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Congressional Justification FY 2009

Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health
National Library of Medicine

2009 Congressional Justification (PDF)

FY 2009 Budget

Organization Structure

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FY 2009 Proposed Appropriation Language

For carrying out section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act with respect to health information communications, $320,507,000 $323,046,000  (Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 2008)of which $3,930,120 $4,000,000 shall be available until expended for improvement of information systems: Provided, that in fiscal year 2009, the Library may enter into personal services contracts for the provisions of services in facilities owned, operated, or constructed under the jurisdiction of the National Institutes of Health: Provided further, that in addition to amounts provided herein, $8,200,000 shall be available from amounts available under section 241 of the Public Health Service Act to carry out National Information Center on Health Services Research and health  Care Technology and health related services.

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Amounts Available for Obligation 1

Source of Funding FY 2007 Actual FY 2008 Enacted FY 2009 Estimate
Appropriation $319,910,000 $326,669,000 $323,046,000
Pay cost add-on 940,000 0 0
Rescission 0 -5,707,000 0
Subtotal, adjusted appropriation -5,707,000 320,962,000 320,962,000
Real transfer under Director's one-percent transfer authority (GEI) 720,000 0 0
Comparative transfer to NIBIB -94,000 0 0
Comparative transfer to OD -43,000 0 0
Comparative transfers to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Admin. and Mgmt. and to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs -4,000 0 0
Comparative transfer under Director's one-percent transfer authority (GEI) -720,000 0 0
Comparative transfer to DHHS for PHS historian -480,000 0  
Comparative transfer to NIDCR -437,000 -455,000  
Subtotal, adjusted budget authority 319,792,000 320,507,000 323,046,000
Unobligated balance, start of year 0 10,000 0
Unobligated balance, end of year 10,000 0 0
Subtotal, adjusted  budget authority 319,802,000 320,517,000 323,046,000
Unobligated balance lapsing -205,000 0 0
    Total obligations 319,597,000 320,517,000 323,046,000

1/ Excludes the following amounts for reimbursable activities carried out by this account:
FY 2007 - $19,448,000 FY 2008 -$19,556,000 FY 2009 - $19,685,000

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Budget Mechanism Table1

MECHANISM FY 2007
Actual		 FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate		 Change
No. Amount No. Amount No. Amount No. Amount
Research Grants:  
Research Projects:  
  Noncompeting 42 $13,336 61 $17,722 58 $17,503 (3) -$219
  Administrative Supplements (3) 374 (3) 200 (3) 374 (0) 174
  Competing:  
    Renewal 6 1,935 8 2,294 5 1,443 (3) -851
    New 33 9,223 29 8,632 26 7,577 (3) -1,055
    Supplements 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      Subtotal, Competing 39 11,158 37 10,926 31 9,020 (6) -1,906
      Subtotal, RPGs 71 24,868 98 28,848 89 26,897 (9) -1,951
SBIR/STTR 5 1,116 5 722 5 659 0 -63
    Subtotal, RPGs 86 25,984 103 29,570 94 27,556 (9) -2,014
  Research Centers:  
    Specialized/Comprehensive 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Clinical Research 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Biotechnology 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Comparative Medicine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Research Centers in Minority Institutions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
        Subtotal, Centers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Research:  
  Research Careers 18 2,539 18 2,564 10 1,450 (8) -1,114
  Cancer Education 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Cooperative Clinical Research 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Biomedical Research Support 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Minority Biomedical Research Support 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Other 81 10,538 58 7,551 60 8,476 2 925
    Subtotal, Other Research 99 13,077 76 10,115 70 9,926 (6) -189
Total Research Grants 185 39,061 179 39,685 164 37,482 (15) -2,203
Research Training FTTPs   FTTPs   FTTPs      
  Individual Awards 12 563 5 522 3 313 (2) -209
  Institutional Awards 267 14,743 172 10,797 187 11,137 15 340
Total, Training 279 15,306 117 11,319 190 11,450 13 131
Research & Development Contracts 9 17,220 8 16,404 8 15,901 0 -503
      (SBIR/STTR) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
  FTEs   FTEs   FTEs   FTEs  
Intramural Programs 598 236,080 598 240,792 603 245,721 5 4,929
Research Management and Support 78 12,125 78 12,307 78 12,492 0 185
Construction   0   0   0   0
Buildings and Facilities   0   0   0   0
Total, NLM 676 319,792 676 320,507 681 323,046 5 2,539

1/ Includes FTEs which are reimbursed from the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research

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BA by Program

Budget Authority by Activity
(Dollars in Thousands)		 FY 2005
Actual		 FY 2006
Actual		 FY 2007 Actual FY 2007
Comparable

