Williams' Obstetrics. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. In case you don't already know it, these books have clout. In preparing for a medical case, have you ever wanted to know which are the most respected, authoritative textbooks within a particular medical specialty? Until a few years back, the "Brandon/Hill selected list of print books and journals for the small medical library" was where you could go. Respected and heavily relied upon by medical librarians since 1965, Brandon/Hill, which appeared every two years in the Journal of the American Library Association and its predecessors, was intended as a book selection guide for the small hospital library. It served as well to lead the attorney to the most authoritative textbooks in a medical library or to guide the large law firm in the purchase of books for its medical collection. Due to the death and retirement of its devoted librarian creators, it was announced in April 2004 that Brandon/Hill would be discontinued. Medical librarians mourned, but no one stepped in to fill the bill. Someone, however, saw that there was money to be made! Enter Doody's. The web-based Doody's Core Titles now lists recommended core titles and essential purchases in medicine, nursing, and allied health for small medical libraries. Produced through the joint efforts of medical specialists and librarians and updated yearly, Doody's is available for the annual subscription fee of $49.50. Not bad, but not free like Brandon/Hill.

Brandon/Hill lists were created not only for medical textbooks, but for nursing and allied health texts as well. Textbooks from these latter lists can be useful to attorneys not only for locating supportive literature in the nursing and allied health fields, but also for the purpose of getting a handle on a difficult medical subject, as nursing and allied health texts tend to be written in plain English, in contrast to some of those directed to physicians.

These final Brandon/Hill lists linked to the following citations, courtesy of the Medical Library Association and PubMed Central, still have considerable value, as they can lead you to newer editions of the old stalwarts. The nursing list, for which there is no link to the full-text, would be obtainable at a medical library or through a document delivery service.

Hill DR, Stickell, HN. Brandon/Hill selected list of print books and journals for the small medical library. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 2001 Apr; 89(2):131-53.

Hill DR, Stickell, HN. Brandon/Hill selected list of print nursing books and journals. Nursing Outlook 2002 May-Jun;50(3):100-13.

Hill DR, Stickell, HN. Brandon/Hill selected list of print books and journals in allied health. Journal of the Medical Library Association 2003 Jan;91(1):18-33.

An additional list that also might still be useful is:

Grodzinski A. A medical book collection for physician assistants. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 2001 Jul;89(3):277-86.