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Strategic Vision

What Might the Next Twenty Years Hold?

Special Working Group
April 11-12, 2005

This section was derived from the meeting of the Strategic Vision Working Group at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., on April 11-12, 2005. See appendix 4 for names of participants. The group met to provide the broadest view of NLM’s mission, current situation, and its potential future contributions to the health and well-being of America. It was asked to articulate a view of the principal features of the biomedical information landscape in the 20 year period 2005-2025. Subsequently, the four planning panels were asked for recommendations for the next 10 years (2006-2016) that will be shaped by a more distant view of the next 20.

In a world that is increasingly digital, the NLM already plays a pivotal role in enabling biomedical research, supporting health care and public health, and promoting healthy behavior. By connecting and making the results of research — from scientific data to published literature to patient and consumer health information — readily available, the Library magnifies the positive impact of the country’s investment in the creation of new knowledge.

In the years ahead, NLM’s programs and services will become even more central to scientific discovery and the treatment and prevention of disease. Continuing advances in biology, clinical research, health care, computer science, and telecommunications - and changes in the way information is produced, stored, and accessed - will combine to change the nature of biological and medical knowledge.


Strategic Vision