National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

Are you interested in contributing to HLWIKI Canada - hlwiki.ca? contact: dean.giustini@ubc.ca To browse other articles on a range of HSL topics, see the wiki index. Introduction See also MLA - Medical Library Association (U.S.) | National Library of Medicine classification | PubMed - MEDLINE The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the largest medical library in the world and provides access to a wide range of health information in support of the National Institutes of Health and its other stakeholders. The NLM maintains several medical databases such as PubMed - MEDLINE and OMIM (a genetic traits database), the fulltext repository PubMed Central and products such as the NLM Classification System and the MeSH thesaurus. NLM's history can be traced back to John Lovell, John Shaw Billings and the Library of the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States Army in the 19th century. NLM's consumer health information portal is MedlinePlus (U.S.). NLM now also produces another major health portal called PubMed Health. History of the NLM Before the United States' Civil War, there was little notion of an American medical library. The Surgeon General of the Army published the first catalogue in 1840, but its collection was not truly established until after the temporary war hospitals were finally closed in 1864, and their holdings were brought together under one library. In 1865, Lieutenant John Shaw Billings, was hired to take charge of the collection. In one year alone, Billings grew the national collection from 2,100 volumes to 13,000. At Billings's retirement in 1895, the library's collection had grown to over 100,000 monographs and nearly 200,000 pamphlets. Another triumph for the Library was instituted by Billings in 1880: the introduction of the Index Catalog which comprised author and subject indices of the Library's holdings. At the same time, in 1879, Billings began to index the world's medical journal literature in Index Medicus. Today, NLM's online database, MEDLINE, contains over 22 million citations and is freely available to the public through PubMed. In 1922, the Library of the Surgeon General's Office was renamed the Army Medical Library and began to offer services to healthcare professionals across the Untied States. Senators Lister Hill and John F. Kennedy were instrumental in passing an Act of Congress in 1956 to move the library from the Army to the Public Health Service, renaming it the National Library of Medicine. In 1962, the NLM opened on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, just outside of Washington, DC. NLM's many collections and services continue to grow with development of MEDLINE since the 1970s, the Lister Hill Research Centre (1967) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (1988). Other online services include PubMed, the consumer health portal MedlinePlus and the national registry of drug trials, Clinicaltrials.gov. A more detailed history can be found here, and an overview of the modern organization follows below. Organizational Structure The NLM is led by Dr. Donald A. Lindberg, a world-renown pathologist, professor and scholar. He has served on the boards of many scientific organizations, including the American Medical Informatics Association, the Computer Science and Engineering Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Board of Medical Examiners, and the Council of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. The director oversees NLM units such as the Office of Administration, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, Office of Health Information Programs Development and various library divisions. NLM's Library Divisions Library Operations the library-oriented arm of the NLM; includes history of medicine; public, bibliographic & technical services; Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Extramural Programs grant approval and awards Special Information Services including toxicology (TOXNET), HIV/AIDS and disaster management Lister Hill Center for Biomedical Communications Research centre designed to increase the effectiveness and availability of technology in biomedicine. Emphasizing research in medical imaging, visualization, language processing (automated indexing) and information systems. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Providing access to biomedical and genomic information through services such as PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC) and OMIM. Office of Computer and Communication System (OCCS) Maintains and provides infrastructure for the information retrieval and networked research programs across all NLM divisions. The official organizational chart of the NLM is available here. National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) The mission of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by providing all health professionals in the United States with equal access to biomedical information and improving the public's access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their own health care. The NNLM Program is coordinated by the National Library of Medicine and carried out through a nationwide network of health libraries and information centres. The NNLM was formerly the Regional Medical Library Program which has served the biomedical information needs of the US for forty+ years. Established by the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, member libraries in the NNLM provide health professionals and the general public with health information resources and services. Members are supported via eight regional offices under contract to the NLM. The National Network Office, located at the National Library of Medicine, oversees these contracts. NLM Associate Program The National Library of Medicine Associate Fellowship Program is a one-year postgraduate program at the NLM in Bethesda, Maryland, with an optional second year. The program is designed to provide a foundation in health sciences information services, and to prepare future leaders in health libraries and health research. Associate Fellows are introduced to a wide range of technologies and skills used in managing information at a national library. The fellowship program provides opportunities to: gain experience with the areas technologies shaping the future of library and information science explore research and development activities in biomedical information examine current issues and trends affecting the library and information fields prepare for careers in traditional and nontraditional settings in the fields of librarianship and information science The NLM Associate program is a well-respected internship. Through internships, young professionals are able to integrate theory, skills, and knowledge and apply the ideals of the MLIS to practice; the intention is to reduce the gulf between LIS education and professional practice. Canadian context Canada's de-facto national library of medicine is the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI). References Corning ME. National Library of Medicine: international cooperation for biomedical communications. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1975;63(1):14-22. Lindberg DA. The National Library of Medicine. World Neurosurg. 2010;74(1):46-8. Marine Biological Institute; National Library of Medicine. BioMedical Informatics: a course for health professionals. Woods Hole (MA); 2006. National Library of Medicine. Charting a course for the 21st century: NLM's long range plan 2006–2016. Bethesda, MD: The Library, 2007. NIH MedlinePlus Magazine. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine. 2006;1(1). Online exhibitions and digital projects. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US). 2008. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/onlineexhibitions.html Patel VL, Branch T, Cimino A. Participant perceptions of the influences of the NLM-sponsored Woods Hole medical informatics course. JAMIA. 12(3):256-62. Siegel ER, Logan RA. Information Rx: evaluation of a new informatics tool for physicians, patients and libraries. Inform Serv Use. 2006;26(1):1-10. Siegel ER, Wood FB, Dutcher GA. Assessment of the National Library of Medicine’s health disparities plan: a focus on Native American outreach. J Med Libr Assoc. 93:S10-20. Slomski A. The National Library of Medicine: 175 years of advancing biomedical knowledge. JAMA. 2011;305(21):2158-61.