LIBRARY
History of Medicine
A guide to finding information
Useful information and links:
 Your Subject Librarian for History of Medicine and History is Katie Hambrook.
Please contact her by email, khambrook@brookes.ac.uk telephone, 01865 483146, or at the
office on Level 3 of the Headington Library for help and advice.
 Library web site: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/
 Library pages for History of Medicine: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed.html
 Library pages for History: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/history.html
Contents:
Finding books in the Library
Useful shelfmarks
Electronic Books
Encyclopaedias, dictionaries
Journals, newspapers and databases
Web sites
Citing and managing your references
Writing a dissertation
Researchers and staff
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Finding books in the Library
Library Catalogue
The Library Catalogue lists all the items held at the three sites that make up Oxford Brookes University
Library. Most stock of relevance to the historian will be at the Headington Library. The Catalogue is
available from the Library web site, on dedicated pcs in each library, and directly from anywhere at:
http://capitadiscovery.co.uk/brookes/
Searching the Library Catalogue
Type your search query into the Catalogue search box eg, author, book title, topic. You can refine your
search by selecting an option from the left hand menu of the results screen. The Catalogue will tell you:
 If the book is available to borrow or out on loan. If it is on loan you will see a due back date
 The item’s shelfmark - where to find it on the shelves. If an item is in Short Loan (where key items
from your reading lists may be put), this is located on Level 1 near the Welcome Desk.
 Select the reserve option next to a book title to reserve items which are on loan or at other sites.
Select ‘My loans and reservations’ to check what you have on loan and to renew items (subject to certain
conditions). You can also see the status of any reservations you have made and view a history of all the
books you have borrowed.
WWW.BROOKES.AC.UK/LIBRARY
Useful shelfmarks
The Library Catalogue provides the shelfmark for each book. This is the number used to arrange materials
on the shelves. You will find material related to history of medicine and history in different areas of the Library.
Some relevant shelfmarks for history include:
301
Sociology (general)
301.41
Gender (see also 302.3)
301.44
Social class (see also 305.5)
305.8
Race/ethnicity
320.5
Political ideology
320.9
Nationalism
320.9
Political history
330.9
Economic history
361.61
Social policy
362.0941
British social policy
362.10941
Health services / Medicine and society
509
History of science
610.73096
History of nursing
610.9
History of medicine
900
History (general)
907.2
Historiography
940
European history
941
British history
943
German history
973
American history
Electronic Books
The Library provides access to an increasing number of electronic books which are available on and off
campus, including history titles from your reading lists. These are listed on the Library Catalogue with a link
to the whole book available online. Below the book title it will say eBook. Click on the book title and then
the blue link to access the book. You will need to log in using your student number and password.
The Library also subscribes to historic ebook collections – available online via the History of medicine
library web pages at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed/subdbmed.html. Individual books from these
collections are not listed on the Catalogue.
Historical Texts (previously JISC Historic Books) contains:
Early English Books Online (EEBO) - digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in Britain
and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700.
Eighteenth century collections online (ECCO) - digital images of every page of 150,000 books published
during the 18th century. Includes material relevant for history, literature, religion, fine arts.
Over 65,000 19th century books.
Early European Books, a comprehensive digitised collection of works printed in Europe between 14501700, based on the holdings of a variety of major European libraries.
Encyclopaedias, dictionaries, biographies
These are useful starting points for looking up unfamiliar terms or finding explanations of a subject. They are
listed on the Library Catalogue, eg a search for, dictionary history, will provide details of a range of titles. A
number of dictionaries are also available electronically from anywhere - below the book title it will say eBook.
Oxford dictionary of national biography – provides detailed information about people who have shaped the
history of the British Isles, also themed articles on aspects of British history. It is available online via the
History of medicine library web pages at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed/subdbmed.html.
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Journals, newspapers and databases
Journals
Journals provide a valuable source of information on current and past developments. The Library has a wide
range of journals in both print and electronic format. The Library Catalogue provides details of all our print
journals and the majority of our electronic journals. To find a particular journal, search for the journal title (not
the article title or author) on the Catalogue. If you can’t find the journal, check the library’s list of e-journals,
which provides details and access: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/ejnls.html
Finding journal articles for a topic
The Library catalogue lists journal titles but it does not list journal articles. The best way of finding articles on a
chosen topic is to use a database which provides information from a range of sources.
