The MLA's Master Guide grew out of a suggestion during a meeting of the MLA Books Panel, where it was suggested as a resource for collection development for the new programs, as well as for filling in gaps in existing collections. Since the essential guide to health sciences collections, Brandon/Hill Selected List of Print Books and Journals for the Small Medical Library ceased publication in 2003 after 38 years and 20 editions, librarians have been asking for an update to the List. The Master Guide is meant to fulfil that purpose by expanding the Brandon/Hill lists and including digital and online publications.
Although this 2011 Master Guide consists of 2,011 annotated titles filling 660 pages, it can hardly be called comprehensive. This is because every discipline had to be limited to ten most important monographs and up to ten journals in print and/or electronic format. Titles were selected on the basis of their quality and their importance to health care professionals to assist them in their practice, study, teaching and research.
Over 100 contributors were selected based on their knowledge and expertise in every specialty. The majority are librarians; several of them are working for health-related professional associations and societies. Other librarians are from university medical centers, universities, hospitals, research institutes and the National Institutes of Health and National Library of Medicine. It is an impressive list of experts, many with several advanced degrees.
The contributors used variety of tools to assist with selection of titles and their evaluation, e.g. Doody's Core Titles (2010), Journal Citation Reports (2009), previous Brandon/Hill lists, the Hague List (an international alternative to Brandon/Hill) and other bibliographies. The selection and annotations were provided by contributors, but the final decision for inclusion rested with the editors, who all have had long distinguished careers as health sciences librarians and scholars.
The Master Guide is arranged by health occupation (by Medline trees) in 34 chapters (e.g. Allied Health, Hospital Administration, Optometry, Veterinary Medicine, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology, Ethics). Each discipline is defined by the NLM's Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) when available. Other definitions come from Stedman's Medical Dictionary (28th edition). Each section includes general works related to the discipline, as well as works related to more specialized topics. Each entry contains full bibliographic information, an evaluative annotation describing the scope and coverage of the work and also designation for the type of a library that may benefit from having the title in its collection. Most of the titles are appropriate for academic medical libraries, some also for hospital or consumer health collections. Websites are given when available. The Master Guide also includes indices of monographs, journals, databases and electronic resources, and biographical notes on the editors.
According to the editors, the companion online version of the Master Guide will be updated regularly (but this has not happened as of July 2013). Although the Guide is rather costly at $375, I cannot overemphasize its usefulness for collection development in any institution dealing with health sciences.
