Press Release

June 14, 2006
Contact: Tom Capezzuto
(973) 972-3000
capezzta@umdnj.edu

UMDNJ Libraries Launch New Web Site
for History of Medicine in New Jersey

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Libraries has created a new web site that provides access to health statistics and a compendium of published medical reports from 1877 to 2000.

The new site, www.umdnj.edu/librweb/speccoll/njhs , is the first complete electronic compendium of all documented annual reports and state health statistics available online, according to Judy Cohn, University Librarian and Associate Vice President for Scholarly Information.

The compendium was created by Drs. Mark Fulcomer, a retired former director at the Center for Health Statistics for the State of New Jersey, and Marcia Sass, an assistant professor in Health Systems and Policy Division at UMDNJ-New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness in New Brunswick.  They collaborated on the creation of scanned electronic data files to all 141 volumes of the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services annual reports and health statistics.  

The collaboration between Drs. Fulcomer and Sass and the UMDNJ-University Libraries created the distribution channel necessary to make this information accessible to researchers in New Jersey, the United States and worldwide, noted Cohn.

"This is a valuable resource to assist public health professionals track health statistics and origins of initial medical research conducted by physicians in the state," said Cohn.  "Drs. Fulcomer and Sass’ respective combined teaching and research motivated them to track and digitize these extensive reports, which document New Jersey’s state of health over a 120-year period," she noted.

The electronic files contain 1.6 gigbytes of information on historic New Jersey public health issues.  The portable document format (PDF) files are reproduced in black and white, with color graphics as included in the original printed reports.  Although the files are not searchable, volumes 1-92 (1877-1969) are indexed and provide subject access to a wide array of health and disease topics, events, and organizations documenting New Jersey’s state of health, Cohn said.  

Examples of topics covered include the impact of the flu pandemic of 1918 on New Jerseyans, concerns over tobacco use among New Jersey youngsters in 1892 and a probe into hygienic conditions of factory life in 1878.  The complete electronic file covers a 123-year period.

The new web site includes an introductory essay providing organizational background, an overview, sample texts and graphics, the PDF data files with annotations, a bibliography of source data in a variety of formats and author biographies.  Future plans include cataloging the web guide in the University’s online catalog and providing additional access points through the catalog citations of the Libraries’ hard copy holdings.

UMDNJ is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state’s three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses.  Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford.  UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level One Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.