Long Range Plan 2000-2005
GOAL 1 - ORGANIZE HEALTH-RELATED INFORMATION AND PROVIDE ACCESS TO IT
The advanced information products and services of the National Library of Medicine are built on the foundation stone of its unparalleled collections. They are broad (encompassing all the health sciences) and deep (from the 11th century to the present). The Library today is seen as a principal source of biomedical information and the NLM’s many high-technology programs are infused with the confidence and competence resulting from a century and a half of experience in filling the information needs of health professionals. The Library continues to place primary emphasis on its role as acquirer, organizer, and disseminator of health-related information.
OBJECTIVE 1.1 -
ACQUIRE,
ORGANIZE, AND PRESERVE BIOMEDICAL INFORMATION
FINDINGS
The
NLM continues to accord the highest priority to maintaining the
integrity of its collections and serving as the library of last resort
for the worldwide biomedical literature. Over the past decade, the
Library assessed and enhanced its collection and bibliographic databases
in molecular biology and genetics and in health services research and
health technology assessment in support of major new programs in these
areas. The Library has also been placing increasing emphasis on new
forms of information (for example, electronic journals and computer
software). The content of NLM databases has been enriched with
additional types of material such as conference proceedings, clinical
practice guidelines, consensus development reports, newsletters, and
book sections. NLM has used advanced technology to enhance access to
unique historical materials in Profiles in Science, Images from the
History of Medicine, and online historical exhibitions . Under NLM’s
system reinvention effort, a commercial integrated library
system has replaced an assortment of custom-built, mainframe-based
processes that control acquisitions, serials, cataloging, collection
management, circulation, preservation, and binding. A continually
evolving online indexing system streamlines the handling of the
biomedical literature for MEDLINE, from the time a journal issue arrives
at the Library until it is entered into the database. More than
two-thirds of MEDLINE citation and abstract data is now either received
in electronic format directly from publishers or rapidly scanned into
the database. NLM continues to participate actively in the evolution of
cataloging, bibliographic citation, and preservation standards and
practices. The Library’s SGML formats required for publisher
submission of MEDLINE citation and abstract data have had a
standardizing effect on the structure of electronic biomedical journals.
In the area of preservation, the NLM led a successful campaign to increase dramatically the amount of medical journal publishing done on “permanent” (non-acid) paper. The Library has also made substantial progress on microfilming brittle monographs and serials; adopted a modern disaster prevention and recovery program; and established an in-house book repair laboratory. Ensuring permanent access to electronic publications, however, is a subject of increasing concern within academia, government, industry, and others interested in seeing that digital information does not disappear. NLM monitors related developments in standards, technology, collaborative strategies, and public policy, while working on practical approaches for its own electronic output.
PROGRAM PLANS
ORGANIZATION OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION
- Continue to organize selected authoritative electronic information written for the general public with an emphasis on science-based, nationally applicable information.
- Develop and implement a national strategy for organization of high-quality electronic biomedical and health information aimed at any of NLM’s user groups, in collaboration with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) and other appropriate partners.
- Work with Federal agencies and other interested organizations to provide organized access to health data sets and other tools used in health services research .
- Continue to expand the use of publisher-supplied electronic data and to experiment with automated indexing techniques as a means for improving access to selected information (e.g., gene names, methodologies, research populations) and for reducing the level of human effort involved in indexing and cataloging.
- Modify NLM’s technical processing, indexing, and document delivery systems and procedures to handle documents born digitally as efficiently as print materials are now handled.
PERMANENT ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC INFORMATION
- Take a leadership role in ensuring permanent access to important digital materials in health and biomedicine, including electronic journals, databases, documents published on the Web, and new kinds of scholarly communication and documentation of knowledge, using NLM’s own electronic output and services as initial test-beds.
- Work with national libraries and other appropriate organizations to develop, test, and implement standards and strategies for permanent access to electronic information.
ENHANCING AND PRESERVING ACCESS TO RETROSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL MATERIALS
- Continue digitization of NLM’s retrospective indexes and catalogs.
- Continue to organize and digitize selected portions of NLM’s unique manuscript collections, with emphasis on expanding Profiles in Science.
- Identify important and unique retrospective biomedical collections held by other institutions, including historically significant records of modern biomedical and health services research, and develop a national strategy to promote enhanced access and preservation.
SCOPE OF NLM’S COLLECTION AND DATABASES
- Expand coverage of emerging multidisciplinary areas in the health and life sciences (e.g. aquatic toxicology, plant genetics, biophysics, environmental geochemistry, chemoecology).
- Continue
efforts to improve coverage and retrieval mechanisms for those
working in the multidisciplinary areas of health policy and public
health, including expanded access to environmental and toxicological
data and to technical reports and other “ grey literature , ”
which is increasingly available on the Web.
PHYSICAL SPACE
- Develop and implement plans for expanding and improving the physical housing of the NLM collection.
