NLM Newsline 1997 March - August; Vol. 52, No. 2-4
The NLM Newsline is published 6 times a year by the National Library
of Medicine (National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human
Services).
In addition to electronic access, the printed NLM Newsline is mailed
without charge to institutions and individuals interested in health
sciences communications. For further information, contact the NLM Newsline
Editor, Melanie Modlin; e-mail address: mm354i@nih.gov
- NLM Director, Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D.
- Chief, Office of Public Information, Robert B. Mehnert
- Editor, Melanie Modlin, Office of Public Information
- Fran Beckwith, Writer
- Karlton Jackson, Photographer
Contents:
Superhighway of Medical Information Becomes a Freeway
In a packed Senate hearing room, under the glare of TV lights, Vice
President Al Gore performed the inaugural search opening up free access to
NLM's MEDLINE database on the World Wide Web.
At the June 26th press event, Gore forecast the benefits of making the
world's largest medical database available to consumers, health
professionals, medical librarians, and scientists around the globe.
"This development, by itself, may do more to reform and improve the
quality of health care in the United States than anything else we have
done in a long time. I really believe that," the Vice President noted at a
Capitol Hill press event attended by key congressional leaders, NIH
Director Harold E. Varmus, M.D., and officials from the National Library
of Medicine.
"Already, 30,000 people a day are using MEDLINE," said Gore. "By making
it more accessible -- free and private -- we can increase that number many
times over."
The new method of MEDLINE access, known as "PubMed"
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov), makes available more than nine million
medical articles from 70 different countries and is growing at a rate of
1,000 citations a day. Presently, full text of about 100 scientific
journals is linked to PubMed, and hundreds more journals are expected to
be online in the coming months, allowing users to access the full text of
articles right on their computers.
While conducting the first PubMed search, the Vice President looked for
information related to the treatment of a ruptured Achilles tendon. Gore,
who had previously suffered such an injury, quickly found several articles
that dealt with the subject. He was impressed that the treatment methods
he discovered in MEDLINE were similar to what his doctors had recommended.
The Vice President's subsequent searches, on ear infections and the
benefits of flu shots for the elderly, were carried out in an entertaining
and informative exchange with David Lipman, M.D., Director of NLM's
National Center for Biotechnology Information, who acted as his guide.
The press conference was sponsored by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and
Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate
Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over NIH's budget.
"Today, 'ER' meets the Internet," said Harkin at the Dirksen Senate
Office Building event. "I am proud to play a role in this launching. It is
historic. It will make a real difference. And I bet if you listen closely,
the clicking you will hear today will be the sound of millions of computer
users bookmarking the MEDLINE site."
Specter described his own computer search to determine the best form of
treatment for his brain tumor. He also noted that, with the advent of free
MEDLINE from NLM, "The superhighway of medical information just became a
freeway."
"The National Library of Medicine's debut of free Web-based searching
could not be more timely," said NLM Director Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D.
"The health care delivery landscape is changing. Citizens are increasingly
turning to the Web as a source of information to improve their daily
lives, including their health. So it is vital," he continued, "that they,
and the health professionals who serve them, have access to the most
current and credible medical information."
NIH Director Harold E. Varmus, M.D, reminisced about how medical
research used to mean picking up a copy of Index Medicus in a medical
library and carrying out a time- consuming search for articles.
Eventually, MEDLINE put journal references at the fingertips of health
care professionals, although for a fee. Now that reliable medical
information is available to all at no charge, Dr. Varmus expressed pride
in NIH's "extending this democracy of ideas to the public.
The medical library community also was recognized from the podium by
the Vice President. "We are pleased that this vast treasure trove of
medical knowledge will be opened up to the general public," declared MLA
President Rachael K. Anderson in a statement. "Patients and their families
are regularly turning to health sciences librarians to find reliable
health information. Free MEDLINE means that we can now provide consumers
with better access to the quality information they need, and librarians
can help them to tap into the full power of this authoritative source."
Anderson was joined at the press conference by immediate past president of
the MLA Naomi Broering.
The power of providing public access to medical information was
dramatically illustrated by stories from citizens who have tapped into
MEDLINE to find solutions for the medical problems of loved ones.
Suzanne McInerney, an editor from Hershey, PA, described using MEDLINE
to help first her mother and then, several years later, her daughter, both
of whom had cancer. Through MEDLINE, said McInerney, her family found
information that gave them a sense of control. "It put us on a different
level and elicited the best of the doctor," she told the press conference.
Pioneering heart surgeon and Chair of the NLM Board of Regents, Michael
E. DeBakey, M.D., described in a statement how MEDLINE can help anyone
with an interest in health care. "Medical breakthroughs are happening so
rapidly that I believe health care professionals and consumers alike
should be able to tap into the most recent medical information. Even with
our modern advances in health care, I still consider good information to
be the best medicine."
The event was covered by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, the
Associated Press, Reuters, UPI, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times,
USA Today, National Public Radio, and U.S. News and World Report, among
numerous others. 
Vice President Al Gore discusses the benefits of free MEDLINE
with press conference participants (from left)
Suzanne McInerney, Dr.
