82 · Representative Documents: Collection Development Policies
National Library of Medicine
Collection Development Policy. Images and Archives Section
Collection Development Policy—Images and Archives -4 -
c. Genetic engineering.
3. Health Policy.
There are enough “official” voices for health policy. I’d like to see us focus on the
“unofficial” voices, that is, those of advocacy groups and outliers, especially when
these records are unlikely to survive otherwise.
a. Non-government voices in health care policy debates (Lear report).
b. HMOs (Lear report).
4. Public Health.
Our focus to a great extent in the Prints and Photographs collections and
significantly in the Historical Audiovisuals collections is on public health education
materials. This focus should continue, supplemented by the papers of those in public
health leadership, especially when these records are not otherwise likely to survive.
a. Public health and the media. Posters and cards, public service
announcements, public health films, Surgeon-General activities.
b. Public health leadership (Cornely).
5. Health Workers and Patients
This area is relatively light in our collections, although some documentation exists,
especially in the records of the National League of Nursing. Yet in the twentieth
century the changes have been dramatic in the lives of health care workers and in the
relationship between those workers and their patients. This area represents a
relatively new but potentially very rich focus for collecting.
a. The experience of primary care givers (Lear report).
b. Women and minorities in the health professions. National League of
Nursing. ACNM.
c. Alternative and complementary medicine.
6. Traditionally Marginalized Groups in Health and Medicine.
Our collection development policy should focus on documenting the experiences of
women and minorities, not just as health care workers, but also as biomedical
researchers, as inventors, and as figures in the development of medical and public
health policy.
In other areas of traditional strengths, we will remain passive collectors, that is, collecting
when the opportunity presents itself.
1. Military Medicine
National Library of Medicine
Collection Development Policy. Images and Archives Section
Collection Development Policy—Images and Archives -4 -
c. Genetic engineering.
3. Health Policy.
There are enough “official” voices for health policy. I’d like to see us focus on the
“unofficial” voices, that is, those of advocacy groups and outliers, especially when
these records are unlikely to survive otherwise.
a. Non-government voices in health care policy debates (Lear report).
b. HMOs (Lear report).
4. Public Health.
Our focus to a great extent in the Prints and Photographs collections and
significantly in the Historical Audiovisuals collections is on public health education
materials. This focus should continue, supplemented by the papers of those in public
health leadership, especially when these records are not otherwise likely to survive.
a. Public health and the media. Posters and cards, public service
announcements, public health films, Surgeon-General activities.
b. Public health leadership (Cornely).
5. Health Workers and Patients
This area is relatively light in our collections, although some documentation exists,
especially in the records of the National League of Nursing. Yet in the twentieth
century the changes have been dramatic in the lives of health care workers and in the
relationship between those workers and their patients. This area represents a
relatively new but potentially very rich focus for collecting.
a. The experience of primary care givers (Lear report).
b. Women and minorities in the health professions. National League of
Nursing. ACNM.
c. Alternative and complementary medicine.
6. Traditionally Marginalized Groups in Health and Medicine.
Our collection development policy should focus on documenting the experiences of
women and minorities, not just as health care workers, but also as biomedical
researchers, as inventors, and as figures in the development of medical and public
health policy.
In other areas of traditional strengths, we will remain passive collectors, that is, collecting
when the opportunity presents itself.
1. Military Medicine
