Exporting the American (information) revolution: the international impact of the National Library of Medicine.

The National Library of Medicine has had an enormous impact on health information services all over the world. Although NLM is primarily a national institution, it has become an important international resource by responding to requests from the international community. NLM has been influential in three major ways. First, NLM has provided a model for other national and regional health information services. Second, it has been a catalyst, in that MEDLARS and other services it provides formed the nucleus of many regional networks. NLM helped such networks get started by giving advice on how to set up services and build collections and by "training the trainers" on the MEDLARS system. Third, NLM has supported national and regional operations by providing the additional training and materials needed for day-to-day service.     

International programs of the National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a broad mission in biomedical information service. There are three major reasons for NLM, as a national institution, having an international program: first, the global nature of disease; second, the international scope of medical literature; and third, the universal goal of better communication. This paper reviews NLM's programs in relation to international medical information exchange: International MEDLARS Centers, collaboration with WHO and PAHO, NLM Special Foreign Currency Program, and development of the NLM collection.     

The National Library of Medicine: from MEDLARS to the sesquicentennial and beyond

The two decades since the introduction of MEDLARS and the passage of the Medical Library Assistance Act have been especially eventful in the history of the National Library of Medicine. The library's collections and services have grown to keep pace with the expanding health sciences literature and the needs of health professionals. Networking has emerged as an invaluable method for disseminating biomedical information. NLM has assumed new responsibilities for information services in toxicology, pharmacology, and environmental health, and for research and development in biomedical communications. Research now being carried out by NLM has the potential for enhancing the library's archival programs and for improving information dissemination in support of health sciences research, education, and practice.     

The National Library of Medicine: from MEDLARS to the sesquicentennial and beyond.

The two decades since the introduction of MEDLARS and the passage of the Medical Library Assistance Act have been especially eventful in the history of the National Library of Medicine. The library''s collections and services have grown to keep pace with the expanding health sciences literature and the needs of health professionals. Networking has emerged as an invaluable method for disseminating biomedical information. NLM has assumed new responsibilities for information services in toxicology, pharmacology, and environmental health, and for research and development in biomedical communications. Research now being carried out by NLM has the potential for enhancing the library''s archival programs and for improving information dissemination in support of health sciences research, education, and practice.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

AIDS information from the National Library of Medicine

As part of a U.S government effort to combat AIDS, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) is expanding its information services in this area. In response to the Health Omnibus Program Extension Act of 1988, NLM has expanded its AIDS Bibliography, enhanced its DIRLINE file with AIDS-related organizations, and developed three new online MEDLARS (Medical Literature Retrieval and Analysis System) databases: AIDSLINE, AIDSTRIALS, and AIDSDRUGS. NLM's AIDS-related programs and services are discussed.     

The MEDLARS project at the UCLA Biomedical Library

The National Library of Medicine has established at the Biomedical Library, UCLA, a remote MEDLARS search station. The agreement between the libraries provided that the Biomedical Library in cooperation with the UCLA Health Sciences Computing Facility would reprogram MEDLARS for the IBM 7094 computer, provide personnel to be trained in machine searching at NLM, and engage in a pilot demonstration of search service to the medical staff of UCLA. This paper describes the place of the search section in the organization of the Biomedical Library and the training of personnel at NLM (the article by Garvis in this issue of the Bulletin relates the problems encountered in making two different computer systems compatible). Search service had not begun when this paper was written; it was scheduled to begin late in 1965. Plans for the future include the enlargement of the UCLA MEDLARS staff and extension of search service to a larger geographical area.     

The Medical Library Assistance Act: an analysis of the NLM extramural programs, 1965-1970

The imbalance between medical library resources and information needs of the health professional led to a reexamination of the mandate for the National Library of Medicine. Legislation known as the Medical Library Assistance Act (MLAA) was passed in 1965 which enabled the NLM to (1) initiate programs to assist the nation's medical libraries and (2) develop a medical library network with the establishment of regional medical libraries to link the NLM with local institutions.The National Library of Medicine, through the MLAA, has made available $40.8 million to the medical library community under a competitive grant and contract mechanism for the period July 1965-June 1970. A total of 604 projects has been executed in resources, research and development, training, construction, regional medical libraries, publications, and special scientific projects. An assessment is given of each of these programs and their impact on both the National Library of Medicine and individual medical libraries. In the aggregate, these programs have significantly improved library and information services to the professional health user. The principal limitation has been inadequate funding to accomplish the level of originally stated objectives.     

The Regional Medical Library Grant Program of the National Library of Medicine

Recognizing the utility of a regional medical library system in improving the availability of existing and future medical library resources in the country, the Congress included provisions for the support of such a system in the Medical Library Assistance Act. Grants will be made to major medical libraries which have the potential to provide supportive services to other libraries within a geographic area encompassing a major fraction of the nation's health professional manpower. Approximately ten of these regional libraries will receive these grants. Support for the system and consequently the extension of the services of the system will of necessity by implemented in a stepwise fashion. The central function of a regional medical library is to provide back-stopping interlibrary loan service and also to provide access to MEDLARS services for the region. Additional services for the region will include traditional reference service, training, surveillance of regional needs, announcement services, support for programs of continuing education for the health professions, and certain central technical processing for the region.     