David J. Lipman, Dr. Harold E. Varmus and Dr. Donald A.B.
Lindberg.
NCBI Collaborates on NCI's Dramatic New Tool in War on Cancer
Vice President Al Gore is becoming a frequent spokesman for innovative
high-technology projects at NIH.
He followed his June appearance on behalf of free MEDLINE with an
August 1st press conference to unveil the National Cancer Institute's
Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP). CGAP will generate new information
about changes in gene product levels as a normal cell turns into a cancer
cell. NLM's National Center for Biotechnology Information plays a key role
in CGAP, managing and analyzing the data, and creating and maintaining the
CGAP website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ncicgap).
"The CGAP project and website highlight the rapid progress that can be
made when technology development and scientific discovery work hand in
hand," said the Vice President. "We hope this project will eventually have
an impact on every aspect of the fight against cancer."
A revolutionary laboratory technique called "laser capture
microdissection" has made GCAP possible. Using a joystick attached to the
base of a special microscope, researchers can now pluck individual cells
of interest from the hundreds of different cell types in a tumor specimen
with the push of a button.
Using this NCI-developed technique, scientists from 100 laboratories
nationwide will be working over the next few months to retrieve selected
cells from thousands of tumor specimens. With those cells in hand,
scientists can then determine with high precision the genes that are
turned on and active, and ultimately begin to retrieve the genes that
cause cancer.
"CGAP will add thousands of new pieces to the cancer puzzle," noted
Richard D. Klausner, M.D., Director of the National Cancer Institute, who
demonstrated the website along with the Vice President at the White House
press event. "As we access where each piece fits into the process, we can
begin to target these key pieces, or molecules, in detecting and treating
cancer."
By detecting the molecular "fingerprints" of normal, precancerous and
cancerous cells, researchers will be able to gain new insights into why
and how normal cells become cancer cells, and lay the foundation for a new
era of cancer research.
"CGAP builds on the previous advances in the genome project and the
information infrastructure," noted Dr. David J. Lipman, Director of the
National Center for Biotechnology Information. "This project will provide
a uniquely powerful tool to study cancer."
The information on the CGAP website will be linked to other databases
around the world, such as those that contain information arising from the
Human Genome Project. The primary users will be research scientists who
are interested in how normal, precancerous and tumor cells differ from one
another. They will be able to access the data from their office and
laboratory computers at no charge.
Other partners in the CGAP project are the U.S. Department of Energy,
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Glaxo Wellcome, and Merck & Co.
Off-Site Clinic for Renal Care Patients is First of its Kind
Noting that "the use of telemedicine to monitor patients receiving
renal dialysis should improve the quality of patient care, and lower costs
to patients, physicians and the health care system," NLM Director Donald
A.B. Lindberg, M.D., on March 11, 1997, announced the opening of
Georgetown University Medical Center's "Project Phoenix," in downtown D.C.
This first-of-its- kind off-site clinic for renal care patients provides
computer links between the clinic, GUMC and nephrologists' homes, with the
goal of aiding patients, caregivers and physicians. The project is one of
NLM's 19 multi-year telemedicine projects in 13 states and the District of
Columbia.
"The scope of Project Phoenix goes well beyond a simple telephone hook-
up," said Dr. James F. Winchester, of Georgetown University's Medical
Center. "Through high-speed telecommunication lines, physicians will be
able to remotely examine the patient and will see as well as hear vital
signs such as heart rate via a remote stethoscope."
"Through the system, the physician has immediate access to the
patient's medical files and medical history, and can advise, diagnose and
prescribe treatment at a moment's notice," Dr. Winchester continued. "This
means that physicians not familiar with a particular patient can
accurately assess a medical situation. On the patient side, the benefits
are many. Telemedicine for dialysis care is not only more convenient but
allows patients located in rural areas the opportunity to receive the best
possible care by specialists."
NLM's 19 telemedicine contracts are designed to determine the impact
telemedicine can have on access to health care, as well as its quality and
costs. At the same time, Project Phoenix and the other telemedicine
projects will assess methods for protecting the confidentiality of
electronic health information, as recommended in a report by the National
Research Council.
More information on telemedicine and detailed descriptions of the 19
projects can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.nlm.nih.gov. 
Dr. James F. Winchester of Georgetown U. Medical School (center)
shows NLM's Dr. Michael J. Ackerman (r.), Director of the High Performance
Computer and Communications Center, how "Project Phoenix" technology
improves care for renal dialysis patients.
Photo by Kathleen
Cravedi.
The National Library of Medicine has a new toll-free number that will
allow you to contact a variety of Library service areas that previously
were only reachable by using separate phone numbers.
The new number, 1-888-FINDNLM (1- 888-346-3656), has several short,
easy-to-use menu choices. Calls are being answered by a variety of NLM
librarians and technical information specialists, who are ready, willing
and able to serve your information needs. For example, pressing "1" will
connect you to the MEDLARS technical service options. Similarly, if you
want reference assistance or interlibrary loan and DOCLINE assistance, you
simply press the number of your choice. If you are unsure of which office
to contact, stay on the line and you will be connected to an information
specialist, who will answer your question or transfer you to the
appropriate person.
