Abstract â–¡ 36

For the past two decades the National SIDS Council of Australia has been actively collecting and collating as much scientific research on the sudden infant death syndrome as possible. During this time the collection has grown exponentially and its accessibility has evolved in order to serve potential clients better.

Currently (December 1998) there are over 2,000 documents held in the ASOC collection. They constitute journal articles, research reports, conference proceedings, letters to the editor, media releases and other published and unpublished material. The topics addressed in these papers include immunisation, paediatric pathology,

SIDS, surfactant, brainstem disorders, thermal environment, sleeping positions, meteorological factors and many other subject areas. People who use this valuable resource include students (of medicine, health education, midwifery, journalism, etc), concerned members of the public (often parents and other carers), researchers, staff of SIDS organisations and workers from various fields.

While the collection itself is held in one location, the catalogue can be searched on the World Wide Web. This enables people from anywhere in the world to take a look at the database at their convenience. We have roughly 80 hits each month through the National SIDS Council of Australia web site (http://www.sidsaustralia.org.au).

This poster provides examples of the kinds of reference enquiries received and how ASOC has provided information and responses through the librarian.