Collection Development Policies:

Medicine

Purpose: To supply the medical literature needed to support teaching and research through the doctoral level in veterinary medicine, neurosciences, and pharmaceutical sciences, the professional DVM and PharmD degrees, and the basic clinical sciences needs of pre-nursing and human medicine students. The departments included are Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology; Veterinary Clinical Medicine and Surgery; Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology; the College of Pharmacy's Pharmacotherapy and Pharmaceutical Sciences departments; the graduate and undergraduate program in Neurosciences; and the WWAMI Basic Medical Sciences program, and the pre-Nursing program. This collection is also used by patrons in the School of Biological Sciences, the Institute of Biological Chemistry, the departments of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Food Science and Human Nutrition. In addition, the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, the Cancer Prevention Research Center, the Animal Health and Well-Being Center, the Center for Reproductive Biology, the Drug Information Center, and local health professionals also use this material.

Because both the clinical and pre-clinical areas of veterinary medicine and pharmacy draw heavily upon human medicine, it is essential that a solid collection of medical journals and a core collection of books be acquired and continually updated. College of Pharmacy personnel require use of the medical literature in relation to the actions of the drugs/chemicals on the human body and in their research programs. Because of the broad scope of the extensive research program conducted by the faculty and graduate students in both the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Pharmacy, the literature needs of these personnel extend far beyond the limits of traditional animal and comparative medicine. Extensive research is conducted in the areas of viral diseases, animal models for human disease, microbiology, public health, food safety, immunopathology, pathology, and the neurosciences.

General Collection Guidelines:
  1. Languages: The primary language of the collection is English. Foreign language materials are not purchased.
  2. Chronological Guidelines: Emphasis is placed upon developments within the last 2 years.
  3. Geographical Guidelines: Primarily U.S.
  4. Treatment of the Subject: Only material of a scholarly/technical basis is collected. Excluded are introductory textbooks, popular materials, etc. Historical materials are not collected.
  5. Types of Material: For the most part, collecting is in the form of journals. Monographs acquired include core, standard works, as well as dictionaries, directories, handbooks, and reference sources. Materials, especially journals, are acquired in electronic format when coverage is complete and access is stable and archival. Gifts and donations are accepted and encouraged.
  6. Date of Publication: The material collected is generally that published within 2 years.
  7. Other General Considerations: Psychiatry is covered in the Psychology statement. Reciprocal borrowing agreements for monographs (such as SUMMIT) and consortial database and electronic journal purchases greatly supplement the collection. See also: Pharmacotherapy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science
Observations and Qualifications by Subject with Collection Level:
Ophthalmology: E Diagnosis and surgical treatment of ocular disorders.
Otolaryngology: See: Speech and Hearing Sciences
Reproductive medicine: C(2) Abnormalities and disorders of male and female reproductive organs; pregnancy and parturition; laparoscopy.
Pediatrics: C(2) Primary interest is the study of neonatal disorders and pediatric pharmacology.
Dermatology: D / C(2) Effects of chemicals and agents on the skin, parasitic skin disorders. Melanomas.
Geriatrics: C(2) / C(1) Aging as affected by drugs; drug therapy. Neuroendocrinology of aging.
Hematology: C(2) / C(1) Pathophysiology of blood, laboratory and interpretive processes.
Radiology: C(2) / C(1) Use of radiography in diagnosis and other diagnostic radiological techniques e.g. CAT, MRI, nuclear scintigraphy.
Medical education: C(1) Methods of medical education, especially those applicable to veterinary and pharmacy education. Covers evidence based practice tools and methods and research study design. Also includes teaching-outcome assessment, medical writing, medical ethics, and alternative teaching methods, such as alternatives to live animal use.
Public health/epidemiology: C(1) Includes the role of the health professional in individual and group health problems, including zoonotic diseases, Salmonella, E. coli O157, food safety, BSE, AIDS, and prevalence and spread of disease.
Pathology: C(1) / B The role of immune and biological processes in the pathogenesis of disease, including neoplastic, immunologic, infectious, and drug-induced disease; includes diagnostic techniques and procedures, necropsy, histopathology.
Internal medicine: C(2) Examination and diagnosis of disease. Includes infectious, parasitic, metabolic, immunologic, and neoplastic diseases; diseases of the various systems of the body including cardio-respiratory, digestive, endocrine, urogenital, musculoskeletal diseases. Includes techniques such as endoscopy, radiology, etc. Includes also emergency medicine and tropical medicine.
Surgery/orthopedics: C(2) / C(1) Includes surgical techniques and instrumentation, such as neurosurgery, laparoscopy, and arthroscopy; study of wounds and soft tissue repair and healing; anesthesiology; surgical anatomy; diagnosis and surgical repair of fractures; joint injuries and lameness.
Sports medicine: See: Sport Studies
Alcoholism/substance abuse/psychotropic drugs: C(2) / C(1) Biomedical and immunological aspects.
Genetics: C(2) / C(1) Includes medical genetics and metabolic basis of disease as influenced by heredity. For non-human genetics, see Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science

Vicki Croft
Sarah McCord
Spring 2004