Grey Literature: Public Health Research, Hot Off The Press

The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) Library is the only publisher of an award-winning Grey Literature Collection on public health. Initially started in 1999 to support its own researchers, today there are 1200 subscribers who receive a monthly report providing material not "published" through normal distribution channels. Currently there are over 300 participating institutions including, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Commonwealth Fund and the Urban Institute who provide the material that makes up the Grey Literature Collection. The Collection received the 2008 prestigious Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences.

The Grey Literature Collection is a collection of materials not "published" through normal distribution channels.

The materials collected are based on NYAM’s area of focus on health policy, public health infrastructure, and prevention of disease. Subscribers are able to keep track of current policy guidelines, state commission reports, statistical tables, and advocacy group studies. Materials collected include case studies, conference proceedings, discussion papers, fact sheets, government documents, issue briefs, research reports, statistical reports, and white papers. For over 161 years, NYAM has been a conduit of information, helping keep people in cities healthy.

In an effort to grow distribution, Kaiser EDU.org and the NYAM Library have joined in partnership to create a monthly selection of material to be posted on KaiserEDU.org. "Healthy Policy Picks" is designed to provide students, faculty and others interested in health policy access to information.

The NYAM Library was founded in 1847 with the gift of a three-volume set of Dr. Martyn Paine’s Medical and Physiological Commentaries. Originally conceived of as a resource for its own Fellows, the Library opened its doors to the general public in October of 1878, by which time the collection had grown to contain over 6,000 volumes and numerous journal titles. As the Library expanded, a combination of generous donations and thoughtful purchases, such as gift of 23,000 volumes from the Society of the New York Hospital in 1898 and the purchase of the Edward Clark Streeter Collection of medical high spots in 1926, contributed to the Library’s standing as one of the great collections on the history of medicine in the United States. Like many large libraries, however, the NYAM Library has had to confront issues of space and a lack of optimal environmental conditions for the storage and maintenance of these important materials. In 2006, the Library contracted with the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts for a Preservation Needs Assessment funded by the NEH. The Library and the NYAM administration took the recommendations and priorities set forth in the 2006 Preservation Needs Assessment Report very seriously and plans were made to seek out the information and funding needed to implement them.

The Library was recently awarded a Save America’s Treasures grant, “to conserve significant U.S. cultural and historic treasures, which illustrate, interpret and are associated with the great events, ideas, and individuals that contribute to our nation’s history and culture.” The NYAM Library was awarded $500,000 to help improve the environmental conditions of the Library’s collection. Much of the year ahead will be dedicated to preparation for and upgrading of these environmental conditions and reorganizing the collections.

Started in 2009, the NYAM Library will focus on the development of an urban health resource within its Grey Literature project that will support NYAM’s research interests ; strengthen and promote its world-class special collections through preservation, digitization and new programming; emphasize the utilization of new technologies; and improve its web-based content delivery. The prioritizing of directions allows the Library to develop a deeper expertise within its chosen portfolio of services and a more disciplined approach to program management assuring the delivery of quality services to its users.

Subscribe here to the Grey Literature Report. Appointments for visiting the library may be scheduled by calling 212-822-7315 or emailing library@nyam.org.

Posted on May 1, 2009

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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