Harvard Style

Last week, I had a question (via an Expos preceptor and on behalf of his colleague at a university in Mexico) about the origins of the "Harvard Style."  It shows up as a formatting option in many databases (EBSCOhost comes immediately to mind) and students seeing it there have sometimes asked me what it is.

Here's an article that should help, should the question ever come your way:

Chernin, Eli (1988). "The 'Harvard system': a mystery dispelled", British Medical Journal. October 22, 1988, pp. 1062–1063.

The style probably did have its origins at the university, thanks to an MCZ professor in the late 19th century.

It's also not as obscure as I've sometimes thought.  Outside the U.S. it seems to be pretty widely-known (and recommended).

Deb has put this information together nicely, for future reference, in the Ask a Librarian knowledge base.