CD-ROM: an on-ramp to the information superhighway

Medical Laboratory Observer, Jan, 1995 by Seth L. Haber

* Finding disks. CD-ROMs are available at most software outlets or directly from the manufacturers. Figure 1 is a list of compact disk sources and their telephone numbers. Their catalogs list most of the CD-ROMs available for the popular market, including encyclopedias, fonts, clip art, and photographs. All of these sources include many introductory and closeout packages of disks. Such bargains are not necessarily the latest versions of the software but are sold at impressively low package prices.

* Your own pace. The main advantage that purchasing your own CD-ROMs has over accessing one or more of the on-line services is that you own the disks. You can then access them at your own pace without hearing the clock or meter ticking in your head while you peruse an on-line database. Leisurely, serendipitous searches are fun and rewarding. Use your CD-ROM properly, and many of your colleagues will soon come to realize that pathology and lab medicine are the real sources of light and knowledge in your medical center.

Figure 1

Sources for CD-ROMs

Disk outlets

* CD-ROM Warehouse (800) 237-6623

* MacWarehouse (800) 255-6227

* MicroWarehouse (800) 367-7080

* Tiger Software (800) 666-2562 for Mac; (800) 888-4437 for DOS

* Computerware (800) 326-0092

* Continuing Medical Education Associates (800) 227-CMEA

* Educorp (800) 843-9497 * MacConnection (800) 800-3333

* The Mac Zone (800) 248-0800

Disk manufacturers

* Aries Systems Corp. (209) 635-1717

* Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (202) 782-2666

* Scientific American Medicine (800) 545-0554

* SilverPlatter (800) 343-0064

Seth L. Haber, M.D., FCAP is chief of the department of pathology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Santa Clara, Calif., and clinical professor of pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He won the MLO Award for Excellence in Communications for Outstanding Contributed Article in 1981 and again in 1985.