Access to Information in the Nordic Countries

This article concentrates on the national services and databases in the Nordic countries. The availability of information via networks is the main discussion topic. The Nordic libraries have a long tradition of cooperation. The basic idea at present is to make the national information of each country available to all users within Scandinavia, to create a "Union Nordic Library." The necessary qualifications for that kind of co-operation are very good: the development of the national systems is in process or already operational at a high technical level; the Nordic research networks are connected to each other and to international networks; the data itself is in standardized form and very well covers the recent publications.     

Serving our colleagues: reference and history of medicine services from the National Library of Medicine

Most biomedical librarians are frequent users of the major online services provided by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. These services include MEDLINE/PubMed, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed Central, document delivery, and other key biomedical resources. This article highlights less well-known services from reference, to historical information, to training and other services which librarians may not be aware the NLM offers to them. NLM encourages librarians to consider that NLM's unique and unsurpassed collection can help when local resources may be too limited to serve the needs of their patrons. doi:10.1300/J115v26n01_07.     

Public library consumer health information pilot project: results of a National Library of Medicine evaluation

In October 1998, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) launched a pilot project to learn about the role of public libraries in providing health information to the public and to generate information that would assist NLM and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) in learning how best to work with public libraries in the future. Three regional medical libraries (RMLs), eight resource libraries, and forty-one public libraries or library systems from nine states and the District of Columbia were selected for participation. The pilot project included an evaluation component that was carried out in parallel with project implementation. The evaluation ran through September 1999. The results of the evaluation indicated that participating public librarians were enthusiastic about the training and information materials provided as part of the project and that many public libraries used the materials and conducted their own outreach to local communities and groups. Most libraries applied the modest funds to purchase additional Internet-accessible computers and/or upgrade their health-reference materials. However, few of the participating public libraries had health information centers (although health information was perceived as a top-ten or top-five topic of interest to patrons). Also, the project generated only minimal usage of NLM's consumer health database, known as MEDLINEplus, from the premises of the monitored libraries (patron usage from home or office locations was not tracked). The evaluation results suggested a balanced follow-up by NLM and the NN/LM, with a few carefully selected national activities, complemented by a package of targeted activities that, as of January 2000, are being planned, developed, or implemented. The results also highlighted the importance of building an evaluation component into projects like this one from the outset, to assure that objectives were met and that evaluative information was available on a timely basis, as was the case here.     

(1) Recent developments

Abstract

This paper identifies the different types of health science libraries located in various organizations engaged in research, education and training, administration and programme implementation relating to health and family welfare. These medical libraries have been grouped into four categories namely research, academic, medical and hospital, based on the functions of the organization/institution to which they are attached. Based on an all India survey, the resources, such as documents, manpower, finances and equipment of 248 health science libraries belonging to the allopathy system (modern medicine) have been examined. Basic library services, such as reference, current awareness, bibliography, MEDLARS/MEDLINE, abstracting/indexing, and photocopying have been studied. The information collected on various indices relating to medical library resources have been analysed and presented, indicating their strengths and weaknesses. The survey indicated a significant imbalance among the resources held and services rendered. Some measures for the improvement of the existing resources, services and their utilization have been suggested.     

Health science libraries in India—Their resources and services

This paper identifies the different types of health science libraries located in various organizations engaged in research, education and training, administration and programme implementation relating to health and family welfare. These medical libraries have been grouped into four categories namely research, academic, medical and hospital, based on the functions of the organization/institution to which they are attached. Based on an all India survey, the resources, such as documents, manpower, finances and equipment of 248 health science libraries belonging to the allopathy system (modern medicine) have been examined. Basic library services, such as reference, current awareness, bibliography, MEDLARS/MEDLINE, abstracting/indexing, and photocopying have been studied. The information collected on various indices relating to medical library resources have been analysed and presented, indicating their strengths and weaknesses. The survey indicated a significant imbalance among the resources held and services rendered. Some measures for the improvement of the existing resources, services and their utilization have been suggested.     

The recurring bibliographies program of MEDLARS

Recurring bibliographies are by-products of the MEDLARS system which are prepared by the National Library of Medicine in collaboration with nonprofit scientific and professional societies and institutions and government agencies that represent a specialty area of biomedical research or practice. The sponsor generally assumes responsibility for the costs of publication and distribution. At present MEDLARS has a planned capacity of fifty such recurring bibliographies. The subject parameters and format are defined by the representatives of the sponsoring organization and the NLM Search, MeSH, and Index staffs. As citations are regularly put into the MEDLARS store, each one that qualifies for a recurring bibliography is identified and tagged by the computer with the number assigned to the pertinent RB. The MEDLARS store is searched for citations for a particular recurring bibliography according to the schedule specified by the sponsoring organization, and the output is printed from a GRACE tape.     

The National Library of Medicine's services: initial observations on indexing, interlibrary loan, and reference

How have the three services-indexing, reference (including history of medicine), and interlibrary loan-been provided throughout the years by NLM, and how have they been used? At the present time of great growth and development, the use of the computer has influenced these services and will continue to figure prominently in plans for the future. NLM's services often have not been well or correctly used by its public, even by librarians. Some of its services, however, need to be provided in more depth and on a higher scale, and they should be publicized more widely. History shows that NLM has been faithful to its basic charge and has gone far beyond it in its service to the medical, educational, and library communities. Medical librarians are most fortunate that such a great national resource exists to provide materials and services to fulfill the needs of their libraries.     

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.