Databases
Databases are services, available electronically, which can help you to trace journal articles and other
publications relevant to your chosen topic. Databases may cover a specific subject area or a range of subjects.
They mainly provide information about journal articles but can also include details of books, book reviews and
reports. There are also newspaper databases, historic ebook collections, image and multimedia databases. A
full list of databases relevant to History of Medicine is available at
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed/subdbmed.html
When you search a database you will be presented with a list of references which match your search word/s.
Each reference will provide brief details, eg a journal article reference will contain details of the author, article
title, journal title, volume and year. Most databases provide abstracts (summaries) of articles. Many databases
also contain full text articles (the whole article).
You can access databases from any of the university PCs and the majority are also available off campus
(password needed). Details of and access to all the library’s databases and electronic resources, including
password information, are available from the library web pages at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/
Key databases for History of Medicine- view a complete list at:
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed/subdbmed.html
 Web of Science – includes a wide range of key journals for history of medicine
 Pubmed (includes Medline) - biomedical information, useful for history of medicine
Other useful databases include:
 Academic Search Complete - a multi-disciplinary database with over 5,000 full text journals
 JSTOR - archive of full-text articles from a range of academic journals including history
 Historical Abstracts – a history database for most history topics
 Sociological Abstracts - subject coverage includes: welfare, women's studies, history of sociology,
health and medicine and law.
Newspapers
A number of newspapers and newspaper collections are available electronically from the 17th century to the
present. Full details are available at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed/subdbmed.html
These full text collections include The Times, The Guardian, Nineteenth century British Library newspapers
and Seventeenth-eighteenth century Burney Collection newspapers.
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Discover
Discover is a new Library service designed to help you find – in one search – resources within and beyond our
libraries. Discover contains books, e-books, journal articles, databases, conference papers as well as
teaching, learning and research materials from RADAR, our Research Archive and Digital Asset Repository.
More information about using Discover is available here: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/discover.html
Web Sites
There are a large number of history of medicine resources freely available on the Web. A selection of good
quality resources are available from the Library at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/histmed/subnetmed.html
 Wellcome Library: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/ collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and
pictures on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day
Citing and managing your references
The Library Web pages at http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/skill/skill1d.html give tips on listing (citing) the
information sources used in your work. Check with your tutor for the referencing style for your course.
EndNote enables you to collect, store and manage references in your own personal ‘Library’. You can also
use EndNote with Word to insert references and create bibliographies. There is a desktop version available
on the Oxford Brookes network, and a Web version freely available to all Brookes staff and students. For
more information, including training, see our webpages: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/endnote
Writing a dissertation
The Library has a range of textbooks on writing dissertations, most are shelved at 808.066 or 378.1702812.
For a good general guide to researching historical topics see:
Abbott, M. (ed) History skills: a student’s handbook. 2009, at 907.1141 HIS. Also available as an eBook.
You may come across material that you need which is not held in the Library. Our Interlibrary Loan Service
can get hold of items on your behalf for which there is a charge. Ask at the Help Zone or consult the library
web pages at: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/lending/obtain.html
Dissertation-level undergraduate students, postgraduates, researchers and staff are entitled to join Oxford
University’s Bodleian Library. Ask at the Help Zone for further details and a form.
Researchers and staff
The Library web pages provide a range of information specifically for researchers, available at
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/library/researchers.html These pages provide details of training sessions, relevant
electronic resources and tools for keeping up to date with current and past research developments. You are
welcome to contact the History Librarian to discuss your own information needs and course needs.
In addition to the variety of subject specific information and electronic resources there are also a range of
multi-disciplinary databases which are very useful for keeping up to date with current research. They are all
available via the Library Web Site:
Web of Science - combined database of the 3 Citation Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index; Social
Science Citation Index; Science Citation Index. Abstracts included for many records.
Zetoc - covers about 20,000 current journals and conference proceedings in science, technology, medicine,
engineering, business, law, finance and the humanities. Updated daily.
Index to Theses – provides details of British theses written since 1716.
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