- Acquisitions
- Cataloging Tools, Documentation
- Catalogs, Authority Records
- Classification
- Cooperative Cataloging Programs
- General, Descriptive Cataloging
- Products for Purchase
- Professional Activities
- Publications, Reports
- Subject Headings
Subscribe
Receive an e-mail when a new issue of the Library of Congress Cataloging Newsline is available.
Collection Policy Statement Index
Contents
I. Scope
II. General Policy
III. Exceptions
I. Scope
This statement addresses the Library's collections classed in R (medicine). Numerous abstracting and indexing services, catalogs of other medical libraries, specialized bibliographies and finding aids for medicine are classed in Z.
II. General Policy
The Library of Congress attempts to acquire for its permanent collections books, serials, pictorial materials, audiovisual and other library materials which contribute to a knowledge of the social, economic, historical, political and legal aspects of medicine worldwide. These materials are received, for the most part, through copyright deposit and the Library's Cataloging in Publication program. These collections support the needs of Congress, the responsibility of the Congressional Research Service to assist Congress and the mandate of the Science, Technology and Business Division to provide reference services to government agencies, the scientific, academic and library communities, as well as to the general public. For areas of cooperation with the National Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library, see also Joint Collection Development Policy Statements on AIDS/HIV, Biotechnology, Human Nutrition and Veterinary Medicine. It might also be useful to refer to the Collection Development Manual of the National Library of Medicine (3rd edition, 1993) and the Collection Development Policy of the National Agricultural Library, available online at http://www.nal.usda.gov/about/policy/coll_dev_toc.shtml
III. Exceptions
The Library defers to the National Library of Medicine in the area of clinical medicine and does not acquire the professional literature of clinical practice addressed primarily to professional practitioners. The Library of Congress also does not generally acquire examination review guides in the health and medical sciences which serve as aids in preparing for entrance or board certification examinations, since NLM collects standard U.S. works of this type. Some works in clinical medicine are, however, selected as reference materials, and exceptions are also made to support the needs of Congress and other Library constituencies. Additionally, the use of the term clinical in a title does not preclude selection, as the text may be more technical than clinical.
English-language copyright deposits not selected for the Library of Congress are made available to the National Library of Medicine. NLM is also provided with a sample issue of new serial titles not wanted by the Library of Congress if the titles are not already listed in NLM's catalog.
The collection policy on medicine does not exclude the acquisition of selected materials for their bibliographic interest or their relationship to other materials in the Library's collections or acquisition of works for temporary use.
April 2002