FY 2008
Enacted

 FY 2009 Estimate Change
Extramural Research FTEs Amount FTEs Amount FTEs Amount FTEs Amount FTEs Amount FTEs Amount FTE Amount
Detail:  
Health Information for Health
Professionals and Public (NN/LM)		   12,942   12,701   13,201   $13,201   $12,385   $11,882   -$503
Informatics Infrastructure   26,305   25,813   25,813   $25,813   $22,361   $21,376   -985
Informatics Research   30,153   30,733   32,573   32,573   32,662   31,575   -1,087
Subtotal, Extramural   69,400   69,247   71,587   71,587   67,408   64,833   -2,575
Intramural Programs 581 234,855 580 233,023 598 237,646 598 236,080 598 240,792 603 245,721 5 4,929
Research Management & Support 80 10,891 76 11,807 78 12,121 78 12,125 78 12,307 78 12,492 0 185
TOTAL 661 315,146 656 314,077 676 321,354 676 319,792 676 320,507 681 323,046 5 2,539

Includes FTEs which are reimbursed from the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research

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Major Changes in the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Request

Major changes by budget mechanism and/or budget activity detail are briefly described below.  Note that there may be overlap between budget mechanism and activity detail and these highlights will not sum to the total change for the FY 2009 budget request for NLM, which is $2.539 more than the FY 2008 Estimate, for a total of $323.046 million.

Research Careers (-$ 1.114 million; total $1.450 million):  NLM will support as many of the Pathway to independence program awards in FY 2009 as possible.

Research Project Grants (-$2.014 million; total $27.556 million):  NLM will initiate fewer new research project grants focusing on topics of highest quality.  The Budget policy for RPGs in FY 2009 is to provide no inflationary increases in noncompeting awards and no increase in average cost for competing RPGs.

Intramural Programs (+$4.929 million; total $245.721 million):   NLM will increase resources supporting the development and dissemination of molecular biology and genomic information. 

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Summary of Changes

FY 2008 Enacted: $320,507,000
FY 2009 President's Budget: 323,046,000
Net Change: 2,539,000

CHANGES 2008 Current
Enacted Base		 Change from Base
FTEs Budget
Authority		 FTEs Budget
Authority
 A.  Built-in:  
    1.  Intramural Programs:  
        a.  Annualization of January 2008 pay increase   $67,402,000   $757,000
        b.  January FY 2009 pay increase   67,402,000   1,466,000
        c.  One less day of pay   67,402,000   (258,000)
        d. Payment of centrally furnished services    11,558,000   173,000
        e.  Increased cost of laboratory supplies, materials, other expenses, and non-recurring costs   161,832   161,832
        Subtotal       4,219,000
    2.  Research Management and Support:        
        a.  Annualization of January 2008 pay increase   $9,191,000   $103,000
        b.  January FY 2009 pay increase   9,191,000   200,000
        c.  One less day of pay   9,191,000   (35,000)
        d.  Payment of centrally furnished services    0   0
        e.  Increased cost of laboratory supplies, materials, other expenses, and non-recurring costs   (35,000)   284,000
        Subtotal       552,000
        Subtotal, Built-in       4,771,000
B.  Program:  
    1.  Research Project Grants:  
        a.  Noncompeting 61 $17,922,000 (3) ($45,000)
        b.  Competing  37 10,926,000 (6) (1,906,000)
        c.  SBIR/STTR 5 722,000 0 (63,000)
                Total 103 29,570,000 (9) (2,014,000)
    2.  Research Centers 0 0 0 0
    3.  Other Research 76 10,115,000 (6) (189,000)
    4.  Research Training 177 11,319,000 13 131,000
    5.  Research and development contracts 8 16,404,000 0 (503,000)
         Subtotal, Extramural        (2,575,000)
  FTEs   FTEs  
    6.  Intramural Programs                                598 240,792,000 5 710,000
    7.  Research Management and Support 78 12,307,000 0 (367,000)
    8.  Construction   0   0
    9.  Buildings and Facilities   0   0
        Subtotal, program   320,507,000   (2,232,000)
          Total changes 676   5 2,539,000

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Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Graphs

History of Budget Authority and FTEs:

FTEs by Fiscal Year 2005 to 2009     

Data for FTEs by Fiscal Year for FY2005 through FY2009

Fiscal Year FTEs
2005 661
2006 656
2007 676
2008 676
2009 681

Funding Levels by Fiscal Year 2005 to 2009

Data for Funding Levels by Fiscal Year for FY2005 through FY2009

Fiscal Year Funding
(Dollars in Millions)
2005 315.1
2006 314.1
2007 319.8
2008 320.5
2009 323.0

Distribution by Mechanism:

FY 2009 Budget Mechanism

Data for FY2009 Budget Mechanism

Programs Amount
(Dollars in
Thousands)		 Percent
of
Total
Research Project Grants $28 9%
Research Centers $0 0%
Other Research $10 3%
Research Training $11 3%
R&D Contracts $16 5%
Construction $0 0%
Buildings & Facilities $0 0%
Intramural Programs $246 76%
RM&S $12 4%

Change by Selected Mechanisms:

