Evaluating Currency of the Medical Sciences Collection Available on Public Library Shelves.

Because advances in medical science can lead to rapid changes in current health knowledge, a library collection of medical science materials can become dated rather quickly. This factor, as well as the many variables of library use and operation which impact the availability of current materials on the library shelves--loan periods, weeding habits, book display, and others--make assessment of the available collection an important task. To test a model that would provide information about the currency of the medical science collection available on the browsing shelves of a small to medium-sized public library, books in six subject classes within the medical science collection of the Parma-Snow Library, a branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library (Ohio), were examined for date of publication over a period of 4 weeks. Approximately 43% of the titles examined in this period were found to be greater than 5 years old. Additionally, only 2% of the sample was published within the past year. This type of finding, determined by using very simple techniques requiring a minimum of staff time and resources, provides a collection manager with valuable information about the status of the browsing collection and signals areas of the collection which need attention to assure that current information is available to the browsing patron. (A copy of the data analysis worksheet and a 23-item bibliography are included as well as 21 end notes.) (Author/MAB)