Should the size or growth of a medical library be restricted? / by Charles Perry Fisher.

  • Fisher, Charles Perry, 1857-1940.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Should the size or growth of a medical library be restricted? / by Charles Perry Fisher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    •‘rr ^ , [Reprinted from:MEDicAL LibraIix and/glpoRiCAL Journal, ■{.•■i * kireh, SHOULD THE SIZE OR GROWTH OF A MEDICAL LIBRARY BE RESTRICTED? By Charles Perry Fisher, Librarian, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. TiHE title of this paper is a question that has, in some form or other, been presented for consideration, officially or unofficially, to the committees of all large medical libraries and, sooner or later, will be brought to the attention of the smaller libraries as they increase in size and demand more room for their books. For this reason I have brought the subject before the Association, believing that if freely discussed, and the discussions printed in full in our Pro- ceedings, the result will be of service for future reference. There are several points from which to view this question: 1st. That every medical library should endeavor to make its collection as complete as possible in everything pertaining to medicine and the closely allied sciences; from the incunabula and classics to the most recent publications; every edition of a book, when it is truly an edition and not merely a change of date on the title page, should be retained, and every effort made to have complete files of all journals, transactions, reports and other periodical literature. All the pamphlets and reprints should also be retained and classified by subjects and bound in volumes, when a sufficient number on a single subject to form a volume, have been obtained. 2d. Would it be well to make it our object and aim, and give our assistance in building up a large medical library, as complete as possible, in such cities, and at such points, as would make the books available to the greatest number of physicians. Say, for example, in New Orleans, St. Louis, Washington, Cincinnati or Indianapolis, New York or Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco? 3d. Is it sufficient for this country that we have, in the Library of the Surgeon General’s Office at Washington, the largest and most complete collection of medical literature in the world? Should other libraries devote their energies and the funds at