FY 2009 Estimate Percent Change from FY2008 Mechanism

Data for Change by Selected Mechanism - FY2009 Estimate Percent Change from FY 2008 Mechanism

Programs Percent
Change
Research Project Grants -6.8%
Research Centers 0.0%
Other Research -1.9%
Research Training 1.2%
R&D Contracts -3.1%
Intramural Programs 2.0%
Res. Mgmt. & Support 1.5%

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Justification

Authorizing Legislation: Sections 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

Budget Authority:

FY 2007
Actual		 FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate

Increase
or Decrease
FTE BA FTE BA FTE BA FTE BA
676 $319,792,000 676 $320,507,000 681 $323,046,000 +5 $320,507,000

This document provides justification for the Fiscal Year 2009 activities of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), including HIV/AIDS activities.  Details of the FY 2009 HIV/AIDS activities are in the "Office of AIDS Research (OAR) section of the Overview.  Details on the NIH Common Fund are located in the Overview, Volume One. Program Funds are allocated as follows: Competitive Grants/Cooperative Agreement; Contracts; Direct Federal/Intramural and Other.

Director's Overview

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the world's largest biomedical library and the developer of electronic information services that deliver trillions of bytes of data to millions of users every day.  Scientists, health professionals, and the public in the U.S. and around the globe search the Library's online information resources more than one billion times each year.  For 171 years, the NLM has played a pivotal role in translating biomedical research into practice.  Today the Library fulfills this mission by:

The Library stands at the center of much biomedical research—receiving, storing, disseminating, and connecting published research results and biological, biochemical, genomic, and clinical research data from laboratories and research centers around the world. The Library's databases and systems are essential tools for research and discovery in molecular biology and the study of the genetic and environmental factors affecting health and disease. They are also key enablers for research and development related to electronic health records and personalized health care. 

Equally central to NLM's mission is providing timely, accurate, and understandable information to help patients, their families, and the public play a more active role in managing their health and health care.  The NLM's heavily used Web-based  health information services and the NIH MedlinePlus magazine  transmit the latest useful research findings in lay language and also provide guidance that can be easily understood by the public.  NLM partners with libraries and community-based organizations to increase public awareness and use of these valuable resources.

NLM's ClinicalTrials.gov database serves the full spectrum of NLM's user groups: researchers, health professionals, and the public.   The Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 greatly increased NLM's role in disseminating clinical trials information by expanding mandatory registration of trials for drugs and devices in ClinicalTrials.gov and mandating the development of a database of clinical trial results.  

NLM continues to focus on the goals of its 2006-2016 long range plan, including key activities in support of interoperable electronic health records, more effective response to disasters and emergencies, development of a robust knowledge base for personalized health care, reduction of health disparities, and improved health literacy. 

Personal health records can contribute to all of these goals.  NLM's current aim is to provide health record tools to help individuals caring for elderly parents or young children by supporting entry of test results, prescriptions, problems and immunizations, with connections to MedlinePlus information about prescriptions and reminders about preventive care interventions, such as annual flu shots.  This work builds upon the Library's history of supporting, developing, and disseminating medical terminologies in the Unified Medical Language System, as well as on informatics research funded by NLM.  As the HHS coordinating body for clinical terminologies, NLM plays a leadership role in US and international health data standards development, including the expansion of standards to cover genetic tests.

NLM is committed to ensuring uninterrupted access to critical information services in the event of disaster or emergency, natural or man-made.   NLM's new Disaster Information Management Research Center is building on proven emergency backup and response mechanisms within the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to promote effective use of libraries as a major and largely untapped resource in disaster management efforts.  NLM also partners with other Federal agencies to develop and deploy new disaster management information tools, such Radiological Event Medical Management (REMM).

NLM's National Center for Biotechnology Information provides access to HHS and NIH-funded Genome Wide Association Studies through its new database of Genotypes and Phenotypes, or dbGaP.  By linking genomic and clinical data for the same patients, dbGap helps to identify genetic variations that may affect predisposition to disease or response to therapy.  NLM continues to work to provide ever more powerful discovery capabilities to lead researchers to the interesting connections among disparate information sources that may signal important new findings. 

NLM's information services are among the most heavily used in the world, but they are still unknown to many who could benefit from them.  In addition to longstanding partnerships with libraries, minority serving institutions, and community-based organizations that are necessary to many successful outreach strategies, NLM continues to evaluate novel methods for increasing awareness and use of its high quality health information services.  Information prescriptions, major exhibitions, service announcements by media stars, games for school children, and libraries in virtual worlds are just some of the ways the Library tries to ensure that everyone in the United States has a known, easily accessible and understandable source of high quality health information.