Previously NLM had several different 800 numbers (toll-free) for
customers to use depending upon which area of the Library the customer
needed to reach. The old 800 numbers will be phased out over the next
months and are already mapped to the new simplified system.
Pamela Meredith, Head of the Reference Section and a member of the
customer service reinvention team, said "This is just the beginning of a
larger service system to sustain outstanding service at NLM. We want to
raise the consistent level of service on a daily basis and provide for
continuous feedback from our customers into our products and services. We
will keep focused on changing customer expectations and continually modify
our internal processes to maintain our leadership position."
Upcoming phases will include use of off-the-shelf customer service
help- desk software so that we may ensure dependable, accurate, prompt,
knowledgeable and caring attention for our customers.
The Medical Library Association's Board of Directors presented NLM
Director Donald A. B. Lindberg, M.D. and Deputy Director Kent Smith with
the President's Award at the group's 97th Annual Meeting in May. This
honor recognizes exceptional contributions to the Association and the
health sciences information profession. Dr. Lindberg was honored for his
contributions to strengthening the programs and services that MLA members
and member institutions provide in support of health care, education and
research. Smith received the award for his unwavering support of MLA and
efforts to meet the information needs of the nation's health
professionals.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Center for Biomedical
Informatics saluted NLM Director Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg with a special
symposium in his honor, "Information Technology: The Keystone of
Integrated Health Care," June 25th. Dr. Lindberg traveled to Pittsburgh to
participate in the symposium and to deliver the first annual Lindberg
Lecture.
Dianne McCutcheon, Assistant Head, Serial Records Section,
Technical Services Division, has been selected Special Assistant for
Integrated Library System Implementation in the Office of the Associate
Director, Library Operations. In this temporary position, she will direct
LO participation in the major System Reinvention effort to move from a
variety of legacy data creation and internal processing applications to an
ILS-based system. Her previous position, which she held since 1990, was
Assistant Head, Serial Records Section. McCutcheon came to NLM as a
Library Associate in 1978 and worked here until 1981. She returned in
1983.
Two employees in NLM's Office of Computer and Communications Systems
have new positions. Roy Standing has been named Chief of the OCCS
Information Management Branch. He joined the Library staff in 1979, and
most recently was a staff assistant to the Director, OCCS. Joseph
Hutchins (pictured) was selected Chief of the Development Branch of
OCCS. He came to NLM in 1970. Prior to accepting this position, Hutchins
served as a staff assistant to the Director of OCCS, and as the technical
liaison for the NLM reinvention project. 
Joseph Hutchins
Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Chancellor Emeritus and Distinguished
Service Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, was elected
Chair of NLM's Board of Regents at that group's May meeting. He will serve
as chair until the conclusion of his current term on the Board in 1998.
Dr. DeBakey served on the Board from 1957 to 1961, and was Chair from
1959-1960. This was the first board to be appointed after the passage of
the 1956 National Library of Medicine Act, which designated the Armed
Forces Medical Library the "National Library of Medicine" and placed it
under the Public Health Service.
In May, Dr. DeBakey received from Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, a
renowned seat of medical research, the school's highest distinction, the
honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine and the title "Foreign Adjunct
Professor." That month, he also received an honorary doctoral degree and
the Centennial Medal from Southern Utah University, as part of that
school's centennial celebration. 
Donald C. Poppke
NLM Executive Officer Donald C. Poppke was recently elected
Vice- Chair of the first NIH-wide Diversity Council. The group serves as
an advisory board to NIH's Office of Equal Opportunity and reviews
NIH-wide programs, policies and procedures that may affect the diversity
of the work force. 
Bill Leonard
Bill Leonard, a producer in the Audiovisual Program Development
Branch, has received CINE's prestigious Golden Eagle Award for his film,
"The Visible Humans - A Step Toward Tomorrow." The Golden Eagle awards,
given for excellence to professional works, are recognized internationally
as symbols of the highest production standards in filmmaking and
videography. Leonard worked for NBC for 27 years before joining the
Library's staff in 1980.
Former NLM Board member (1990-94) Robert E. Kahn was recently
selected by President Clinton to receive the National Medal of Technology.
Kahn, founder and president of the Corporation for National Research
Initiatives, Reston, VA, was recognized for "creating and sustaining the
development of Internet protocols and continuing to provide leadership in
the emerging industry of internetworking."
Dr. DeBakey was also recognized by the Medical Library Association at
their annual meeting. He was awarded honorary membership in the
Association for his contributions to advance MLA's mission in education,
research and the development of health information resources.
Dr. Alexa T. McCray has been named Director of the Lister Hill
National Center for Biomedical Communications, NLM. 
Dr. McCray is a recognized expert in the field of informatics
and in the development of communications technologies to improve access to
biomedical information by health care professionals. Dr. McCray has been
with the LCNCBC since 1986, and was previously Director of the Cognitive
Science Branch.
On May 12, NIH presented Quality of Work Life Awards to Lois Ann
Colaianni, NLM Associate Director for Library Operations, and Dr.
