Doody’s Core Titles

Doody’s Core Titles, the essential collection development tool for health science libraries, represents the collective wisdom of over 200 medical librarians and content experts on the “must-have” titles in 121 health science specialties.

Every year, with the oversight of Doody Enterprises, content specialists and librarians select the book or software titles that represent essential knowledge for library collections that serve health care professionals. Librarian Selectors rate these titles on key collection development criteria and identify essential purchase recommendations for a health science library.

Doody’s Core Titles is the respected successor to the Brandon/Hill Selected Lists, which served as the collection development guide for hospital libraries for 40 years until it ceased publication in 2004. Later that year, with the input of numerous librarians, health science professionals, medical book wholesalers and Doody’s Library Board of Advisors, the first web publication of Doody’s Core Titles in the Health Sciences was introduced.

Doody’s Core Titles is available in two versions — Basic and Premium.While DCT Basic is the full title list, with individual scores and Essential Purchase recommendations in 121 specialties, DCT Premium includes all of the DCT Basic features plus full review and star ratings of any titles reviewed in Doody’s Review Service — usually more than 1,000 expert reviews.

In September 2019, Dan Doody presented a webinar at a meeting of librarians in Southeast Asia coordinated by Ovid. He talked about the DCT selection process and what it’s like to serve as a Librarian Selector. A recording of the webinar is available here; proceed to timestamp 6:20 to learn more.