Spring of Healthcare: Beginning the Research (Local Library)

I took a trip to my local library today. Nashville has recently constructed a huge new library downtown, and it's spectacular, but I couldn't get there. I went to the local branch here in Bellevue.

Here are the resources my local library has on healthcare policy:

Health Care Choices For Today's Consumer, edited by Marc S. Miller, Ph. D.

Published in 1997 by Families USA Foundation and John Wiley & Sons, this book is step above Health Care Choices for Dummies. At first glance, it's written in simple language, but appears to be very informative. It's recommended by the Library Journal as "essential for every consumer." It might be dated now.

The U.S. Health Care Crisis by Victoria Sherrow

Published in 1994 by Millbrook Press, as a part of their Issue and Debate series. It's aimed at high school readers, and was written during the Clinton health care wars. Sherrow has made a career of the high school summary market, so I'd say the book is quality.

Health Care: Opposing Viewpoints, edited by James D. Torr

Published in 2000 by Greenhaven Press, part of their Opposing Viewpoints series. It's a collection of essays from all sides of the debate, with dialogue questions at the beginning of each article. It's clearly intended for the high school range, like the Sherrow book.

Those books are on my desk right now. Two other books are in the Bellevue Library's reference section:

Health Nashville and Davidson County, 2002

A huge report from Nashville's Metro Public Health Department, covering all manner of health statistics from the Nashville area. I only glanced through it, because the report promised that I can download it from the website. So far, I'm having trouble accessing the Nashville government ftp site.

What To Do When You Can't Afford Healthcare, by Matthew Lesko

This is the same guy in a yellow suit with green question marks who hawks his government giveaway book on TV. This is a monstrous compendium of institutes and government offices dedicated to every conceivable permutation of good and bad health out there.

Now that's not all that are in the Metro system. I hit the online card catalog and have several more books working their way toward the Bellevue hold shelf.

(Never underestimate the power of your local library, my friends. In my online searches (to be reported on later), I discovered a fantastic book called Understanding Health Policy. It's a college level textbook, and I do hope to get my grubbies on a copy this spring. Though the Metro system didn't have the book, they took my request that they purchase one right then and there. You can do the same at your local branch. Librarians respond to the needs their patrons express, and as John Ashcroft has learned, you don't mess with librarians. They're hella serious about both the freedom of public information and the barrier against private information, and they don't suffer fools gladly.)

So the local selection is small but compact. I'll tackle the two high school books tonight. They should be informative enough to formulate a gameplan for research into the major issues.