FY 2009 Justification by Activity Detail

Program Descriptions and Accomplishments

Overall Budget Policy: NLM's highest priorities are maintaining the quality and integrity of the nation's archival collection of biomedical information and of the high volume services that make this information available across the U.S. and the world. These activities are the focus of NLM's intramural programs and account for three fourths of NLM's budgetary resources.  The work includes both building and maintaining the collection of biomedical literature and building and providing access to electronic information services in areas spanning biomedical and genomic research, clinical trials, health care, toxicology, environmental health, and high quality health information for the general public.  In its extramural program, NLM will continue to provide access to biomedical and health information in partnership with the 5800-member National Network of Libraries of Medicine and support it's broad grant programs including a substantial investment in informatics research and training.  Intramural Research and Research Management and Support receive modest increases to help offset the cost of pay and other increases.  NLM will continue to support new investigators and to maintain an adequate number of competing RPGs.

Intramural Activity Details

NLM's intramural programs acquire, organize, preserve, and provide access to the world's biomedical literature.  NLM also serves as a leading resource for molecular biology and genomic information; provides information services on toxicology and environmental health; and conducts research and development on system, technologies and networks for information access by researchers, health professionals, patients and the general public.

Delivering Reliable, High Quality Biomedical and Health Information Services: At the core of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) are the world's largest, continually expanding collection of biomedical literature and a broad array of authoritative electronic databases for health professionals, researchers, the public, and librarians and information specialists who serve them.  The NLM develops and uses sophisticated electronic systems to support the complex, high volume operations necessary to acquire, describe, and provide rapid access to materials in its collections and to build and refine electronic databases and services for many different audiences.

Budget Policy:    The FY 2009 budget estimate is $107,382,000, an increase of $1,762,000 or 1.7 percent from the FY 2008 estimate of $105,620.000.  In FY 2009, the Library will concentrate on maintaining its current high level of services and, where possible, enhance and expand them; including Medline/PubMed and MedlinePlus. MedlinePlus contains a great range of information written and formatted for consumers. Keeping MedlinePlus current with new information (in both English and Spanish) from NIH and other reliable sources, and adding features to enhance its usefulness, are high priorities for NLM in FY 2009. The NLM has other databases heavily used by the public that will require maintenance and expansion, such as NIHSeniorHealth.gov, Household Products Database, Genetics Home Reference, and a series of databases dealing with toxicology and the environment.  ClinicalTrials.gov  must undergo significant expansion in FY 2009 to accommodate the results reporting provisions of  the Food and Drugs Amendments Act of 2007.

Promoting Public Awareness and Access to Information:  The NLM has extensive outreach programs to make biomedical researchers, health professionals, librarians, patients, their families, and other members of the public aware of information services produced by NLM, NIH, and other federal agencies.  To improve access to high quality health information, NLM makes heavy use of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and other formal partnerships including the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, Environmental Health Information Outreach Program with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, tribal colleges, and other minority serving institutions. NLM also fosters informal partnerships, such as the Information Rx program to promote MedlinePlus usage by encouraging physicians to write "information prescriptions" for their patients and uses exhibitions, the media, and new technologies in its efforts to reach underserved populations.  As part of its outreach efforts, NLM continually solicits feedback from users on how existing resources can be improved.

Budget Policy:    The FY 2009 budget estimate is $18,265,000, a decrease of $503,000 or 2.7 percent from the FY 2008 estimate of $18,768,000.  In FY 2009, NLM will continue its outreach programs with a special emphasis on those aimed at underserved and minority populations. As recommended by the Long Range Plan, NLM will develop and test innovative outreach methods, including infrastructure improvements (for example, PDAs, intelligent agents, and network techniques) to "enable ubiquitous health information access in homes, schools, public libraries, and work places".  Also as recommended in the plan, the Library will continue to use its major historical exhibitions as a means for improving science and health literacy and promoting interest in biomedical careers, as well as increasing awareness and use of NLM information services. 

Portrait of a Program: National Network of Libraries of Medicine

FY 2008 Level: $ 12,385,000
FY 2009 Level: $ 11,882,000
Change: -$503,000

The 5,800 member institutions of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine are valued partners in helping to ensure that health information—including NLM's many services—is available to scientists, practitioners, and the public. The Network comprises eight Regional Medical Libraries, 120 "resource libraries" primarily at schools of the health sciences, hospital libraries, and an increasing number of public libraries and community-based organizations that serve as health information portals. Together they form an efficient way to ensure that published research results are easily and efficiently accessible by scientists, health professionals, and the public. Member institutions staff exhibits at public and professional meetings, conduct a variety of orientation and training courses, and develop partnerships with community organizations to improve access to health information for underserved populations.

The Network is a key player in the MedlinePlus "Go Local" service begun in 2003, when NLM responded to the expressed need of users for information about services in their community as an adjunct to the nationally applicable health information in MedlinePlus. To create and maintain "Go Local" NLM is partnering with medical and other libraries in the Network that have access to lists of local services such as hospitals, clinics, support groups, and communitybased organizations. There is Go Local coverage for more than one third of the U.S. population and continuing to expand this reach is an important goal for the Library in FY 2009.

