It must be my week to fume about things that we pay for and don't need
or use, but I found a new one and wanted some input from other users.

I was updating my titles for online access list and noticed all of the
access to the Yearbooks titles that we get through MD Consult.  We have
had problems with Serials Solutions listing us as having access to
titles that we do no have (titles in the MD Consult specialty
collections), so I was testing title by title for access to titles in MD
Consult's special collections.  I tried to force hits from the Yearbooks
and realized that there is no option for force access to the Yearbooks.
So, I telephoned MD Consult.  The technical support person said that
since Yearbooks are collections of abstracts, the link to the Yearbook
citation is from the bibliographic citation in MD Consult to the
original article.  Hmm, I thought.  I need to try this to see what
happens.  I did have a couple of Yearbooks on hand.  I was working from
the Yearbook of Digestive Disease, 1996.  I randomly picked 6 articles
from the Yearbook and individually input them into the "journal search"
box.  I pulled up the citations.  Of the 6, only 3 had links to the
Yearbook record.  I called MD Consult and they replicated my experience
and are checking with their editorial department to find out the
problem.

Again, this smacks of paying for something that is practically unusable
in the first place--and then not even getting what you are paying for.
Am I the only one bothered by this?  Has anyone else tried this...or
does anyone else even care about the Yearbooks  (which do provide their
own editorial content!)?



Pat Herndon, MLIS
Medical Librarian
Gwinnett Health System
1000 Medical Center Boulevard
Lawrenceville, GA  30045
(678)442-3665
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