A core electronic medical library in a rural setting: update.

In rural areas an electronic medical library is one of the most effective ways of staying abreast of advances in clinical medicine. A health care provider's educational needs for staying current are best met by a combination of CD-based textbooks and an inexpensive on-line database. Since publication of this review last year, several beneficial changes have occurred. In general, they are: greater availability of fast data transmission rates, wider selection of databases to choose from, both on-line and off-line, the feasibility of obtaining toll-free access numbers in selected instances, and the elimination of daytime higher connect rates. This update discusses some of these changes.