For OLR Reports and other materials related to the Public Health Committee’s work, index headings include:
Abortion
AIDS
Ambulances
Chiropractic
Cremations
Dairy Products
Death
Dentistry
Diseases
Drinking Water
Drugs
Drug Abuse and Control
Fluoridation
Food Products
Food Products – Labeling
Funerals
Health
Health Care Facilities
Health Code
Health Services Administration
Heart Disease and Hypertension Benefits
Home Care Services
Hospitals
Juveniles-Pregnancy
Lead Poisoning
Malpractice
Marijuana
Medical Care
Medical Research
Mental Health Facilities
Medical Personnel
Nursing
Nursing Homes
Nutrition
Patients’ Rights
Pharmacies and Pharmacists
Physicians
Physician Assistants
Poison
Smoking
Toxic Substances
The library assigns topical index headings to all OLR Reports and keeps hard copies of the reports organized by these index headings. Reports from 1994 to the present are in the library’s file cabinets (aka the “vertical files”) in the red-tabbed folders, as well as online in full text. Older reports are in two sets of bound volumes (one set for the 1970s, and one for 1980-1993) on the library’s shelves.
The same index headings the library uses for OLR Reports have been used to organize over 600 subject files of materials such as newspaper clippings, court decisions, press releases, pamphlets, and other resources that would be more difficult to locate if they were dispersed throughout the library’s general collection. The subject files are in the blue-tabbed folders in the file cabinets. (Many of the items in these folders have also been digitized by the library, and their electronic versions can be found in the library’s intranet catalog.)