Nancy Wright, Head, Index Section. Colaianni was recognized for her
outstanding and creative efforts to offer maximum workplace flexibility to
division staff and thus improve quality of work life for employees. Dr.
Wright received the award for actively and successfully fostering
participation of her staff in the Flexiplace Program, which allows
employees to work at home at least one day a week. A Quality of Work Life
Award also went to the team that developed NLM's Intranet, an in-house
online information system: Eve-Marie Lacroix, Chief, Public Services
Division; and Joyce Backus, Naomi Miller and Joseph Pagano, Systems
Librarians, Technology Assistance Group. The NLM Intranet provides
employees with ready access to information that helps them do their jobs
more quickly and efficiently, and keep abreast of NLM developments that
could affect their work. 
Ione Auston (right)
Ione Auston, a librarian with NLM's National Information Center
on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology, has become an
international ambassador for the Library. In March, she co-led a workshop
on "Internet Resources for Breast Cancer" at the World Conference on
Breast Cancer Advocacy in Brussels, and showcased Internet Grateful Med.
In May, she was in Barcelona for the meeting of the International Society
of Technology Assessment in Health Care, where she reported on
developments with free MEDLINE. Closer to home, Auston presented two
workshops on using the Internet for health research at the National Breast
Cancer Coalition Annual Advocacy Training Conference in Washington, DC.
NCBI scientist Dr. Mark Boguski has been dubbed "Jurassic Mark"
in a new book, The Science of Jurassic Park, or, How to Build a Dinosaur
(Rob DeSalle and David Lindley, New York, NY:Basic Books, 1997). Boguski
was already acknowledged by Michael Crichton for his contribution to the
author's bestseller, The Lost World. Boguski had discovered that the
"dinosaur" DNA sequence in his previous book, Jurassic Park, was that of
an E. coli plasmid instead of a dinosaur gene so Crichton asked Boguski if
he could supply a more realistic DNA for the sequel. Dr. Boguski gladly
obliged, but with a somewhat mischievous twist: he embedded a secret
message in the sequence that DeSalle and Lindley were able to decode. The
DNA sequence in The Lost World is identical to a real chicken gene except
for some extra letters. When these DNA letters are translated into protein
letters, using the genetic code, they spell out the phrase "MARK WAS HERE
NIH." Boguski's mention begins on page 84 of The Science of Jurassic Park.
Photo: NLM's Ione Auston, right, presented a workshop on Internet
resources with Jan Reese-Colbourne of the National Breast Cancer Coalition
at the World Conference on Breast Cancer Advocacy in Brussels.
At the 97th Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association, held May
24-28, 1997, in Seattle, NLM Director Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D.,
announced to the medical library community the advent of free MEDLINE.
At the "NLM Update" session, he cited several reasons for this
development: new systems architecture, eventual elimination of the use of
value-added telecommunication networks, reduced costs of client server
software, and elimination of registering and billing costs.
He stated that NLM was able to take this step because of greater
Internet connectivity around the U.S. and abroad, a strong National
Information Infrastructure that makes it possible for health science
libraries to provide better support for the nation's $13 billion
biomedical research enterprise, and the fact that MEDLINE use via the WWW
was growing rapidly, both via Internet Grateful Med and PubMed.
Dr. Lindberg expressed a desire to coordinate with members of the
medical library community, to ensure a smooth transition to free MEDLINE
and gain the maximum publicity possible for the announcement of its
availability.
Sheldon Kotzin, Chief of Bibliographic Services characterized 1996 as
"the year from hell" during the Library's "Lunch and Learn" session. He
attributed backlogs to a government-wide shutdown, a week- long blizzard
and the disastrous halting of data entry for almost three months. But, as
he and his staff chronicled the accomplishments of 1996 -- the premier of
PREMEDLINE, in which citations are put up online daily, before being
indexed; the preview of PubMed, providing full text of articles from
certain journals; the expansion of Internet Grateful Med to include
AIDSLINE, HealthSTAR, and PREMEDLINE; and the debut of OLDMEDLINE, with
citations from the medical literature of 1964-5; and the demise of the
data entry backlog -- the "year from hell" saw many achievements.
At a policy seminar, Deputy Director Kent Smith discussed the
congressional climate for NLM funding, and cited the Library's three main
priorities:
- Protection of basic services. NLM's basic library and information
services continue to increase by 10-15 percent a year. Without proper
resources, we cannot meet the long-established mandate to acquire,
organize and disseminate the world's biomedical information.
- Supporting the best biomedical applications. During the past year,
the Library highlighted the Visible Human, the Human Gene Map and
telemedicine projects as examples of this commitment.
- Expanded outreach. The announcement of free Web-based access to
MEDLINE will do much to advance the goal of broader outreach. Combine
this with the ability of PubMed to connect users to the full text of
journal articles, and you take a major step in the delivery of
comprehensive health information to the widest possible audience.
On a brilliant, sunny June day, members of the National Herb Society,
Potomac Unit, turned the Library's herb garden into a multi- faceted
salute to lavender. "Lavender Day," June 20th, featured refreshments,
craft demonstrations and craft sales under a canopy of tents and
umbrellas. In addition to its celebrated aroma and color, lavender has
long been recognized for its medicinal purposes. 
