Affinity Library Blogs

Did you know … The Affinity Libraries maintain two blogs with new messages posted regularly. A blog is like an online diary or journal with the latest entry listed first. We use it for announcements, news, and featured resources.

What’s New at Affinity Libraries?
Most of these posts are published in The Weekly Employee Newsletter. An easy way to find a past article, or post, is to use the “Search This Blog” Feature. All prior library posts are listed and available back to 2005 in the Blog Archive.

New Books at Affinity Libraries
We post three new books every week—usually consumer health-related for the widest appeal.

You can stay current with Affinity Library News by visiting our blogs and signing up for email notifications. By signing up, you will receive an email message with each new post.


You can also add them to your Google Reader. What’s this?

PDR Pros & Cons

One of my fellow Librarians in Florida created a helpful little PowerPoint Presentation to illustrate the pros and cons of the PDR, that heavy drug book people always ask for.

Physicians’ Desk Reference : Pros and Cons (ppt) * by Patti Reynolds, MLIS
(Affinity Access only)

Ms. Reynolds presents some surprising facts you probably didn’t know about the PDR, and why it is usually NOT the best available source for drug information. She also offers several alternatives for quality drug information.

For starters, try the following on the Affinity Libraries Intranet site (Affinity Access only) :

Find Drug Information for Health Professionals

Drug Information for Patients and Families


* Used by permission. Edited to reflect Affinity Drug Resources.

Featured Database of the Month: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database

In April we are featuring the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.

Affinity’s newest database offering, this resource was suggested by medical and nursing staff and provides high quality information for professional staff and patients.

• Objective and thorough enough for medical professionals yet presented in a way that is accessible to patients.


• Search for information on various natural medicines, including effectiveness, individual ingredients (sugh as Ginkgo Biloba extract), and drug interactions.


• The database provides information about how the various sections are created and describes the criteria used to rate each product's safety and effectiveness.


• Researchers update the database daily, so the information is current.


• For those who wish to see the studies cited in the articles, direct links to the study abstracts are provided.

Access the National Medicines Comprehensive Database via the Library webpage. It is listed alphabetically on the right under the “Most Popular Links” heading. Please be sure to logout when you are finished.