Ten Years of Change: National Library of Medicine TOXMAP Gets a New Look

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) TOXNET® databases <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov> provide broad coverage of environmental health information covering a wide variety of topics, including access to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. The NLM web-based geographic information system (GIS), TOXMAP® <http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/>, provides interactive maps which show where TRI chemicals are released into the environment and links to TOXNET for information about these chemicals. TOXMAP also displays locations of Superfund sites on the EPA National Priority List, as well as information about the chemical contaminants at these sites. This column focuses on a new version of TOXMAP which brings it up to date with current web GIS technologies and user expectations.     

Environmental health and toxicology resources of the United States National Library of Medicine

For over 40 years, the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) has worked to organize and to provide access to an extensive array of environmental health and toxicology resources. During these years, the TEHIP program has evolved from a handful of databases developed primarily for researchers to a broad range of products and services that also serve industry, students, and the general public. TEHIP's resources include TOXNET , a collection of databases, including online handbooks, bibliographic references, information on the release of chemicals in the environment, and a chemical dictionary. TEHIP also produces several resources aimed towards the general public, such as the Household Products Database , which helps users explore chemicals often found in common household products, and Tox Town , an interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, health, and the environment. This paper introduces some of NLM's environmental health and toxicology resources.     

Selected resources for emergency and disaster preparedness and response from the United States National Library of Medicine

The Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) works to organize and provide access to a wide range of environmental health and toxicology resources. In recent years, the demand for, and availability of, information on health issues related to natural and man-made emergencies and disasters has increased. Recognizing that access to information is essential in disaster preparedness, a new focus of NLM's 2006-2016 Long Range Plan calls for the establishment of a Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC) that will aid in collecting, disseminating, and sharing information related to health and disasters. This paper introduces several of TEHIP's resources for emergency/disaster preparedness and response, such as the Radiation Event Medical Management Web site (REMM) and the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders (WISER) . Several of NLM's other disaster preparedness and response resources will also be reviewed.     

Toxic chemical release inventory information

As part of a U.S. government effort to inform the public about toxic or hazardous chemicals released into the environment, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are jointly producing the TRI (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory) databanks which consist of two separate files, TRI87 and TRI88. Both files reside on NLM's TOX-NET system. The files contain geographic information about reporting facilities and land, air, and water release data for approximately 300 listed chemicals.     

The power of information: The example of the u.s. toxics release inventory

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) was the first legislatively mandated database in the history of the United States government. It provides access to information on releases of toxic chemicals. Following a brief history of the database, this article describes how access to public data in the TRI has contributed to significant reductions in overall pollution and helped change the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from a strictly command-and-control regulatory body to one encouraging information-sharing and voluntary reductions. The article also discusses how the TRI has served as a model for integration of multiple sets of data to promote use and understanding of complex information. The article also describes how the database has served as a model for similar databases internationally.     

CPDB: Carcinogenic Potency Database

ABSTRACT

The Carcinogenic Potency Database reports analyses of animal cancer tests on 1,547 chemicals. These tests are used in support of cancer risk assessments for humans. Results are searchable and are made available via the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) TOXNET system. This column will provide background information on the database, as well as present search basics.     

The National Library of Medicine and the American medical information system: the physician's perspective.

During the past 150 years an excellent health sciences information system has been developed in the United States. Led by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the system grew along traditional lines until after World War II, when medical researchers, educators, and practitioners produced an enormous amount of new information. To cope with this growth, the power of computers joined traditional librarianship and MEDLARS was born. In 1965 Congress passed the Medical Library Assistance Act, which enabled NLM to lead the nation''s and the world''s health sciences professionals into the Information Age. Much as been accomplished by NLM, yet much remains to be done to make health information available cheaply, easily, and quickly to all who need it.     

Data Warehouse Integrates Toxic Inhalation Hazards and Hazardous Materials Information,GIS, and the Intranet

ABSTRACT

A data warehouse, developed for United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (USDOE/NNSA) Pantex Plant in a multi-department collaboration, brings data from disparate datasets and spatial information about the site together into a single database accessible through an intranet web page or ArcGIS software. The web page directs queries of buildings, facilities, and areas through a Geographic Information System (GIS) viewer that displays spatial site information and chemical hazards data. The Spatial Database Engine (ArcSDE) provides the vehicle for linking mainframe datasets, downloaded daily, to current spatial information about buildings and facilities that store chemicals of potential concern to firefighters and other emergency responders. The system is available to the plant's shift supervisors and individual GIS users throughout the department.     

