Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2006; 11: 34
Research on CAM is still in need of an evidence base in many fields. Because of the history of CAM, relevant literature on it is widely scattered, which is a major constriction (e.g. for systematic reviews). With respect to a growing demand for bibliographical and full-text versions of articles, we decided to build up a special library for CAM, which centrally collects literature of all fields of CAM.
In a first step relevant stocks of the Medical Library at Herdecke Community Hospital and Witten/Herdecke University Library were merged and the legacies of several institutes were screened for relevance. Newly published books from all fields of CAM were also screened for the completion of our inventory. In addition, we also closed several gaps in our CAM-related journals.
Currently the library encompasses a range of 1348 CAM-related books (41.3% anthroposophical medicine, 20.6% homoeopathy, 10.7% acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, 9.3% general CAM, 6.4% phytotherapy and herbs). This is complemented with 40 CAM-related journals and periodicals. Because of the need for an efficient service on literature, a document-delivery service is currently being established which will be able to be accessed via CAMbase (www.cambase.de) within the next few months.
Because of the heterogenity of CAM literature, the growth of this project currently needs the help of research institutions, publishers and institutions related to CAM.
CAMLib is funded by a consortium of anthroposophically oriented funders and pharmaceutical companies. We also thank the publisher of CAM for their cooperation.