Mary Jane Miller (left) of the Society shows the art of lavender
wand making to Eileen Murtagh of
NLM's Technical Services Division.
(Photo by Fran Beckwith.)
Session Examines Tension Between Personal Liberty, Public Health
Was "Typhoid Mary" a victim or a victimizer? Was she a "menace to
society," as a court ruled in 1909, or a guileless cook who never meant to
infect her employers with typhoid fever? Was this Irish-born immigrant
penalized for her gender, ethnic background and economic status?
These and other questions were addressed in the History of Medicine
Division's Annual Women's History Month lecture, "Personal Liberty or the
Public Health? The Story of Typhoid Mary." The lecture was held March 20th
at NLM's Lister Hill Auditorium.
Professor Judith W. Leavitt, of the University of Wisconsin at Madison,
examined the story of Mary Mallon, who was taken into custody in New York
in 1907 when tests showed her to be a healthy carrier for typhoid fever.
Her location and identity had been determined by tracing a large number of
typhoid cases to kitchens where she had worked.
Mary Mallon was placed in an isolation cottage on North Brother Island,
one of the small islands in the East River in New York City. Except for
the period between 1910 and 1915, when Mallon was released and given
orders not to work as a cook (which she promptly disobeyed), she remained
in custody on the island until her death in 1938.
Mallon was never "tried" in any legal sense; she was imprisoned as a
threat to the public health and safety. She denied until her death that
she was a carrier of typhoid fever, an understandable position considering
that the "germ theory" of disease was still being debated in the early
part of this century.
Professor Leavitt's lecture addressed the difficult issues raised when
the rights of the individual collide with the public good, and drew
parallels to modern- day public health problems.
To learn more about "Typhoid Mary," read Judith Leavitt's book,
Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Health, Boston: Beacon Press,
1996, 331 pps. 
Professor Judith W. Leavitt (center), an authority on "Typhoid
Mary," was welcomed to the Library
by NLM Director Dr. Donald A.B.
Lindberg and Associate Director for Library Operations Lois Ann
Colaianni.
Inner Harbor Exhibit Presents Interactive Approach to Human Body
NLM's Visible Human Project is the subject of a special exhibition at
the Maryland Science Center at the Baltimore Inner Harbor.
The interactive collection of holograms, models and microscopic
displays, "Inside Out: The
Visible Human," opened August 9th and will be exhibited six months
before traveling to other science institutions around the country.
The exhibition is based on the work of renowned artist and
photojournalist Alexander Tsiaras, who has put his own creative spin on
data generated by the Visible Human Project.
Begun in 1986, the $1.4 million Project took two cadavers (one male and
one female), electronically imaged them, photographed them in thin
sections, then digitally processed and recorded the segments. Although the
resulting datasets are being used extensively by researchers, physicians
and educators, this is the first time the Visible Human Project has been
adapted for public view in a museum.
The Maryland Science Center is
located at 601 Light Street, Baltimore. Hours of operation vary with the
seasons; call 410-685-5225, 24 hours a day.
Admission: adults, $9 (includes IMAX planetarium film); children
(4-17), seniors, and military personnel, $7; children under 4, free.
To learn more about the Visible Human Project, visit NLM's World Wide
Web site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov.
In February, NLM said farewell to Brenda Swanson, who retired
after 18 years as Head of the Selection/Acquisition Section. Swanson had
been with the Library since 1964, when she began working in the
Preservation and Binding Section. In 1971, after receiving her M.S.L.S.
from the University of Maryland, she was accepted into the Library
Associate Program. She later joined the Selection/Acquisition Section and
in 1976 was appointed Assistant Head. 
Last year, Brenda Swanson received the Phillip C. Coleman Award for
outstanding efforts in mentoring, guiding and supporting Library employees
toward achieving career advancement and professional goals. A party was
given in her honor by coworkers, and she is wished much happiness in
retirement. Swanson plans to devote much of her time to assisting her
husband, who is pastor of their church.
Frank Libersky, 80, a cataloguer who started work with the Army
Medical Library in 1959, and continued serving through its transition to
the NLM, retiring in 1985, died of a stroke June 25th at Sibley Memorial
Hospital, Washington, DC. He began his career at the Library as a
temporary cataloguer, and eventually became head of the
Selection/Acquisition Section (Technical Services Division) and, later,
Documents Librarian. Libersky received numerous awards for his innovative
ideas relating to design and implementation of special acquisitions and
government documents programs.
In July, Nancy Selinger resigned her position as Librarian,
Quality Assurance Unit, Index Section, Bibliographic Services Division, to
pursue studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, PA.
Selinger came to NLM as a 1983- 4 Library Associate and joined the Index
Section in 1985. During her tenure, she was instrumental in the
development of numerous software applications, most notably the MEDLARS
Citation Maintenance System (MCMS), the PC-based file maintenance system
that became the model for several clone systems throughout NLM. Nancy
Selinger served as the Project Officer, Commentary Linkages Contract, and
provided valuable input into the development of NLM policy for comment
linkages.
