St.
Louis
Medical Librarians
Newsletter
October 2005 |
Doody's Core Titles List |
| We are all familiar with the name: Doody. For years
we have received their authoritative reviews of new medical books in
our e-mail. In 2004 the man behind the name stepped forward to
rescue medical librarians, after the Brandon Hill List ceased
publication. Few of us have had the chance to meet Mr. Doody
personally, so it was an honor to have Dan speak at our SLML program
on October 13, 2005. For forty year small health science and hospital libraries with limited budgets counted on the Brandon/Hill List for guidance. During the last years of the Brandon/Hill era, Doody's Enterprise Inc. had already created its own objective and unbiased collection development tool. So, it seemed only logical for Doody's Enterprise to fill the void left by the cessation of the Brandon/Hill List. In May 2004, Doodys Enterprise Inc. announced the web-based Doody's Core Titles in the Sciences. Doody's Core Titles is an annual online publication, which allows for frequent updates. It provides a comprehensive list of books and software titles covering 119 specialties in medicine, nursing, allied health and basic sciences. Every title is evaluated on the following bases: authoritativeness of the authors, the scope and content of the subject, the quality of the presentation, usefulness to the collection and price/value. The titles are rated on a scale of 0-3, 3.0 is the highest score, and indicates an "essential title". 18 percent of the current list are considered core titles. Books scoring between 2.6 and 2.9 are considered "key core titles" and represent 37 percent of the list. In the evaluation process 82 of the 170 reviewers are librarians. Doody's Core Titles is an invaluable collection development tool. If you are interested in participating in this review process, Doody's invite you to e-mail them at: dcteditor@doody.com You can directly access and purchase the DCT list from Doody's Enterprise Inc. http://www.doody.com/dct/ |
- Reka Kozak