As all of my regular readers may know, I am now the head librarian in a small community hospital. Previously I had been a librarian at a large research hospital. So there are a few things I am still learning about small hospital libraries, one of which is the National Library Alliance.

Our community hospital library has access to StatRef! through the National Library Alliance. The National Library Alliance is a group of small hospitals, nursing schools, physician groups and public libraries working together to bring affordable electronic delivery of medical textbooks to patrons.

Membership in the National Library Alliance allows for small hospital libraries, public libraries and certain nursing schools and physician groups to afford electronic medical textbooks.

They are just in their 2nd year of existence, and it appears that StatRef! is their only vendor for online medical books, but they are continuing attract new members. Their goal is to continue to grow and attract more resources and vendors. Currently they serve over 10,000 users in over 22 states. According to their website, a subscription is between $750-$1750 depending on hospital bed size and length of subscription.

Here is a sampling of the current titles:

Evidence Based Medicine from the ACP - (2004)
5 Minute Emergency Medicine Consult - (2003)
A Nurses Guide to Cancer Care (2000)
AHFS Drug Information - (2004)
American Joint Committee of Cancer Staging Handbook (2002)
Brunner and Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing (2004)
Delmar's Fundamental and Advanced Nursing Skills (2004)
Delmar's Guide to Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests (2002)
Davis's Drug Guide For Nurses (2003)
Dictionary of Medical Acronyms & Abbreviations (2001)
Diseases and Disorders: A Nursing Therapeutics Manual (2002)
DSM-IV-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000)
Family Medicine - Principles and Practices - (2003)
Geriatric Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach (2003)
Griffith's 5 Minute Clinical Consult (2004)
Guide to Culturally Competent Health Care - (2005)
Holland Frei Cancer Medicine - (2003)
ICU Book (1998)
Infectious Diseases: The Clinician's Guide (2003)
Internal Medicine - Stein - (1998)
Merck Manual of Diagnosis & Therapy (1999)
Mosby's Drug Consult (2004)
Natural Standard - (2004)
Nurses Pocket Guide - (2004)
Nursing Diagnosis in Psychiatric Nursing - (2004)
Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual (2004)
Pediatric Nursing: Caring for their Children and Families - (2002)
Red Book - (2003)
Stedman's Medical Dictionary (2000)
Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (2001)

Unfortunately, McGraw Hill titles are unavailable in StatRef! through the Alliance, as they (McGraw Hill) demanded StatRef! no longer offer the their titles to the Alliance. But as you can see there are a number of quality non-McGraw Hill medical textbooks available.


For more information contact:
National Library Alliance
1207 Berkley Manor Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
Phone: 412-310-0780
Fax: 877-722-7329
Email: wbrown@nationallibraryalliance.com