Library Resources of the Pharmaceutical Industry GERTRUDE
BLOOMER
Downloaded by UNIV OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO on December 28, 2015 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: January 1, 1956 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1956-0016.ch009
The Wm. S. Merrell Co., Cincinnati 15, Ohio
To meet the increasing information needs of management, and to make fullest use of the increasing amount of printed materials, pharmaceutical librarians have developed some spe cial resources. These are described. Several services which are particularly helpful in the identication of pharmaceutical preparations are likewise mentioned. A high degree of co operation among pharmaceutical librarians has facilitated the interchange of ideas and materials in this industry.
T h e phenomenal growth of the pharmaceutical industry into a billion-dollar busi ness has been both the cause and effect of the research which has been carried on not only i n the industry's laboratories, but also i n its libraries. I n this highly com petitive field where the miracle drug of today is supplanted next week by a still more miraculous drug, the use of current literature and the most up-to-date sources of information has become of prime importance. On the other hand, the volume of literature has increased to such an extent that i t is a growing problem for the phar maceutical l i b r a r i a n to keep up w i t h the pace of publication and to filter out those items which are of greatest significance to the organization. The most important asset of any l i b r a r y is, of course, its collection of books and journals. A basic list of books for a pharmaceutical l i b r a r y collection has been prepared by Lowe (4). A list of journals would include the important chemical, medical, biological, and pharmacy titles, as well as a wide representation of journals in specialized and general science. Pharmaceutical librarians have developed some special resources to a i d them i n making the most of their book and journal collec tions. One of the most outstanding of these resources is Unlisted Drugs, which is pub lished monthly by the Pharmaceutical Section, Science-Technology Division, Special L i b r a r i e s Association (9). A s its title indicates, this publication bridges the i n evitable gap between the mention of a new drug i n the literature or its appearance on the market, and its official inclusion i n the drug encyclopedias, pharmacopoeias and formularies, and other sources of drug information. F o r each compound listed, Unlisted Drugs gives the composition, name of manufacturer, the purpose for which the drug is intended (that is, its action), the dosage (when this information is avail able), and at least one reference to the source of these data. Unlisted Drugs is the only known service which lists drugs systematically by their experimental numbers as soon as they are reported i n scientific journals. If one wishes to find out some information about, for example, a compound which is known only as 278 R-255, Unlisted Drugs w i l l disclose that the compound is 2-[p-chloro-
