The title of this database, Biomedical Reference Collection (BRC), is something of a misnomer. This product package from EBSCO provides full‐text access to more than 700 journals in medicine and allied health, rather than biomedical reference materials as the library profession traditionally defines them. The list includes periodicals on general topics, such as Nursing, as well as some with narrower focus, such as Indoor Air and Diseases of the Esophagus. Some of the materials available via BRC are widely available, while others are harder to obtain through usual channels. BRC provides three to five years of access to the majority of its journals; a few have significantly longer runs.
BRC’s interface is reasonably attractive, and customization options include linking to an institution’s home page and incorporating its logo. Bright green and blue tabs differentiate the search and choose database functions; buttons below these tabs allow users to choose which fields to search. However, clicking on these buttons sometimes produces a browse screen rather than a search screen, or some combination; also, the basic and advanced search options are not always different without customization, and this can be confusing. The interface’s many handy functions are organized in a rather confusing way, and a different organizational scheme might cut down on the exploration time required of a new user. However, the customizable features will be particularly useful for an organization where branding is important, or one that offers this product to remote users.
As of the time of review, BRC includes 754 full text journals, of which 700 are peer‐reviewed (a comprehensive current list is available at: www.epnet.com/TitleLists/pdf/by.pdf) Users can access these journals in a number of ways: by keyword searching (which searches the title, authors’ names, journal title, and abstract), by browsing subjects, or by browsing publications by title. When keyword searching, users can use field codes, such as AU for author or TI for title, to specify which fields they want to search. The list of these codes is only available on the Advanced Search screen, although the codes themselves work from the Basic Search screen as well. Unfortunately, users who are unused to working with even a limited command‐line may be confused by the field codes; check boxes might be a useful addition here. The browsing screens are similar to one another and to most Web‐based databases; they are easy to use and include the ability to jump to any part of the alphabet.
Although I was initially confused by the lack of MeSH indexing in the BRC article database, this database has its own very specific subject taxonomy, which includes names of reviewed books and individuals as subjects. If users wish to use MeSH headings and their institutions subscribe to EBSCO’s version of MEDLINE, they can combine searching this with searching BRC. EBSCO offers a MEDLINE interface with links to the full text of articles contained in BRC; PubMed would be a somewhat awkward workaround for users at institutions without EBSCO’s MEDLINE. A choice of taxonomy or a combination of the two would make subject research easier, but EBSCO’s taxonomy alone is acceptable.
This product will be most useful to biomedical libraries whose users would benefit from full‐text access to journals from Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica to Nature to Hospitals & Health Networks. The BRC interface does not support the research process for library users as much as it could, but its full‐text content may be valuable enough to justify its inclusion in a medical or science library.