On April 16th, NLM Deputy Director Kent Smith welcomed 155 librarians,
database producers and other information specialists to a workshop, "The
Future of Bibliographic Standards in a Networked Information Environment,"
at NIH's Natcher Conference Center. Smith is a principal member of CENDI,
the interagency cooperative organization that sponsored the session, which
explored how information on the Internet is being organized and made
accessible. Chartered in 1985, CENDI unites information managers from
Commerce, Energy, NASA, NLM, Defense and Interior to improve the
productivity of federal science- and technology- based programs through
the development and management of effective scientific and technical
information support systems.
Workshop sessions focused on the reinvention of bibliographic control,
including an overview of the current and evolving standards for
description. The program also offered perspectives on new search engines
and automated indexing systems designed to improve access to Internet
resources.
"The pervasiveness of the Internet and the World Wide Web has
engendered radical changes in the way we all access computerized
information," Deputy Director Smith explained. "Current standards and
practices are continually being challenged in this new networked
environment and CENDI, through such workshops, is providing a forum for
much-needed, important discussions."
NLM regularly seeks the help of the medical library community in
filling gaps in its monograph and serial collections. If you can provide
any of these items, we would be most grateful.
Kindly send to: National Library of Medicine
TSD-GAPS (ATTN: C.
Fields)
Bethesda, MD 20894
- AAC Journal Jul-Dec, 1991; Jan-Dec, 1992; Jan-Apr,Sep-Oct, 1993;
Jan- Feb and Nov-Dec, 1994
- Academic Nurse 9:3 Winter, 1990-91; 12:1-2, 1994
- Advances in MRI Contrast 2:2, 1993
- Advances in Oncology 11:5 Nov, 1995
- Aging--Immunology and Infectious Disease 4:3, 1993; 5:1, 1994
- Alpha Omegan 14:1-4, 1930; 15:1-2, 1931; 16:4, 1932; 17:2-4, 1933;
18- 20:All, 1934-36; 21:2-4, 1937; 24:2- 4, 1940; 26:1-2, 1942; 44:3-4,
1950; 60:2-4, 1967; 62:3-4, 1969; 64:1, 1971; 67:3-4, 1974; 69:3-4,
1976; 71:3, 1978; 72:3, 1979; 73:1,3-5, 1980; 79:3, 1986; 87:3, 1994;
88:1, 1995
- American Journal of Orthopedic Surgery 11:5-7,12, 1969
- American Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology 10:2, Summer 1988
- Analytical Chemistry 67:10 May 15, 1995
- Aorn Journal 62:6 Dec, 1995; 63:1 Jan, 1996
- Behavior Today 6:5,18,25-26,28- 29,31,38,40-42,45-52, 1975; 7:2-5,
1976; 9:17, 1978; 19:31, 1988
- Biological Therapies in Psychiatry Newsletter 17:2,11, 1994
- Biological Trace Element Research 31:2 Nov, 1991; 48:3, 1995
- Biomedical Electronics 10:24, 11:2, 1975
- British Dental Surgery Assistant 33 Dec, 1974; 34:1-3, 1975; 35:1-3,
1976; 53:3, 1994
- Bulletin of the Michigan Dental Hygienists Association 1:1,3-4,
1971; 2:4, 1972; 3:1, 1973; 14:1, 1984
- Family Planning Perspectives 11:1-2, 1979; 26:5 Sep-Oct, 1994
- Free Radical Biology and Medicine 18:3 Mar, 1995
- Journal of Allied Health 24:3 Summer, 1995
- Medical Device Technology 5:1-9 Jan- Dec, 1994
- Music Therapy Perspectives 1:2, 1983; 1:3, 1984; 2:2, 1985; 12:1,
1994
On May 13th, in conjunction with the spring meeting of NLM's Board of
Regents, Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV) hosted a special "Salute to
Telemedicine" reception in the Lyndon B. Johnson Room of the U.S. Capitol.
Board members, NLM staff and other guests rubbed elbows with the Senator
and congressional staff. They were treated to hammered dulcimer music and
a demonstration of an NLM-supported telemedicine project coordinated by
West Virginia University. A consortium of nine institutions, led by WVU's
Concurrent Engineering Research Center, supports rural primary care
physicians, physicians' assistants and other authorized users, who have
secure access to electronic medical records and patient monitor data, and
are able to confer with collaborating health care providers at a distance,
in the treatment of patients. 
Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Board of Regents Member
Dr. Tenley
Albright greet each other in the Capitol's
Lyndon B. Johnson
Room.
Abridged Index Medicus to Cease Publication
December 1997 Issue Will Be the Last
NLM's monthly publication Abridged Index Medicus (AIM) will
cease following the December 1997 issue (Vol. 28, No. 12).
The Abridged Index Medicus was initiated in 1970 to "afford
rapid access to selected biomedical journal literature of immediate
interest to the practicing physician" when online services were not
readily available. A subset of citations from 119 English language
clinical journals indexed for Index Medicus was selected for AIM. The
publication was of value to the community over the years; at one point,
over 2,000 libraries, clinics, colleges and individuals subscribed to the
monthly issues and the annual cumulations. During the past 20 years,
however, an increasing number of subscribers have been accessing the data
via electronic resources, and subscriptions to the printed product have
declined.
