Describes the growth, rationale, and operation of a no-charge cooperative formed in 1982 by group of small Australian health science libraries to combat rising costs of interlibrary loans (GRATIS), and its South Australian equivalent (GRATISSA). Membership, coverage, features, problems, applications, and future developments are noted. Nine…

Description of information services from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) highlights a new system for retrieving information from NLM's databases (GRATEFUL MED); a formal Regional Medical Library Network; DOCLINE; the Unified Medical Language System; and Integrated Academic Information Management Systems. Research and development and the…

This paper describes the University of California's Central San Joaquin Valley Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Biomedical Library Program, which is intended to improve library services in hospitals and other medical care institutions in the region and to coordinate future development of these services. A summary of the San Joaquin Valley AHEC…

Presents historical review of development of medical education, medical library and information services, medical school libraries, facilities (medical, education, library), and national health programs in Nigeria. Areas of challenge in present Nigerian medical librarianship are identified: personnel, organizational structures, buildings, National…

Describes the activities of the Health Sciences OCLC User Group, which was organized to establish a forum for communication; provide information about National Library of Medicine cataloging rules in OCLC; maintain close relations with the National Library of Medicine and the Medical Libraries Association; and represent its constituency to OCLC.…

Discusses serials cancellations; reviews library collection assessment policies and reasons for assessment studies; describes a survey of academic health sciences libraries that examined serials cancellation projects, including the decision-making process, regional or national cooperation, and the methodology used; and explains a generic serials…

Speeches and summaries of group discussions from California's first statewide conference on health science library consortia are presented. An introduction outlining regional, state, and national cooperation among biomedical libraries and brief welcoming addresses precede three talks on the history and development in California of library…

A brief description of the resources and services available from the 94 member libraries of the Japan Medical Library Association (JMLA) is followed by a discussion of the need for closer ties with the medical library associations of other Southeast Asian countries. Contacts described include participation in workshops held by the Southeast Asian…

This report presents an overview of health science libraries and the biomedical communications network in Wisconsin, and a list of goals and recommendations related to the role of the state government in the development of health science library services. It is noted that health science libraries in the state range from hospital and academic…

This course text outlines the objectives and content for a professional continuing education course on consumer health information (CHI) services. Topics covered include: (1) trends in medical consumerism and self-health care; (2) health information needs of consumers; (3) the role of the library in CHI, including legal ramifications; (4)…

Includes nine articles that discuss cooperative library networking in Illinois. Highlights include library systems as cooperative agencies; PALI (Private Academic Libraries of Illinois); rural school and public library development; systemwide users; regional medical libraries; virtual libraries and the Coalition for Networked Information; a…

Twelve articles focusing on the issue of cooperative collection management describe the history and current status of specific projects within the Illinois Library and Information Network. The last article summarizes the status of coordinated cooperative collection management in Illinois, clarifies terminology, and speculates on future…