RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
Bibliographic databases contain bibliographic information on computer about
publications or articles in periodicals, including the author, title, publisher and
price. They use keywords (selected words or phrases) to describe the content.
Some include abstracts (summaries of contents). Others include the full text of
articles. Many bibliographic databases are available on CD-ROM, the Internet
or on-line information services. Bibliographic databases containing details of
materials on health and development include African HealthLine, African Index
Medicus, CAB Health, Extramed, Source, Medline, and POPLINE.
Example of a bibliographic database record
Acquisitions bulletins are regular publications that contain details of materials
added to a resource centre collection during a particular period. They can be
used to find out what has been acquired by other resource centres, and to help
identify materials for the collection. The resource centre can either subscribe to
an acquisitions bulletin or, if it produces one, it can arrange to receive others in
exchange.
Book reviews and abstracts (summaries) in newsletters, magazines and journals
can help to assess whether a material will be useful. They often comment on the
material, as well as describing the contents. It can be useful to photocopy and
file reviews to help select materials. Reviews can also be circulated to users.
Sources of information for articles in newsletters, magazines and journals are
often listed at the end of the article. They can be used to identify materials for
the collection. However, the materials listed are usually not new, and are more
useful for building up a collection in a new subject area than updating an
existing subject area.
SECTION 4: DEVELOPING THE COLLECTION
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