Online searchers should note that they will still be able to search
using A (SB) to limit their retrieval to the journals in the AIM subset.
Even though the printed AIM is being discontinued, the AIM subset list
will continue to exist online in ELHILL. PubMed, a non- ELHILL search
system, does not currently contain a Subset (SB) field or its equivalent;
however, this enhancement will be added to PubMed in the future.
With the many demands on federal dollars, NLM must make some difficult
choices concerning the support of existing products versus the improvement
and development of new products. NLM Associate Director for Library
Operations Lois Ann Colaianni realizes that some find the AIM particularly
useful. She will be happy to explore alternatives for this information
with such individuals. Please send e-mail to loisann@nlm.nih.gov .
GenBank CD-ROM to be Discontinued
Other Methods of Access Will be Necessary After April 15,
1998
GenBank, the NIH database that collects all publicly available DNA
sequences, has been available on CD- ROM through the U.S. Government
Printing Office since October 1992. The explosive growth of sequence
information has caused the CD-ROM version of GenBank to increase from one
disc in 1992 to 10 discs today, making the CD-ROM format costly to produce
and unwieldy to use. As a result, CD-ROM subscriptions have dwindled. At
the same time, Internet access has become increasingly ubiquitous and is
now the primary means of access to GenBank and related resources.
With these trends in mind, the NLM's National Center for Biotechnology
Information, which builds and supports GenBank, will discontinue the
CD-ROM format with the April 15, 1998 release. CD-ROM users are encouraged
to access the data via NCBI Internet services such as Web Entrez, FTP, and
e-mail servers.
GenBank records can be retrieved through NCBI's World Wide Web site at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov using the Entrez search and retrieval system.
Entrez provides integrated access to DNA and protein sequences, 3-D
protein structures, genomic mapping information, and MEDLINE. GenBank can
also be searched through the NLM's PubMed system at
http://www.nlm.nih.gov.
GenBank records can be downloaded, in whole or in part, via FTP from
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov . Log in as "anonymous" and enter your e-mail address as
the password.
NCBI provides two e-mail based search services, the Query server (query@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and the
BLAST server (blast@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). To learn
how to use these services, send an e-mail message consisting of the word
"Help" (without the quotation marks) in the body of the message to each of
the addresses above.
If a user has no access to the Internet, DNA sequence data will
continue to be available on CD-ROM from the European Bioinformatics
Institute. For information, contact:
EMBL Outstation
European Bioinformatics Institute
Hinxton
Hall, Hinxton
Cambridge CB10 1RQ, United Kingdom
If you have questions about GenBank access, feel free to contact NCBI
at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, or
call 301-496-2475.
The following references cite works that discuss the products and
services of the National Library of Medicine. If you know of other
appropriate citations for this column, please send reprints or references
to the editor, NLM NEWSLINE, Public Information Office, National
Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, or e-mail to mm354i@nih.gov. (Note: Some of the
articles below may be from publications that are outside the scope of the
NLM collection and therefore are not available from the Library on
interlibrary loan.)
Thanks to Jacque-Lynne Schulman, Technical Information Specialist,
Medical Subject Headings, for compiling this list.
- --Medline. Curr Biol 1997 Apr 1;7(4):R208.
- --Internet. Navigating MEDLINE [news]. Hosp Health Netw 1997 May
5;71(9):11.
- Aveyard P, Chada N, Millard K, Mason B. The use of Medline in a
public health department [letter]. J Public Health Med 1996
Sep;18(3):373.
- Blecic DD. Comparison of fixed-fee Grateful Med database use and
searching success rates given the continued availability of MEDLINE in
other formats. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1996 Oct;84(4):507-12.
- Brazier H, Begley CM. Selecting a database for literature searches
in nursing: MEDLINE or CINAHL? J Adv Nurs 1996 Oct;24(4):868-75.
- Breeden J. Library invests $42 million in Net telemedicine pilot
[news]. Govt Comput News 1997 Mar 17;16(6).
- Burnham JF, Perry M. Promotion of health information access via
Grateful Med and Loansome Doc: why isn't it working? Bull Med Libr Assoc
1996 Oct;84(4):498-506.
- Campbell JR, Carpenter P, Sneiderman C, Cohn S, Chute CG, Warren, J.
Phase II evaluation of clinical coding schemes: completeness, taxonomy,
mapping, definitions, and clarity. J Am Med Inform Assoc 1997
(4):238-51.
- Clarke M, Greaves L, James S. MeSH terms must be used in Medline
searches [letter]. BMJ 1997 Apr 19;314(7088):1203.
- Corn M, Lindberg DA. IAIMS today, IAIMS tomorrow. Acad Med 1997
Mar;72(3):198-9.
- Croal N, Tanaka J. A slice of life [news]. Newsweek 1997 Mar
3;129(9):8.
- Dartnall JA. Searching for medical information [letter]. Med J Aust
1997 Mar 3;166(5):278.
- Dorsch JL. BIOETHICSLINE use by medical students: curriculum-
integrated instruction and collection development implications. Bull Med
Libr Assoc 1997 Apr;85(2):147-53.
