Health and Medical Collection

Health Information

The State Library provides health-related information to State government agencies, libraries and individuals. It offers:

One of the largest collections of health-related publications in New York State
A trained staff, including certified medical librarians, skilled in providing health information from printed materials and electronic databases
A comprehensive health reference collection for obtaining ready reference information or doing extensive literature searches, with strong resources in related biomedical fields
Computer database searches of the health-related literature on a one-time search basis or with continuing monthly updates, fee-based except for New York State government
Database searching of indexes to health sciences information in compact disk (CD-ROM) format, available to patrons at the Electronic Reference Station
State and Federal documents containing health information, much of it statistical, from the U.S. government, New York State, and other states
Health-related publications from many other countries and from international groups such as the World Health Organization.

Indexes on CD-ROM include Medline from the National Library of Medicine's Index Medicus, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase from Excerpta Medica, HealthPlan, covering health planning and administration, the Patient Drug Information File, and PsychLit from Psychological Abstracts. For the most current information, on-line searches may be requested.

The Library holds dozens of biomedical print indexes, including a complete file of Index Medicus and a collection of the more than forty subject sections of Excerpta Medica, complete through 198? The Selected List of Abstracts and Indexes in Science, Health Sciences and Technology, a guide to the Library's holdings, lists all the biomedical indexes in one section. It is available at the Reference Desk.

Some Special Items in the Collection

Among the many special biomedical materials held are the following:

An extensive collection of older medical periodicals, many from the 19th Century. (Ask about the special catalog for these publications.)
Indexes to historical portraits and biographical information about physicians and other health workers
Health-related manuscript materials of local or regional origin, housed in the Manuscripts and Special Collections Section
A large historical collection of medical pamphlets
All the depository publications of the U.S. Government Printing Office, many of which relate to health.
Printed catalogs of other libraries, including that of the New York Academy of Medicine
Medical college catalogs

Special Services for Physicians

New York State-licensed physicians may borrow books directly if they have registered with the Library. They may also request reference services. However, most physicians now obtain information through the New York State Interlibrary Loan (NYSILL) network and its interface with the Regional Medical Library Program network, accessible through hospital, public, academic and special libraries.