Library Policy Statements

I. PROGRAM INFORMATION

Hamilton Library collects materials in the field of medicine to support the M.D. degree offered by the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) and the allied medical sciences (comparative medicine, medical technology, radiation therapy, speech pathology and audiology, and stomatology). The School of Medicine includes the following departments: anatomy and reproductive biology, genetics, pharmacology, biochemistry and biophysics, pathology, physiology, and tropical medicine and medical microbiology in the basic health sciences, and surgery, medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family practice and community health in the clinical sciences. The emphasis within the School of Medicine program is on training primary care physicians to serve Hawaii and the Pacific.

This collection policy will focus on the clinical science fields, since specific collection policies have been written for most of the basic health science fields. However, pathology and tropical medicine and medical microbiology are being included under the medicine policy. Hamilton Library does not collect materials in two medical subspecialty areas; these are radiology and anesthesiology, since neither of these are included in the clinical sciences program. A minimal amount of material is collected on the subject of surgery.

No separate collection policy has been written for tropical medicine and medical microbiology, because the relevant tropical aspects are largely incorporated when materials are selected under the subspecialties of medicine (such as pediatric diseases in the tropics) or within clinical microbiology. However, a master's and PhD program are offered in tropical medicine within the broader field of biomedical sciences and it is emphasized as a prominent research area within the medical school program.

Most of the basic medical courses are taught within the first two years of the medical school program. In the second two years, students participate in clinical rotations, which take place in affiliated community hospitals. The medical school has adapted a teaching methodology, within the first two years of the curriculum, called "problem-based learning." The problem based learning approach partially replaces the standard lecture format and provides a more interactive relationship between faculty and students. It requires the students to do more independent investigation of clinical problems, which necessitates that they use the library more extensively to find textbook and research materials related to the problem at hand.

Some candidates for the M.D. degree may also work concurrently towards a master's or PhD degree within the University of Hawaii.

II. COORDINATION OF COLLECTING RESPONSIBILITIES

The collections at several of the larger hospital libraries act as primary resources for faculty and students in the School of Medicine. Many of the more clinically oriented and subspecialty journals, which are not held by Hamilton Library, are disbursed among the community hospital libraries which serve the medical school. Publications of the National Institutes of Health and other medically related government publications are available through Hamilton Library's Government Documents Collection.

The JABSOM Library Resource Center also provides service to the medical school students by housing a small collection of basic textbooks, periodicals and reference works.

III. GUIDELINES TO MATERIALS COLLECTED OR EXCLUDED

Language:

English language material predominates.

Chronological:

Acquisition emphasis is exclusively on current publications.

Geographic:

Not relevant.

Date of Publication:

Current.

Types/Formats of Materials Collected:

Emphasis is placed on purchase of basic standard medical textbooks in each of the subspecialty fields included in the curriculum. Also collected are: monographs on current research in the field; conference proceedings; handbooks and dictionaries; indexes, abstracts, and bibliographies (paper/electronic); periodicals, in microform if required, and electronic access, if available. Materials excluded from the collection are: manuscripts, reprints of articles from serials, house organs and newsletters, and non-UH dissertations.

Treatment:

bibliographical, applications, reference, statistical and mathematical materials, ethical, and reports on scientific experimental results.

IV. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Much of the corpus of knowledge for medical school students is contained in standard medical textbooks in each of the fields of medicine. Hamilton Library attempts to purchase current editions of many of these works and places them in the reference collection. Research materials in such fields as obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and psychiatry are used primarily by students in other health and social science programs, such as nursing, public health, social work, and psychology, not by the medical school students.

Date Compiled: 7/01 Compiler: Paul Wermager