MCHLine® and the Mary C. Egan Maternal and Child Health Library
MCHLine® is a database listing materials held in the Mary C. Egan Maternal and
Child Health Library. An MCHLine® record contains
a bibliographic citation, the name of a contact from whom the item
may be obtained, and
an annotation describing the item. MCHLine® may be searched by author, title, publisher, publication date, series, and subject terms
(keywords). Search tips, thesaurus of indexing
terms, and annotated
bibliographies on popular topics are available.
The Mary C. Egan Maternal and Child Health Library is part of the library
system of Georgetown University,
and it contains more than 20,000 items on a wide range of maternal and
child health (MCH) topics. Most of these items are cataloged in MCHLine®,
although some special collections are not yet included. MCHLine® is used for responding to requests for information and for preparing annotated
bibliographies and publications.
Begun as a collection of physical materials, the Mary C. Egan Library expanded into a largely digital collection by increasing its collection of materials in digital formats and by creating digital versions of significant MCH resources. It is now called the MCH Digital Library.
The MCH Digital Library's unique and hard-to-find resources have been developed
by:
- The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)
- Other federal agencies involved in MCH-related activities
- State and local MCH programs
- MCHB Grantees
- Voluntary and professional organizations
The MCH topics covered by the items contained in the MCH Digital Library include
- Maternal, infant, child, and adolescent health
- Oral health
- Nutrition and physical activity
- Violence and injury prevention
- Children with special health care needs
- MCH programs and services
Library holdings include
- Books and reports: Policy and planning documents, program analyses, research and training reports, and other maternal and child health items. Many of these items document federal and state initiatives to improve the health of mothers and children.
- Historic materials: Reports of the U.S. Children's Bureau from as early as 1914; microfilm of Children's Bureau documentary sources from the National Archives (300 reels); the William McConway Hiscock Collection on the federal Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment program; and papers from notable individuals from MCHB and its predecessors including Mary C. Egan, Alice Chenowith, Rudy Hormuth, Vince Hutchins and Peter van Dyck.
- Title V reports: Annual reports and state plans documenting activities of state MCH agencies under Title V of the Social Security Act.
The MCH Digital Library collects consumer
health materials and commercially published materials very selectively
and does not collect materials on clinical medicine. The MCH Digital Library Collection Development Policy (2018) guides the collection of materials
for the MCH Digital Library.