Search results

Although the Public Health Service has identified AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) as the number one priority among public health concerns in the United States, and the Surgeon General has issued an official report calling for AIDS education initiatives to be instituted in a variety of settings throughout this country, many libraries have been slow to develop proactive means of supplying educational material on AIDS. As part of an overall AIDS education initiative, libraries stand to play a significant role through the production and/or distribution of information on AIDS, through the development of collections capable of satisfying the informational and educational needs of patrons and through the provision of reference and referral services that provide effective information delivery as it pertains to inquiries regarding the subject of AIDS.

The body of literature on AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) has increased so dramatically over the past six years that it may now easily overwhelm the student or researcher embarking on a search of the literature. The nature and scope of the literature varies, and, due to developments in research, epidemiology, and so on, the literature is being continuously updated and superceded by new discoveries and additional perspectives. Moreover, since AIDS is a multifaceted phenomenon, most of the literature, with the exception of the biomedical literature, tends to treat several facets simultaneously. It is not unusual, for example, to retrieve an article containing information on incidence, demographics, costs, and policy statements; or to find another that addresses public opinion, moral issues, and AIDS education in the schools. The newness of AIDS, coupled with the newness of research and reaction to AIDS, means that a number of facets are often treated in a single article so that as much related information as possible can be passed on to the reader.

The quantity and scope of the information that has materialized so far on the subject of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) has increased significantly since the first case of the syndrome in the United States was diagnosed in 1981. Initially, information could be found only in a few articles in the medical periodical literature or in a few newspapers. Gradually, more information appeared in health care, allied health, and other professional journals and periodicals. As the incidence of the syndrome increased, more newspapers and the mass market magazines and the electronic media began covering the syndrome, and both health care professionals and the general public found themselves presented with a steady stream of information, research, and education on the subject of AIDS.

We all know that the AIDS threat to society is alarming. It is not only a serious health problem but it has become a problem of education and information as well. By the end of 1991, AIDS is predicted to be the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. More people will die from AIDS than from cancers or accidents; and the direct health cost for caring for the estimated 145,000 AIDS patients in 1991 will be between 8 and 16 million dollars.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

In the literature of librarianship, the education of a reference librarian has, on the whole, meant two things. First, it has referred to the theoretical and/or practical training in reference services that a student receives in library school. Second, it has meant the training, or lack of it, the new librarian receives in making the transition from library school to the reference desk. What reference education has not meant, to judge by the literature, is the ongoing training or professional development a working reference librarian might receive on the job.

The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with orientation to library facilities and services, instruction in the use of information resources, and research and computer skills related to retrieving and using information. The thirteenth annual such review in Reference Services Review, the article covers items in English published in 1986. A few items are without annotations because the compiler was unable to secure copies of them for this review.

This index accompanies the index that appeared in Reference Services Review 16:4 (1988). As noted in the introduction to that index, the articles in RSR that deal with specific reference titles can be grouped into two categories: those that review specific titles (to a maximum of three) and those that review titles pertinent to a specific subject or discipline. The index in RSR 16:4 covered the first category; it indexed, by title, all titles that had been reviewed in the “Reference Serials” and the “Landmarks of Reference” columns, as well as selected titles from the “Indexes and Indexers,” “Government Publications,” and “Special Feature” columns of the journal.

Based upon a presentation by Martha Cornog, presented as part of a pre‐conference, “When Sex is the Question: Who Asks? Who Answers?” sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, American Library Association Annual Conference, June 25–July 2, 1992, San Francisco.

The winter 1987 issue of Reference Services Review featured a bibliography of AIDS‐related materials prepared by Edmund SantaVicca, former head of Collection Management Services at Cleveland State University.