- Dorsch JL. Equalizing rural health professionals' information
access: lessons from a follow-up outreach project. Bull Med Libr Assoc
1997 Jan;85(1):39-47.
- Fassbender P. Parapsychology and the neurosciences: a computer-based
content analysis of abstracts in the database "MEDLINE" from 1975 to
1995. Percept Mot Skills 1997 Apr;84(2):452-4.
- Harris NR. Computer indexing of journal references [letter]. Plast
Reconstr Surg 1997 Jun;99(7):2120.
- Lindberg DA. The modern library: lost and found. Bull Med Libr Assoc
1996 Jan;84(1):86-90.
- Lindberg DA, Humphreys BL. Medical informatics. JAMA 1997 Jun
18;277(23):1870-2.
- Marx HH. [The language of medicine (letter; comment)]. Dtsch Med
Wochenschr 1997 May 30;122(22):734- 5.
- Meadows S, Thoma GR, Long LR, Mitra S. Entropy encoding of
difference images from adjacent Visible Human digital color photographic
slices for lossless compression. Medical Imaging 1997: Image Display.
SPIE Proceedings (3031):749-55.
- Mehnert, R. The Bowker annual, library and book trade almanac. 42nd
ed. Providence, NJ: R.R. Bowker; 1997. Federal agency and federal
library reports, National Library of Medicine, p.110-5.
- Palmer J, Lusher A, Snowball R. Searching for the evidence.
Genitourin Med 1997 Feb;73(1):70-2.
- Ray JG, Vermeulen MJ. Mizspellin and Medline. BMJ 1996 Dec 21-
28;313(7072):1658-9.
- Rowlands JL, Forrester WH, McSean T. British Medical Association
Library free MEDLINE service: survey of members taking part in an
initial pilot project. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1996 Jan;84(1):116-21.
- Rupert RL. Searching chiropractic literature: a comparison of three
computerized databases [letter]. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1997
May;20(4):285-8.
- Salvado Perez L, Molina Troya J. [Are MEDLINE and Indice Medico
Espanol mutually exclusive (letter)] Med Clin (Barc) 1997 Jan
18;108(2):79.
- Schoonbaert D. SPIRS, WinSPIRS, and OVID: a comparison of three
MEDLINE- on-CD-ROM interfaces [see comments]. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1996
Jan;84(1):63-70.
- Smith LG, Schwartz JD. Disproportionate use of MEDLINE searches by
housestaff [letter]. Acad Med 1997 Mar;72(3):160-1.
- Srinivasan P. Retrieval feedback for query design in MEDLINE. A
comparison with expert network and LLSF approaches. Proc AMIA Annu Fall
Symp 1996;:353-7.
- Thoma GR, Le DX. Medical database input using integrated OCR and
document analysis and labelling technology. Proceedings 1997 Symposium
on Document Image Understanding Technology, College Park, MD:p.280-1.
- Thoma GR, Long LR. Compressing and transmitting Visible Human
images. IEEE MultiMedia, 1997 Apr- Jun;4(2);36-45.
- Tringali M, Pramotton L, Iannucci P, Cosentino F. [The utilization
of Medline for the solution of real clinical problems. A prospective
study in Italy]. Recenti Prog Med 1996 Dec;87(12):576-81.
- Walker FL, Thoma GR. Internet document delivery: an end user survey.
Integrated Online Library Systems Proceedings, 1997. Medford, NJ:
Learned Information, p.145-53.
- Watson M, Christopher K, Wood R. Internet access to National Library
of Medicine SDI search results: the beneits of locally written software
for automated processing. Internet Ref Q 1997; 2(1):81-92.
- Woods SE, Francis BW. MEDLINE as a component of the objective
structured clinical examination: the next step in curriculum
integration. Bull Med Libr Assoc 1996 Jan;84(1):108-9.
- Yang Y. An evaluation of statistical approaches to MEDLINE indexing.
Proc AMIA Annu Fall Symp 1996;:358-62.
- Zernic MJ, Mudry JJ. Is there a radiologist in the house? [news]
Advanced Communs Technol Q, NASA 1997 Mar (1):1-3.
1996 ANNUAL REPORT
The Library's annual report for Fiscal Year 1996 is available from the
NLM Office of Public Information. This 77-page publication gives
descriptions and statistics about current NLM programs. Write to the
Office of Public Information, NLM, Bethesda, MD 20894, or send an e-mail
request to publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov .
FACT SHEETS UPDATED
NLM has recently updated the following fact sheets, all of which are
accessible from the NLM home page (http://www.nlm.nih.gov), under
the heading, "NLM Publications. The titles of the revised fact sheets are:
- Assistance for Research Investigators
- Fixed-Fee Access
- Grateful Med
- HealthSTAR
- HSRPROJ (Health Services Research Projects in Progress)
- Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
- IAIMS Grants (Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems)
- National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health
Care Technology (NICHSR)
- National Library of Medicine, The
- PubMed: MEDLINE Retrieval on the World Wide Web
- Regional Medical Programs
Last updated: 06 November 1997
First published: 01 March 1997
Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content
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