Selected list of books and journals for the small medical library

The potential for the hospital library as an accepted patient-focused module is viewed in terms of both the present and the future--or no future--in the introduction to this revised recommended list of 606 books and 143 journals. Predecessors of this list have been intended as selection guides for a small or medium-size library in a hospital or comparable medical facility. Due to rapidly rising prices, the secondary purpose--a basic collection for a consortium of hospital libraries or a network sharing library resources--may eventually become its primary use. Books and journals are categorized by subject; the book list is followed by an author/editor index, and the subject list of journals by an alphabetical title listing. For the first time, a "minimal core collection" consisting of 85 books has been broken out from the 200 asterisked initial purchase books. To purchase the entire collection of books and to pay for the 1993 subscriptions would require about $87,000; the cost of only the asterisked books and journals totals $34,800. The "minimal core list" of books costs $11,600.