Super Searchers on Health and Medicine: The Online Secrets of Top Health and Medical Researchers

Citation

Cullen, R. (2001), "Super Searchers on Health and Medicine: The Online Secrets of Top Health and Medical Researchers", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 131-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.2.131.7

Since Reva Basch’s popular original Supersearchers volume, five more volumes have been published on searching information in law, business, journalism, investment and health, each one edited by a leading practitioner in the field. Each follows the same format. The expert interviewer probes the specialist skills of a group of expert searchers. Each interview is transcribed, edited and followed by the particular contributor’s Super Searcher Power Tips. It is a format that can be both brilliant and banal. Much of the information is pretty basic, but there are also some useful new tips. And even basic knowledge needs reinforcement from time to time, refreshing the practice of busy practitioners.

A bonus of the series is its informal approach to some fairly heavy subject‐matter – the tone and content of the volumes are much more attractive and accessible for extracurricular reading than a formal textbook, and for anyone with a bit of experience behind them there is an enjoyable sense of sharing expertise, and being in the company of one’s peers. This more than compensates for the rather unstructured, unsystematic approach, but it makes the series more suitable for practitioners with some experience than for learners.

In this volume on health and medical information the ten searchers interviewed come from a variety of environments: biomedical libraries, public and environmental health, research institutes and information brokers. They are librarians, physicians and consultants, and bring a range of experience to bear on their task of identifying and providing focused, relevant information for their clients. As Detwiler points out in her introduction, these are dedicated searchers focused on the quality of the information they provide. Their sources are primarily the standard health sciences databases – MEDLINE, EMBASE and BIOSIS, and CINAHL for allied and nursing health literature, although the need to go beyond these is emphasised by the searchers. The issue of Evidence Based Medicine is not overlooked, but its place in the clinical setting rather than the research setting is emphasised. The role of complementary and alternative medicine is touched on, and the place of the Web in finding essential medical and health information is also covered, especially when it comes to epidemiological and statistical information from government agencies and research institutions. The Web, it turns out, is also useful for new terminology that has not yet made it into the more formal literature, and for free downloads of journal articles; but all contributors emphasise the great care that is needed in selecting and evaluating resources on the Web, even more than in other subject areas. MEDLINE still rules supreme for so much health and medical information, and total familiarity with it in all formats is essential. Ovid is the preferred search format, but PubMed is useful for updates of prepublication material.

The book is complemented by a list of medical search engines and other relevant Web portals, a brief glossary and simple index. Like others in the series it is not so much a systematic manual as a confirmation of what one is getting right, a refresher for pointers overlooked, and a source of new insights on effective searching in this complex field. It is well worth purchasing by medical searchers and reference librarians, and of interest to library educators.