The Medical Library Association*s Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in the Health Sciences (Medical Library Association Guides)

In a field where resources must be accurate, dependable, and up to date to be useful, the task of developing or maintaining a collection can be stressful and expensive. The Medical Library Association's Master Guide to Authoritative Information Resources in Health Sciences will make the process infinitely easier and more effifficient. Under the guidance of expert contributors, the editors have compiled the best titles in an impressive range of disciplines and specialties in the health sciences literature, making their selections on the basis of quality, value, and professional importance. The guide: encompasses 35 specialties, plus additional sub-specialties, basic sciences, and emerging disciplines; provides over 1,600 authoritative recommendations; covers both the monographic and serial literature, in print and also in digital and online formats, including audiovisual resources. 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. The editors also indicate whether the work is appropriate for a hospital collection, a well-rounded academic collection, specialized collections, and/or for a core consumer collection. Intended for both experienced practitioners and those new to the field, this unique guide will be an indispensable tool for librarians who must differentiate among the many choices of medical resources.

"This reference work provides the selection assistance needed to maintain a quality health sciences/medical collection. In a time of reduced budgets and ever-increasing numbers of new books, journals and e-resources, buying the 'right' titles is essential. The Master Guide gives collection developers an important, useful tool that is both concise and reliable." --CHOICE, November 2011

"The Master Guide is a valuable new collection development tool for health science librarians or anyone developing health science collections....I will use the Master Guide and recommend it to any librarian engaged in collection development with health science literature." --Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, November 2011