The Network plays a pivotal role in other community outreach activities by assisting in the distribution of the new NIHMedlinePlus magazine -- an effort to provide readers with a gold standard of reliable and understandable health and research information from the NIH, by supporting NLM's InformationRx project which provides physicians with materials to write prescriptions for information from MedlinePlus for their patients, and by participating in many NLM-wide outreach efforts designed to expand outreach and services to the public as well as to address health literacy and racial and ethnic disparities. The Network has an excellent track record of providing access to health information for clinicians and patients displaced by disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, and in quickly backing up and assisting affected health sciences libraries. The Network is the backbone of NLM's strategy to promote more effective use of libraries and librarians in local, state, and national disaster preparedness and response efforts. Resources for this initiative are reduced to fund mandatory costs associated with NLM's heavily used information services.

Developing Advanced Information Systems, Standards, and Research Tools:

The NLM's advanced information services have a long history of benefiting from its intramural research and development (R&D) programs.  The Library has two organizations that conduct advanced R&D on different aspects of biomedical communication—the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications (LHC) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The LHC, established by Congress in 1968, conducts and supports research in such areas as the dissemination, processing, and use of high quality imagery; medical language processing, high-speed access to biomedical information; the development and dissemination of health information technology standards, and advanced technology for emergency and disaster management. The NCBI, created by the Congress in 1988, conducts research and development on the representation, storage, integration, retrieval, and display of biological data, literature, and knowledge; provides an integrated, one-stop, genomic information infrastructure for biomedical researchers at NIH and around the world; helps to set related standards; and uses the resources it creates to conduct research in computational biology. 

Budget Policy:    The FY 2009 budget estimate is $131,956,000, an increase of $3,167,000 or 2.4 percent from the FY 2008 estimate of  $128,789,000. In accordance with the Long Range Plan, NLM's research divisions will engage in critical research and development projects that are important to today's scientific community and that will have even greater influence in the future. In addition to NCBI's trans-NIH collaborations (see box), other NLM intramural researchers will continue to pursue disaster management information research in partnership with the NIH Clinical Center, the Department of Defense, and Suburban Hospital; to develop advanced imaging tools for cancer diagnosis in cooperation with the National Cancer Institute; and to work with NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Research Centers on health data standardization issues.  Other major intramural research priorities  will be: digital publications - including automated indexing, image analysis, digital preservation, and special issues associated with interactive publications; "Next Generation" electronic health records - including clinical imaging tools, health data standards, extraction of actionable information from clinical text, research use of large aggregations of clinical data, and the Unified Medical Language system; and advanced representations of biomedical knowledge that can interact effectively with electronic health records -  including representation of the summarized results of clinical trials and structured drug and test information that facilitates decision support. The Library will continue to serve as an HHS coordinating center for standard clinical vocabularies and to support, develop, or license for US-wide use key clinical vocabularies, including SNOMED CT®.

Portrait of a Program: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)

FY 2008 Level: $80,734,000
FY 2009 Level: $83,240,000
Change: +$2,506,000

The establishment of the National Center for Biotechnology Information in 1988 has proved to be a boon to the global scientific community. The Center, whose Web sites are accessed several million times a day, is today at the hub of international interchange of molecular biology and genomic information. NCBI meets the challenge of collecting, organizing, storing, analyzing, and disseminating scientific data by designing, developing, and distributing the tools, databases and technologies that are enabling the genetic discoveries of the 21st century.

GenBank (DNA sequence data) and PubMed/MEDLINE (records for 17 million scientific articles) are the most widely known of its services, but the NCBI provides a wide array of genomic and sequence data and is a valued collaborator of virtually every Institute and Center on the NIH campus. With the NIAID, for example, it has created an Influenza Virus Resource that links researchers working on vaccines to genomic data about the influenza virus. NLM participates actively in the NIH Roadmap Initiatives, and the NCBI filled a critical need associated with the Molecular Libraries component of the Roadmap by creating "PubChem," a rapidly growing depository of 12 million records for what are called "small molecules" that are crucial as research tools and in drug development.

The NCBI also has a prominent role in the important new Genome Wide Association Studies project, a major NIH-wide initiative directed at understanding the genetic factors underlying human disease. An important part of this project is dbGaP, a database of Genome Wide Association studies, including the monumental Framingham heart study and its many subcomponents. dbGap is NIH's public repository for linking up genotype data with phenotype information in order to identify the genetic factors that influence health, disease, and response to treatment. dbGaP and related NCBI databases are important elements in providing a powerful discovery system in which users can glean information from many levels of scientific data and published research results from a single online search. The NCBI also developed the PubMed Central database, an archive of full text journal articles that is a central element in the efforts of NIH and other major international biomedical research funders to make accessible the published results of the research they support. PubMed Central is being replicated in other countries, with the first international installation in the United Kingdom. Its standard article formats have been adopted by electronic publishers and archives worldwide.

