NLM News 1995 July-August; Vol. 50, No. 4

     The NLM News is published 6 times a year by the National Library
of Medicine (National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and
Human Services).  Beginning with Vol. 49, No. 1, the NLM News is
avaiable via the Internet.  To access, ftp to nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov and
login as anonymous.  Use your e-mail address as the password.
     
     In addition to electronic access, the printed NLM News is mailed
without chargeto institutions and individuals interested in health sciences
communications.  For further information, contact NLM's Office of
Public Information (8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894); e-mail
address: publicinfo@occshost.nlm.nih.gov.
NLM Director, Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D.
Chief, Office of Public Information, Robert B. Mehnert,
Editor, Roger L. Gilkeson; e-mail address: Gilkeson@nih.gov

************************************************************
Contents:
*    Developing Strategies for Streamlining
*    "Making a Powerful Connection" Conference Report Available
*    New Regents Appointed
*    Dr. Ackerman Named NLM Assistant Director for HPCC
*    New Exhibit on Meidcine in India
*    HMD Acquires Rare Civil War Broadside
*    NLM in Print
***********************************************************

Developing Strategies for Streamlining

The National Performance Review (NPR) and the President's initiative
to reduce the size of government challenge agencies to develop a smaller yet
responsive workforce that works better and costs less.  These do not
represent altogether new challenges for the National Library of
Medicine.  The Library continually seeks improved methods to
accomplish the increasing demands for its programs and services with
reduced staff, and to make its services even more responsive to to
the nation's health information needs.  Nevertheless, over the next
several years the Library must reduce its staff, increase its
supervisory ratio, reduce the number of positions in personnel,
budget, information resource management, and grants and acquisitions,
and modernize its information
systems.
     To provide leadership and coordination for the development of a
streamlining plan that will enable the Library to meet the reduced
staff ceilings and improve operations, NLM director Donald A. B.
Lindberg, M.D., appointed a small working
group co-chaired by the NLM deputy director, Kent A. Smith, and the
associate director, Division of Library Operations, Lois Ann
Colaianni..  The group consisted of senior management and mid-level
staff, and nonsupervisory employees.
     Since January 1995, the group has heard reports from NLM
associate directors who presented strategies for meeting the downsizing 
requirements in their program areas, and their associated streamlining 
activities. Streamlining suggestions from NLM employees identifying 
better ways to accomplish activities were also solicited and over 100 were
received.  All were reviewed by the working group and, where
appropriate, were incorporated into the streamlining plan.
     Some of these suggestions included establishing an active
volunteer program, improving internal communications, implementing
recommendations of the LO Working Group on Customer Service, and
easing time demands of administrative tasks wherever possible.
Reorganizations are also planned.  Of the six major NLM components,
three will be reorganized shortly.  This includes the Divisions of
Extramural Programs and Specialized Information Services, and the
Office of Computer and Communications Systems.  A more gradual
reorganization is anticipated for the Division of Library Operations,
which carries out fundamental library services and is NLM's largest
component.  All Offices and Divisions will institute streamlining
initiatives.  The streamlining working group discussions, the
associate director reviews, individual task force efforts, and the
NLM employee suggestions produced valuable recommendations for
streamlining the organization that will enable the NLM to meet
downsizing requirements without adversely affecting the Library's
mission or current staff significantly.  The result is consistent
with the NLM Board of Regents' strong pronouncements that
streamlining should not damage the high quality of NLM programs and
services.

NLM System Reinvention Initiative

     In addition to downsizing the Federal workforce, the National
Performance Review identified a set of recommendations to improve
services to the public.  Federal agencies were asked to establish
reinvention labs to function as test sites for agency streamlining
and deregulation.  The NLM was identified as such a test site and is
now involved in the NLM System Reinvention Initiative; an initiative
that will redesign existing NLM computer systems to take advantage of
new directions in software, hardware, and communications that now
make it possible to provide new functions that will help users in
ways not available under earlier circumstances.  Its implementation
will enhance services for NLM customers and permit the redirection of
staff efforts from maintaining obsolete software to developing new
improved services.  A System Reinvention Coordinating Committee,
Executive Bureau, and working groups with representatives from all
divisions of NLM are focusing on making the transition to new
information systems as smooth as possible for both users and staff.

     Mr. Joseph Hutchins of the Office of Computer and Computer
Systems chairs the project liaison group that deals with system 
development issues that cut across the major project areas.  Mr. 
Edward Sequeira has recently been appointed as the reinvention 
project coordinator and will work in the Office of the Director, NLM, 
to assist in planning and overseeing the reinvention effort.

