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MeSH Guidelines for Medical Catalogers Available on the Web

MeSH Guidelines for Medical Catalogers Available on the Web. NLM Technical Bulletin. 1999 Mar–Apr;(307):e1.

March 1999 [posted]

A new document titled, Application of MeSH for Medical Catalogers, describing changes in NLM cataloging practices has just been made available on the Web at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/cataloging/catmesh.html. This document details cataloging changes that resulted from NLM's implementation of Endeavor Information Systems' Voyager as its new Integrated Library System (ILS); LocatorPlus is the Online Public Access Catalog module of the ILS.

With 1999 MeSH and the implementation of the Voyager Integrated Library System, the Cataloging Section moved to harmonize its practices for subject heading content and structure with NLM's indexing practices. These changes are intended to facilitate cross-file searching and enhance retrieval by assuring that the same terms produce like results for articles, books, non-print materials, electronic resources, etc.

The instructions on this Web page provide guidance to medical catalogers for understanding the changes to subject headings in LocatorPlus and distributed records, and for constructing like headings for materials cataloged at their own institutions. These instructions apply only to Medical Subject Headings -- Annotated Alphabetic List, 1999. The Annotated Alphabetic List, 2000 will have instructions for medical catalogers that reflect changes in that edition.