In FY 2009 NCBI will continue to play a pivotal role, through the PubMed Central archive, in the NIH's Public Access policy which ensures that researchers and the public have free access to the 80,000 scientific articles published each hear by NIH-funded authors. Through dramatic improvements in sequencing technology, NCBI also expects to be collecting in the next few years, over 50 times the amount of sequence data currently in public databases, as part of international efforts such as the 1000 Genomes project which will produce the most comprehensive map of human genetic variation to date.

Extramural Activity Details

NLM's Extramural programs focus on two priority areas: (1) basic and applied research in biomedical informatics and (2) the creation and enhancement of biomedical information infrastructure whose components include sophisticated computational tools, knowledge resources and skilled informaticians.  To accomplish its extramural goals, NLM offers 5 types of grants: research grants; resource grants; training support; career enhancement awards; and SBIR/STTR grants.  On average, NLM makes about 200 grant awards per year of which 30-50% are new awards.

Informatics Infrastructure for Biomedicine and Health 

For more than 40 years the NLM has funded programs to develop the US biomedical informatics infrastructure, including the informatics research workforce, advanced telecommunications capabilities, and cutting edge information resources.  Many of today's Health IT leaders are graduates of NLM-funded university-based informatics research training programs, now training more than 250 people annually at 18 institutions across the country.  NLM grants supported the first Internet connections for many health sciences libraries, hospitals, local public health departments, and community organizations.  The Library's grant programs encourage integrated institution-wide access to knowledge and information technology in academic health centers and support development of customized information resources for target audiences, as well as the preparation of scholarly works in all media related to the history and philosophy of medicine and biomedical science and relevant public policy issues. 

Budget Policy: The FY 2009 budget estimate is $21,376,000 a 4.4% decrease over FY 2008 amount of $22,361,000.These programs build the informatics expertise and information resources needed to support biomedical scientists, health care providers, public health administrators and health services researchers. NLM will continue extramural funding support for (1) its university-based training of research informaticians and information specialists; (2) planning and project grants for knowledge management initiatives for health-related data/information/knowledge, including integrated, customized knowledge sources for target audiences; (3) preparation of scholarly publications in the history and philosophy of medicine and biomedical science; (4) early career transition awards for informaticians, and (5) fellowships for informationist training.

Program Portrait: Support of Informatics Training

FY 2008 Level $ 22,361,000
FY 2009 Level $ 21,376,000
Change: -$984,789

Through its Extramural Programs Division, NLM remains the principal source of NIH support for research training in biomedical informatics. Informatics requires knowledge of a biological, medical or public health domain as well as computer and information sciences, statistics or mathematics, engineering and human behavior. Computation is increasingly becoming the base of health care and public health administration, and is already an inextricable element for basic biomedical research.

Developing a cadre of cross-trained researchers is especially important as rapid advancement of health care and biomedical research requires investigators who understand biomedicine as well as fundamental problems of knowledge representation, decision support, translational research, and human-computer interface. In FY 2007, NLM awarded eighteen new five-year institutional training grants for biomedical informatics to support approximately 250 pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees across the U.S. Between FY 2004 and FY 2008, special funds from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported the training of 18 additional NLM trainees in public health informatics. In 2008, three other NIH institutes provided funds to support eight more NLM trainees.

To increase diversity in the field of informatics, there is a special informatics short-term training appointment available any of NLM's 18 programs. NLM's annual Informatics Training Conference brings together more than 300 people from informatics training programs funded by NLM, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Resources for this initiative are reduced as a result of budgetary constraints and the resources needed to fund NLM's heavily used information services.

The average cost of support for an informatics trainee ranges between $56,000 (predoc), and $76,500 (postdoc) per year.  In 2008, NLM expects the number of supported trainees to be at least 187.  In FY 2009, NLM expects to support at least 172 trainee slots across its 18 training programs.

Informatics Research

NLM informatics research grants have supported pioneering research and development in bioinformatics, artificial intelligence in medicine, clinical decision support, biomedical ontology, imaging, electronic medical records, regional health data exchange, health applications of advanced telecommunications networks, automated biosurveillance, and emergency management systems.  These programs advance the science of biomedical informatics, which is the intersection of computer and information sciences with medicine, public health, and biological/behavioral sciences.  Informatics research is fundamental to the sophisticated systems in which biological research and health data are stored, managed, and displayed.  NLM programs include basic or applied research; both large and small projects, ranging from major research resources to small business innovation research; and investigator-initiated projects as well as focused requests for applications in target areas important to NLM's mission.

Budget Policy: The FY 2009 budget estimate is $27,556,000, a 3.7% decrease over the FY 2008 amount of $28,643,000. Informatics research is fundamental to the sophisticated systems in which research and health data are stored, managed and displayed. NLM plans to continue to strengthen its RPG portfolio through an expanding program of challenge grants, issuing RFAs in several informatics focus areas such as in-silico knowledge discovery, natural language understanding, and intelligent personal health records. NLM will continue to accept investigator-initiated grants through NIH parent grant FOAs for R01, R21 and R03. These grant programs also include funds for support of unique informatics research resources such as the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank and Protein Data Bank, and for small business innovation research (SBIR/STTR) grants in informatics areas.

