You Can Tell a Book by its Color, Part 1

Colors help to identify medical texts for students, residents, and practitioners. These useful texts are available at NLM® and other health sciences libraries, as well as at some public libraries. Some are online and freely available to everyone. You can find many of these in our collection, using our catalog, LocatorPlus (http://locatorplus.gov).

The Green Book. Its official title is the Graduate Medical Education Directory. The American Medical Association (AMA) publishes the book every year. Medical school students and residents find information about 9,000 residencies and fellowships in the Green Book.  It’s available at university libraries with health sciences majors and medical schools.

You can also go online to the AMA’s FREIDA site, at https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/user/viewProgramSearch.do to search for residencies, fellowships, and other training. You can search by specialty, sub-specialty, and state.

The Blue Book. This is The ICU Book by Paul L. Marino and Kenneth M. Sutin, published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. The phrase “Code Blue, ICU,” is a warning system heard in hospitals across the country. Purchasing the Third Edition (2007) gives you free access to a Web site featuring links to PubMed® references.

The Yellow Book. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates the online version throughout the year. The Yellow Book advises international travelers (health professionals and the general public) about health risks. You can search by country or disease. The book also includes maps. You can read it online or buy the hard copy.

The Orange Book. Its official name is Orange Book: Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations published by The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NLM has hard copies of older editions, at QV 772 A653. Today, NLM only receives the online version. Information you can search for includes:

• Date when the FDA approved a drug
• Drug manufacturer
• Drug patent information
• Drug active ingredients

The Plum Book. The full title is United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book) The Plum Book identifies presidentially appointed positions within the U.S. Federal Government, including health-related agencies. You can view the latest edition (2008) online or buy it. The chapter on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plumbook/2008/p65-76_healthservices.pdf.

This ends Part One.

Part Two will cover Pink, Red, Gold, and Silver Books.

QUESTION: Can you name other books better known by a color than by their real titles? Post the books’ names as comments.

Photo Credits: Genome.gov, CDC.gov

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January 4, 2012  Tags: blue book, books, colors, greenbook, orangebook, plumbook, yellowbook  Posted in: Collection Development, Colors

2 Responses to “You Can Tell a Book by its Color, Part 1”

1. NLMReferenceBlog says:

   January 12, 2012 at 11:28 am

   From: j harzbecker [mailto:jh1925@gmail.com]
   Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 8:22 AM
   To: Burke, Cynthia (NIH/NLM) [E]
   Subject: Re: REVISED: A new message from the ReferencePoint Blog Moderator

   Hello,

   Just “off the top of my head” I recall …the Redbook (a pediatrics and another drug information title); the greenbook (AMA residency directory). The bluebook (hospital directory).

   Thanks, Joe
   Joseph Harzbecker, MS(LS), MA, AHIP
   Head of Reference and Electronic Collections Management
   Boston University Medical Center
   Alumni Medical Library
   Boston, MA 02118

   harzbeck@bu.edu

   On Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 1:54 PM, ReferencePoint wrote:

   Part 2 of You Can Tell a Book by Its Color.

   Can you name other books better known by their colors than by their real titles? Post the names of the books as comments.
   • NLMReferenceBlog says:

     January 12, 2012 at 11:29 am

     Hi, Joseph:

     The Red Books were in Part 2. I don’t have this blue book listed. Thanks. I’ll add this conversation to the Blog. Cynthia

     Cynthia Burke
     Reference Librarian
     Reference & Web Services Section
     National Library of Medicine

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