***********************************************************

"Making a Powerful Connection" Conference Report Available

     The Library has announced the electronic availability of "Making
a Powerful Connection: The Health of the Public and the National
Information Infrastructure," a report of the U.S. Public Health
Service Public Health Data Policy Coordinating Committee. The report
is the final version of a paper prepared for participants at an
invitational conference held at NLM on April 19th (News, May-June
1995).  In addition to describing the potential benefits to the
public health community from increased use of the National
Information Infrastructure, the paper discusses barriers that
currently discourage application of NII technologies to the
information needs of population-based public health and outlines a
comprehensive strategy for realizing the potential of the NII to
improve the health of the public.  The conference was sponsored by
NLM, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Agency for Health Care
Policy and Research.  The report was prepared by Roz D. Lasker, M.D.,
deputy assistant secretary for health (policy development), Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Health; Betsy Humphreys, NLM assistant
director for health services research information; and William R.
Braithwaite, M.D., Ph.D., senior advisor for information policy, 
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.

     The report is available on the Library's FTP
(nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov) and Gopher (gopher.nlm.nih.gov) servers in
WordPerfect and ASCII formats:

*    ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/nlminfo/newsletters/reports/niiph.wp
*    ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/nlminfo/newsletters/reports/niiph.txt
*
gopher://gopher.nlm.nih.gov:70/99/nlminfo/newsletters/reports/niiph.wp
*
gopher://gopher.nlm.nih.gov:70/00/nlminfo/newsletters/reports/niiph.txt

***********************************************************

New Regents Appointed

     Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala has named two
new members to 4-year appointments on the Library's Board of Regents:
Tenley E. Albright, M.D., and Sherrilynne Shirley Fuller, Ph.D.  The
Board meets three times a year to review NLM programs and to
formulate policy recommendations to the NLM director.
     
     Dr. Albright, a general surgeon in private practice, is a
graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Medical School.  She has
also received half a dozen honorary doctorates over her career.  Dr.
Albright has many professional affiliations, including membership on
several committees of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, the
Board of Directors of the Whitehead Institute, the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, the New England Baptist Hospital, and the
Friends of the National Library of Medicine.  She has written extensively 
on subjects relating to cancer and about sports medicine.  Dr. Albright 
won an Olympic Gold Medal in figure skating in 1956.
     
     Dr. Sherrilynne Fuller is director of the Health Sciences
Library and Information Center of the University of Washington in
Seattle.  That library serves as the Regional Medical Library for
Region 6 of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.  Dr.
Fuller received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University, an
M.L.S. from the same school, and her doctorate in library and
information management from the University of Southern California.  
Her career has included library positions at the Gulfport (Miss.) 
Memorial Hospital, public libraries in Anchorage and Colorado Springs, 
the University of Southern California, and the University of Minnesota.  
Dr. Fuller, who is a frequent contributor to the health sciences 
literature, has served NLM on the Biomedical Library Review Committee 
and on the outreach long range planning panel.
*
[Photos A, B, x9 picas]
Dr. Albright    Dr. Fuller

***********************************************************

Dr. Ackerman Named NLM Assistant Director for HPCC

     NLM director Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., has appointed Michael
J. Ackerman, Ph.D., as NLM assistant director for High Performance
Computing and Communications.  Dr. Ackerman will continue in his role
as head, High Performance Computing and Communications Office, within
the Library's Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical
Communications, and in his new capacity he will serve as the focal
point within NLM for providing coordination, consultative, and
advisory services relating to HPCC-funded activities.
     In 1994 the Library announced a total of ten projects--involving
12 contracts totaling $26 million--as the first awards in health care
to be made under the HPCC Program (News, March-April 1994).  These
projects fund health care applications such as testbed networks to
share information resources, computerized patient records, and
medical images; telemedicine projects to provide consultation and
medical care to patients in rural areas; and advanced computer
simulations of human anatomy for training via "virtual surgery."
Detailed information about these ongoing projects is available from
NLM's Public Information Office (e-mail: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov). Dr.
Ackerman has been with NLM since 1987 when he was selected to head
the newly created Educational Technology Branch within the Lister
Hill Center.  He has received a number of awards for his work as
project coordinator for the highly successful Visible Human Project
(News, November-December 1994), including a Public Health
Service Special Recognition Award for "innovative direction of NLM's
pioneering electronic imaging research project..."