Research Management and Support

NLM RMS activities provide administrative, budgetary, logistical, and scientific support for the NLM's basic library services, intramural research programs and the review, award and monitoring of research grants and training awards.  RMS functions also include strategic planning, coordination, and evaluation of NLM's programs, regulatory compliance, international coordination and liaison with other Federal agencies, Congress, and the public.  Included within this activity are:  the Director and his immediate staff, the Office of Extramural Programs, the Office of Administrative Management, the Office of Health Information Programs Development, and the Office of Communications and Public Liaison. 

Budget Policy:    The FY 2009 budget estimate for RMS is $12,492,000 an increase of $185,000 or 1.5 percent from the FY 2008 amount of $12,307,000. The focus of these activities will continue to be the coordination of NLM's activities and policies and the development and administration of NLM's grant activities.

The NLM participates in the support of PubChem (ML2-1) database support for Molecular Libraries funded through the NIH Common Fund.

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Budget Authority by Object

Budget Authority by Object FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate		 Increase or
Decrease
Total compensable workyears:
  Full-time employment 676 681 5
  Full-time equivalent of overtime and holiday hours 3 3 (0)
  Average ES salary $167,839 $173,703 $5,874
  Average GM/GS grade 10.86 10.86 0.0
  Average GM/GS salary $89,956 $93,105 $3,149
  Average salary, grade established by act of July 1, 1944 (42 U.S.C. 207) $79,538 $82,322 $2,784
  Average salary of ungraded positions 116,528 120,606 4,078
OBJECT CLASSES FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate		 Increase or
Decrease
  Personnel Compensation:  
11.1 Full-time permanent $51,873 $53,385 $1,512
11.3 Other than full-time permanent 5,990 6,165 175
11.5 Other personnel compensation 1,880 1,935 55
11.7 Military personnel 172 177 5
11.8 Special personnel services payments 1,480 1,523 43
  Total, Personnel Compensation 61,395 63,185 1,790
12.0 Personnel benefits 15,129 15,570 441
12.2 Military personnel benefits 69 71 2
13.0 Benefits for former personnel 0 0 0
  Subtotal, Pay Costs 76,593 78,826 2,233
21.0 Travel and transportation of persons 1,395 1,400 5
22.0 Transportation of things 453 453 0
23.1 Rental payments to GSA 0 0 0
23.2 Rental payments to others 62 63 1
23.3 Communications, utilities and miscellaneous charges 2,614 2,700 86
24.0 Printing and reproduction 244 241 (3)
25.1 Consulting services 44,417 44,885 86
25.2 Other services 36,848 37,000 152
25.3 Purchase of goods and services from government accounts 55,577 57,644 2,067
25.4 Operation and maintenance of facilities 5,608 5,700 92
25.5 Research and development contracts 12,385 11,882 (503)
25.6 Medical care 0 0 0
25.7 Operation and maintenance of equipment 7,189 7,200 11
25.8 Subsistence and support of persons 0 0 0
25.0 Subtotal, Other Contractual Services 162,024 164,311 2,287
26.0 Supplies and materials 2,118 2,120 2
31.0 Equipment 24,000 24,000 0
32.0 Land and structures 0 0 0
33.0 Investments and loans 0 0 0
41.0 Grants, subsidies and contributions 51,004 48,932 (2,072)
42.0 Insurance claims and indemnities 0 0 0
43.0 Interest and dividends 0 0 0
44.0 Refunds 0 0 0
  Subtotal, Non-Pay Costs 243,914 244,220 306
  Total Budget Authority by Object 320,507 323,046 2,539

Includes FTEs which are reimbursed from the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research

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Salaries and Expenses

OBJECT CLASSES
(Dollars in Thousands)		 FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate		 Increase or
Decrease
Personnel Compensation:  
  Full-time permanent (11.1) $51,873 $53,385 $1,512
  Other than full-time permanent (11.3) 5,990 6,165 6,165
  Other personnel compensation (11.5) 1,880 1,935 55
  Military personnel (11.7) 172 177 5
  Special personnel services payments (11.8) 1,480 1,523 43
Total Personnel Compensation (11.9) 61,395 63,185 1,790
Civilian personnel benefits (12.1) 15,129 15,570 441
Military personnel benefits (12.2) 69 71 2
Benefits to former personnel (13.0) 0 0 0
Subtotal, Pay Costs 76,593 78,826 2,233
Travel (21.0) 1,395 1,400 5
Transportation of things (22.0) 453 453 0
Rental payments to others (23.2) 62 63 1
Communications, utilities and miscellaneous charges (23.3) 2,614 2,700 86
Printing and reproduction (24.0) 244 241 (3)
Other Contractual Services:  
  Advisory and assistance services (25.1) 44,417 44,885 468
  Other services (25.2) 36,848 37,000 152
  Purchases from government accounts (25.3) 0 0 0
  Operation and maintenance of facilities (25.4) 5,608 5,700 92
  Operation and maintenance of equipment (25.7) 7,189 7,200 11
  Subsistence and support of persons (25.8) 0 0 0
Subtotal Other Contractual Services 94,062 94,785 723
Supplies and materials (26.0) 2,118 2,120 2
Subtotal, Non-Pay Costs 100,948 101,762 814
Total, Administrative Costs 177,541 180,588 3,047

