As a group, the medical libraries appear to embrace new electronic revolution and are able to find funds to finance it, but appear determined to achieve better archiving and licensing terms as a price for their continuing support. The idea of university self publishing is not really viewed as a serious threat to medical publishers, but some librarians hope that it will create some leverage.

New York, New York December 1, 2003--Primary Research Group has published Creating the Digital Medical Library (ISBN# 1-57440-061-4). Major medical libraries interviewed and profiled in the report include: the Medical College of Georgia, the University of Georgia, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, the Mayo Clinic, Columbia University, Vanderbilt University, the Virtual Naval Hospital, and the University of Toronto, among others.

The report contains extensive discussions exploring medical library use of search engines, the web, cataloging systems, online services, CD-ROM, document delivery services, electronic and print journals, books and other information vehicles. The report also looks at the impact of virtual reference, greater demands for information literacy, pressure to redesign medical library websites, the politics of obtaining special funding for database procurement, and other pressing issues related to the development of digital medical libraries, especially among research universities.