*
[Photo D, x9 picas, insert as window flush right within 1st
paragraph] Dr. Ackerman
***********************************************************

New Exhibit on Medicine in India

     The Library's History of Medicine Division will have a new
exhibit opening in September, entitled "Allopaths, Maharajas, and
Vaidyas; Nizams, Jams, and Hakims: Medical Pluralism in the Princely
States of India."  Drawing from material in the collections of
Kenneth X. Robbins, M.D., and NLM, the exhibit will focus on medical
practices and royal patronage in the hundreds of Indian states ruled
by princes until the time of Indian and Pakistani independence.  The
exhibit examines the interaction and co-existence of Western
allopathic and homeopathic medical systems with the indigenous
Ayurvedic, Siddha, and Unani systems, along with other traditional
and religious healing practices.
The exhibit will be on display in the main lobby of the National
Library of Medicine (NIH Building 38), in Bethesda, Maryland from 
September 15 to December 31, 1995.  For more information, contact:
     
     Stephen Greenberg
     History of Medicine Division
     National Library of Medicine
     Bethesda, MD 20894
          Tel: 301-496-5405
          INTERNET:  hmdref@nlm.nih.gov

*
[Caption for Photo E, x18picas]
Indian princes under the Raj at the turn of the century, from the
Robbins collection.

***********************************************************

HMD Acquires Rare Civil War Broadside

     The Library's History of Medicine Division recently obtained an
extremely rare Civil War medical broadside issued by Erasmus D.
Safford, the surgeon of the 6th Virginia Volunteer Infantry
Regiments, United States of America, on August 25, 1862.  (This
regiment was renamed the 6th West Virginia Infantry Regiment when
West Virginia became a state in 1863.)
     The surgeon had the broadside printed and distributed to the men
of his regiment as a set of public health and personal hygiene rules.
As stated by Surgeon Safford, the purpose was "to give such advice
for your Camp Life as may best preserve your health and promote your
efficiency..."  The document also has the approval of Colonel Nathan
Wilkinson, the commanding officer of the regiment.
     This broadside clearly shows that many of the important
principles of public health were known early in the Civil War.  These 
included the need for good ventilation, prevention of crowding, personal 
cleanliness, toilet sinks in trenches at a distance from camps, and 
healthy diets.  We now know that if these rules had been closely 
followed, the death rate from disease in the American Civil War would 
not have been twice that from wounds.

*
[Photo C, x18picas]
This rare Civil War broadside will be displayed within the Division's
exhibit of
recent acquisitions through October 1995.

***********************************************************


     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 News, National Library of Medicine,
Bethesda, MD 20894.  (Note: Some of the articles below may be from
journals that are out of scope for the NLM collection and are
therefore not available from the Library on interlibrary loan.)

Arndt KA, Dubin D. Peering at the dermatology literature.  Arch
Dermatol 1995 May;131(5):602-3.

Florance V. Computers in surgery: buildling the surgeon's virtual
library. Contemp Surg 1995 Jul;47(1):40-4.

Fonger CG. TOXNET:an online resource for toxicology information. In
Computing in Environmental Management.  AWMA/EPA, 1995:398-401.

Hatfield P, Beevers DG. An analysis of the hypertension journals. J
Hum Hypertens 1995 Jan;9(1):31-6.
HSRProj [Health Services Research Projects]. HSR Reports 1995 Jun;:6.

Kaslow HR. Authors and editors of the world unite. FASEB J 1995
Feb;9(2):291.

Long LR, Berman LE, Thoma GR. Client/server design for fast retrieval
of large images on the Internet. Proc 8th IEEE Symposium of Computer-
Based Medical Systems(CBMS'95), Lubbock TX, June 9-10, 1995; 284-91.

McConnell J. Prison cell to pixel [news]. Lancet 1994 Dec
10;344(8937):1632.

Mehnert R. National Library of Medicine. Bowker Annual 1995;40;:165-
71. Meskin LH. Information, please. J Am Dent Assoc 1995
May;126(5):540, 541, 544 passim.

Miller LG. Applied medical informatics for the pharmacist. J Med Syst
1994 Dec;18(6):299-303.

Miller PL, Frawley SJ, Wright L, Roderer NK, Powsner SM. Lessons
learned from a pilot implementation of the UMLS information sources
map.  J Am Med Inform Assoc 1995 Mar-Apr;2(2):102-15.

National Library of Medicine. HSR Reports 1995 Jun;:7, 15.
Net Prophet [interview with DAB Lindberg]. Physicians Pract Dig 1995
Sum;5(3):18-29. Southern J, Rowley D, Kretzer F. Using the MEDLINE
database in a histology laboratory. Acad Med 1995 May;70(5):439-40.

Thoma GR, Berman LE, Long LR. Digitized medical x-rays on the
information suerphighway. Proc 48th Annual Conference: Society for
Imaging Science and Technology. Springfield VA: IS&T, 1995; 111-3.

Walker F, Thoma GR. DocView: providing access to printed literature
through the Internet. Proc 10th Integrated Onoline Library Systems
Meeint. New York: Learned Information, Inc., 1995; 165-73.