The National Library of Medicine and the American medical information system: the physician's perspective

During the past 150 years an excellent health sciences information system has been developed in the United States. Led by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the system grew along traditional lines until after World War II, when medical researchers, educators, and practitioners produced an enormous amount of new information. To cope with this growth, the power of computers joined traditional librarianship and MEDLARS was born. In 1965 Congress passed the Medical Library Assistance Act, which enabled NLM to lead the nation's and the world's health sciences professionals into the Information Age. Much as been accomplished by NLM, yet much remains to be done to make health information available cheaply, easily, and quickly to all who need it.     

Knowledge and Utilization of the United States National Library of Medicine's Biomedical Information Products and Services Among African Health Sciences Librarians

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) has the largest collection of biomedical information products and services in the world. Little is known of the extent to which librarians in sub-Saharan Africa are aware of and use these resources. The study's aim was to assess knowledge and frequency of use of NLM's biomedical information products and services among African librarians. Forty-three of the 50 delegates at the 11th biannual Congress of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) participated in the study. The findings showed that participants' knowledge of NLM information products and services was low and that there is a need for increased awareness and training in the use of NLM's information products and services in order for users on the African continent to effectively benefit from them.     

Knowledge and utilization of the United States National Library of Medicine's biomedical information products and services among African health sciences librarians

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) has the largest collection of biomedical information products and services in the world. Little is known of the extent to which librarians in sub-Saharan Africa are aware of and use these resources. The study's aim was to assess knowledge and frequency of use of NLM's biomedical information products and services among African librarians. Forty-three of the 50 delegates at the 11th biannual Congress of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) participated in the study. The findings showed that participants' knowledge of NLM information products and services was low and that there is a need for increased awareness and training in the use of NLM's information products and services in order for users on the African continent to effectively benefit from them.     

基因库(GenBank)的电子邮件检索

基因库（GenBank）是由美国国立卫生研究院、美国国立医学图书馆以及美国国家生物技术信息中心建立发行的,所有已知核酸和蛋白质序列及其文献和生物学注释的公共数据库。可以通过WWW、FTP、E—mail获取其中的数据,本文主要介绍了查询服务器的检索方法。     

MEDLARS II: a review

The MEDLARS II effort, as it was developed until June 1971, is reviewed in terms of the overall planning process. How MEDLARS I was approached by NLM is discussed first and its objectives used for comparison. Certain technical, managerial, and intellectual aspects are outlined as types of problems encountered in designing MEDLARS II. While improvement upon the MEDLARS I seemed to be the main reason for planning a MEDLARS II, objectives became blurred and divergent as the project went along. The complexities of creating a central computerized data base of health sciences bibliographic information and library functional activities for nationwide use were underappreciated and remain a challenge to NLM.     

From MARC to BIBFRAME 2.0: Crosswalks

ABSTRACT

One of the big challenges facing academic libraries today is to increase the relevance of the libraries to their user communities. If the libraries can increase the visibility of their resources on the open web, it will increase the chances of the libraries to reach to their user communities via the user's first search experience. BIBFRAME and library Linked Data will enable libraries to publish their resources in a way that the Web understands, consume Linked Data to enrich their resources relevant to the libraries' user communities, and visualize networks across collections. However, one of the important steps for transitioning to BIBFRAME and library Linked Data involves crosswalks, mapping MARC fields and subfields across data models and performing necessary data reformatting to be in compliance with the specifications of the new model, which is currently BIBFRAME 2.0. This article looks into how the Library of Congress has mapped library bibliographic data from the MARC format to the BIBFRAME 2.0 model and vocabulary published and updated since April 2016, available from http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/docs/index.html based on the recently released conversion specifications and converter, developed by the Library of Congress with input from many community members. The BIBFRAME 2.0 standard and conversion tools will enable libraries to transform bibliographic data from MARC into BIBFRAME 2.0, which introduces a Linked Data model as the improved method of bibliographic control for the future, and make bibliographic information more useful within and beyond library communities.     

Old solutions in a new age: Cataloging and the future of access to government information

The availability of U.S. Government Printing Office bibliographic tapes for copy cataloging or for loading directly into online catalogs may have lulled documents librarians into believing that the problem of bibliographic control for documents collections has been solved. Others may believe that with the move to an electronic distribution system for United States government information, creating and loading bibliographic records for government publications into local library catalogs is becoming an anachronism. This article discusses the functions of cataloging in light of continuing needs and current developments in access to government information. Recommendations are made for ways that the library community, providers of government information, and automation specialists can work together to reexamine bibliographic standards, expand tape loading to non-U.S. depository documents collections, link useful bibliographic databases with library catalogs, and use cataloging of Internet resources to show relationships between physical collections and remotely accessible government information.