Spotlight on the Collection: Health & Medicine

In honor of the nursing class that is gracing us with their presence here this morning (and also the gentleman who just told me he had bedbug bites), I thought it would be a good time to spotlight some of the Reference Department's helpful resources for health & medicine.

If you cannot find a particular disease in JAXCAT, Health & Wellness Resource Center is an excellent place to start. Even though it is considered more of a "consumer health" database (as opposed to Health Reference Center Academic and Medline), many entries include articles from academic and medical journals.

Once you've determined what general areas some of their more specific queries fall within that didn't show up in the catalog (what, you knew that Thromboangitis Obliterans--or Buerger's Disease--was a circulatory disorder?), you can then point them in the direction of broad-based reference books to check the indexes.

Omnigraphics' Health Reference Series are a good choice. For one, they are authoritative and comprehensive, which is nice. But even more importantly, they are bright red and easy to find on the shelf. Simply go to the 600s, look for the eye-catching color and choose the correct malady: respiratory, endocrinological, etc., and let the customer enjoy.

If these don't work, you can always fall back on a good Google search. The Mayo Clinic and WebMD have good, practical information as well.