Some time ago (JAMA213:1890, 1970) an editorial titled "Questions Answered" lauded the QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS section of The Journal and the Department of Drugs for their services to readers. Overlooked was the AMA Library (properly, Archive-Library Department) which does more than its share of answering requests for references to the medical literature and questions about this and that.
Recently, Miriam, the Librarian, sent the following memorandum:
Very frequently—several calls and letters each week—the Archive-Library Department receives requests for information about meetings, societies, etc, information that is contained in JAMA REFERENCE DIRECTORIES. When this source is brought to the attention of the inquirer, he invariably expresses surprise and delight.
Users of JAMA need to be reminded of this and other sources of information in The Journal. Perhaps an item in AMAGRAMS or an editorial might be in order.
The writer of AMAGRAMS agreed that something should be done. However,