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Authorizing Legislation

  PHS Act/
Other Citation		 U.S. Code
Citation		 2007 Amount
Authorized		 FY 2008
Enacted		 2008 Amount
Authorized		 FY 2009
Budget Estimate
Research and Investigation Section 301 42§241 Indefinite $320,507,000 Indefinite $323,046,000
National Library of Medicine Section 402(a) 42§281 Indefinite Indefinite
Total, Budget Authority 320,507,000   323,046

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Appropriations History

Fiscal Year

Budget
Estimate
to Congress

 House
Allowance		 Senate
Allowance		 Appropriation 1/
2000 185,654,000 2/ 3/ 202,027,000 210,183,000 215,214,000
Rescission 0 0 0 1,146,000
2001 230,135,000 2/ 230,135,000 256,953,000 246,801,000
Rescission       (399,000)
2002 275,725,000 2/ 273,610,000 281,581,000 281,581,000
Rescission       (1,567,000)
2003 313,534,000 313,534,000 331,443,000 302,099,000
Rescission       (1,964,000)
2004 315,401,000 315,401,000 319,396,000 311,635,000
Rescission       (2,520,000)
2005 316,947,000 316,947,000 316,900,000 317,947,000
Rescission       (2,801,000)
2006 318,091,000 318,091,000 327,247,000 318,091,000
Rescission       (3,181,000)
2007 313,269,000 313,269,000 313,269,000 320,850,000
2008 312,562,000 325,484,000 327,817,000 326,669,000
Rescission       (5,707,000)
2009 323,046,000      

1/ Reflects enacted supplementals, rescissions, and reappropriations.
2/ Excludes funds for HIV/AIDS research activities consolidated in the NIH Office of AIDS Research.

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Details of Full-Time Equivalent Employment (FTEs)

OFFICE/DIVISION FY 2007
Actual		 FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate
Division of Library Operations 322 322 322
Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications  70 70 70
National Center for Biotechnology Information 171 171 171
Division of Specialized Information Services 35 35 35
Office of the Director/Administration 63 63 63
Division of Extramural Programs 15 15 15
    Total 676 676 681
Includes FTEs which are reimbursed from the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research
FTEs supported by funds from Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (0) (0) (0)
FISCAL YEAR Average GM/GS Grade
2005 10.86
2006 10.86
2007 10.86
2008 10.86
2009 10.86

An additional 5 FTEs will be used to support data analysis and database operations for NIH-wide programs that require NCBI to be a focal point for data submission and access. Specific initiatives include the new mandatory Public Access policy (submission of journal articles of NIH-funded research) and the mandated repository of genome association study data, dbGap.

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Detail of Positions

GRADE FY 2007
Actual		 FY 2008
Enacted		 FY 2009
Estimate
Total, ES Positions 5 5 5
Total, ES Salary 810,774 861,000 914,296
GM/GS-15 37 37 37
GM/GS-14 43 43 43
GM/GS-13 114 114 114
GS-12 142 142 142
GS-11 28 28 28
GS-10 2 2 2
GS-9 24 24 24
GS-8 56 56 56
GS-7 40 40 40
GS-6 6 6 6
GS-5 5 5 5
GS-4 20 20 20
GS-3 6 6 6
GS-2 5 5 5
GS-1 2 2 2
 Subtotal 530 530 530
Grades established by Act of July 1, 1944 (42 U.S.C. 207):  
Assistant Surgeon General 0 0 0
Director Grade 0 0 0
Senior Grade 1 1 1
Full Grade 0 0 0
Senior Assistant Grade 1 1 1
Assistant Grade 0 0 0
 Subtotal 2 2 2
Ungraded 190 190 195
Total permanent positions 619 619 619
Total positions, end of year 727 727 727
Total full-time equivalent (FTE) employment, end of year 676 676 681
Average ES salary 162,154 167,829 173,703
Average GM/GS grade 10.86 10.86 10.86
Average GM/GS salary 86,091 89,956 89,956

Includes FTEs which are reimbursed from the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.

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New Positions Requested

  FY2009
Requested Positions Grade Number Annual Salary
Computer Scientists Ungraded 5 $100,000
Total Requested   5  

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Last Reviewed: November 12, 2024