The impact of IAIMS at Georgetown: strategies and outcomes.

Integration of multiple information systems of a medical center will change the way physicians work and practice medicine in the future. Several major steps must be taken by an institution to make this a reality. Since 1983, Georgetown has been engaged in an Integrated Academic Information Management System (IAIMS) project to bring together multiple sources of information that reside on different computers and database systems. Georgetown is developing a Biotechnology and Biomedical Knowledge Network that includes informational and clinical databases, scholar workstations, instruction on computer use, a campuswide network with local area network nodes, and a modular approach to systems integration. The IAIMS project, spearheaded by the medical library, has enabled a broad spectrum of health professionals to benefit directly from new, dynamic information services. The network is heavily used; in 1991, more than 2,100 individual users conducted more than 148,500 computer functions and more than 104,000 searches. There is economy of scale in high-volume use. Overall, the average search cost is $1.57; for high use databases the cost is $0.38, and for low use, it is $9.41. As described in this paper, IAIMS offers a cost-effective means of enhancing patient care by improving information services to physicians. At Georgetown, IAIMS has advanced the concept of integration, accelerated use of computers in education, increased user acceptance of advanced technologies, and established cost factors for providing information resources. While progress made in improving the transfer of medical information is impressive, it is clear that IAIMS requires several more years of support to achieve full implementation.     

The mini MEDLINE SYSTEM: a library-based end-user search system

The mini MEDLINE SYSTEM, a user-friendly search system developed in 1981 at the Georgetown University Medical Center, has been operational since 1982. The system is designed to meet the immediate educational and clinical information needs of students, residents, and faculty. This article focuses on system planning and design, database creation through "downloading," hardware adaptation, and system use. The database is a subset of the NLM's MEDLINE file; it includes over 180,000 citations to articles indexed in over 160 journals from 1982 to the present. With only a few keystrokes in a two-step process it allows users to conduct bibliographic searches. The system is being replicated at eight other medical libraries.     

Building bridges: LIS-IAIMS-BioSYNTHESIS.

Recent progress in library automation and networking is redefining the library's traditional role. The Georgetown University Medical Center Library, developer of the Library Information System (LIS), has been involved in automation for nearly a decade, and was one of the first institutions to receive an NLMIAMS grant. The two projects have evolved together. New LIS modules, such as Document Delivery and the ALERTS/CURRENT CONTENTS Search System, have been designed in a reciprocal LIS/IAIMS environment. BioSYNTHESIS, a current IAIMS research project, is a prototype information tool for tomorrow.     

The Georgetown University Library Information System (LIS): a minicomputer-based integrated library system

Georgetown University's Library Information System (LIS), an integrated library system designed and implemented at the Dahlgren Memorial Library, is broadly described from an administrative point of view. LIS' functional components consist of eight "user-friendly" modules: catalog, circulation, serials, bibliographic management (including Mini-MEDLINE), acquisitions, accounting, networking, and computer-assisted instruction. This article touches on emerging library services, user education, and computer information services, which are also changing the role of staff librarians. The computer's networking capability brings the library directly to users through personal or institutional computers at remote sites. The proposed Integrated Medical Center Information System at Georgetown University will include interface with LIS through a network mechanism. LIS is being replicated at other libraries, and a microcomputer version is being tested for use in a hospital setting.     

Review of resource grant applications at the National Library of Medicine

The Medical Library Resource Grant Program of the National Library of Medicine is reviewed as it was administered under the Medical Library Assistance Act and as it is now administered under the Medical Library Extension Act of 1970, and program objectives are discussed. The "project" concept and the "general support" approach for library assistance are considered, as is the relationship of the Regional Medical Library Program. In the context of the evolving Biomedical Communications Network, recommendations are made for improving the effectiveness of the grant program through coordinated efforts of intermediary libraries.     

Implementing RECONSIDER, a diagnostic prompting computer system, at the Georgetown University Medical Center

RECONSIDER, a computer program for diagnostic prompting developed at the University of California, San Francisco, has been implemented at the Georgetown University Medical Center as part of the Integrated Academic Information Management System Model Development grant project supported by the National Library of Medicine. The system is available for student use in the Biomedical Information Resources Center of the Dahlgren Memorial Library. Instruction on use of the computer system is provided by the library and instruction on medical use of the knowledge base is directed by the faculty. The implementation, capabilities, enhancements such as the addition of Current Medical Information and Terminology (5th ed.), and evaluation of the system are reported.