Drug information resources were observed in 50 community pharmacies in a large midwestern metropolitan city. References found in chain and independently owned pharmacies were compared. A complete set of current required references, as defined by state law, was found in 32% (8/25) of the chain pharmacies and 64% (16) of the independent pharmacies, (p = 0.0475). Of the required sources observed in this study, drug interaction texts were found most frequently and poisoning/toxicology references were cited the least. The independent pharmacies maintained a wider variety of references compared to the chain stores (18 v 14). The majority of journals observed in the community setting were management oriented and only three independent pharmacies maintained major biomedical journals. Pharmacists in both chain and independent settings should further develop their libraries in order to maximize their role as drug information providers.
