and through 
Doody Core Titles (and Doody Reviews). Reviews of journals, old and new, 
have been harder to find and most of us probably use other measures and 
metrics: Is the title indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE or somewhere else? Who 
is the publisher ( a society or commercial publisher)? Who are the 
editors (sometimes we look for local institutional faculty on editorial 
boards, etc.)? If it's a journal that's been around, what are the impact 
factors (JCR and other)...We also look at cost, uniqueness in the field, 
etc. Sometimes discussions in a library are driven by user demand 
(verbally or through ILL reports)...

The word has been that a new publication currently in process, */MLA’s 
Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources/* (to be published 
in 2011 by MLA and Neal Schuman, ISBN: 9781555707194) will address not 
only the book side (already handled by Doody's, which also originated 
during MLA meeting discussions, has CDS & other librarian & 
faculty/experts reviewers), but also the journal side. An annotation, 
including a list of authors, can be found 
at:http://www.neal-schuman.com/bdetail.php?isbn=9781555707194

Reading the website info, it appears this new MLA publication may not 
serve Nalla's needs exactly in that it is a selection, but doesn't 
feature a full "review". EXCERPT: "As many as twenty of the top titles 
in each discipline are arranged by the G01 Biological Sciences and G02 
Health Occupations tree schedules of the National Library of Medicine’s 
Medical Subject Headings... Each entry contains full bibliographic 
information, followed by an annotation describing the scope and coverage 
of the work, any significant features, and intended audience. "

Perhaps someone on this list who is involved in this project (MLA and 
Neal Schumann) can share some insights? Perhaps someone has already seen 
an exam copy? (The update schedule and the online availability is not 
listed.) And, perhaps, there are other alternatives to Nalla's quest.

Ramune Kubilius
Galter Health Sciences Library
Northwestern University
&
CDS chair, 2010-2011

+++

On 12/9/2010 4:16 PM, Lalla, Nadia wrote:
> [My apologies if this is in the archive and I just missed it because 
> of braindeadness.  Double apologies if I’m missing the obvious answers.]
>
> Fellow colleagues,
>
> Where do you look for reviews of new journals — or possibly older 
> journals?  What I’d really like is something equivalent to a quality 
> book review of a journals.
>
> Please send your replies directly to me.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Nadia J. Lalla, M.L.I.S.
> Coordinator, Collections & Information Services
> Taubman Health Sciences Library
> The Univerity of Michigan
> email: nadiamar at umich.edu
>
>
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