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DragonflySummer 2001 -- Volume 32, Number 3 The newsletter of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region. |
The National Library of Medicine has issued its official Recommended Formats to use when citing Internet resources. These are formats that NLM uses, and recommends we all use, for references to any sort of electronic publication - ebook, ejournal, ejournal article, homepage on the Web, entry from a listserv, etc. - in a bibliography or footnote. Many of you will want to bookmark this new publication. It is rich with information and examples and is likely to become an indispensable supplement to NLM's recommended formats for citing physical publications such as printed books or journal articles.
This new resource has been published on the Internet, and here is the citation for it in its own recommended format:
Patrias, Karen. National Library of Medicine recommended formats for bibliographic citation. Supplement: Internet formats [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine; 2001 Jul [cited 2001 Aug 8]. 106p. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/formats/internet.pdf
You'll notice that this looks quite similar to a citation to a book. In fact, the general guideline for Internet resources is to follow basic rules for citing. Look for an author (or some responsible entity), a title, a place of "publication" and publisher, a date of publication, and "pagination" (length). In addition, a citation to an Internet resource needs an availability statement that presents the network address. After all, one purpose of citing a document is to make it possible to find a copy! NLM also recommends the inclusion in brackets of a medium designator, [Internet], after the title, to make it clear that the item being cited is virtual, not physical. If you wish, you can include a brief note at the end of the citation to indicate restrictions or requirements for viewing an item.
Of course, there is a lot of variability in how Internet resources are presented, so it can be difficult or impossible to find some standard citation information.
If there is no clear author, do not use "anonymous." Instead, list the resource under title.
If there is no clear title, look for:
The place of "publication" is where the sponsor of the resource is located, and if that cannot be found use [place unknown].
Dates are extremely important since the electronic environment is so volatile. Include the date of publication plus date of revision, if one or both can be found. Always include date of citation, i.e. when you viewed, downloaded, or printed the resource. If no date of publication or revision is present, a date of citation at least places the document somewhere in time. Date information will help future readers decide whether they need to read the item, and can be invaluable in helping to find a copy of it. NLM recommends that we use a year-month-day format for dates, e.g. 2001 Aug 10.
Pagination is often absent in the electronic milieu, but you may wish to indicate in brackets an estimate of the item's size or the number of screens it takes up. This helps the reader know what to expect.
URLs in availability statements should never end with a period unless the URL itself ends with a slash. For example::
Although this may seem a trivial point, it can make a big difference when cutting and pasting a URL or using it to link directly.
Otherwise, NLM's recommendations allow you to make choices in whether to use authors' full names or initials, whether to include author addresses, whether to spell out journal titles or use NLM abbreviations, whether to include 2-letter state or country abbreviations, and whether to combine content designators with medium designators, e.g. [bibliography on the Internet] or [database on the Internet]. Whatever you decide, use consistency throughout your list of references.
When deciding how to cite an Internet resource, think of your readers, and ask yourself what information they'll need for evaluating, finding, and using the item. Think also about the resource itself. Is it a one-time publication, like a book? Is it published at regular intervals over time, like a journal? Is it a section of a publication, like a book chapter, journal article, chart, or graphic? NLM's recommendations are organized by type of resource, by publication pattern, and by whether a whole item or just part of one is being cited. A few basic examples are presented below, but remember that this is just a glimpse into the wealth of information provided in the full set of recommendations.
If you are creating a citation for a type of Internet resource that is not represented in this brief tour, consult the complete work. In addition, the recommendations' author, Karen Patrias, would be happy to discuss questions on correct format, and she plans to update this publication when new types of Internet documents emerge. Karen - who can be reached at (301) 435-4887 or karen_patrias@nlm.nih.gov - is not only the author of these Recommended Formats for citing the Internet but also wrote the original volume to which this is a supplement:
Patrias, Karen. National Library of Medicine recommended formats for bibliographic citation. Bethesda (MD): The Library; 1991 Apr. Available from: NTIS, Springfield, VA; PB91-182030.
FINAL NOTE: If you have difficulty opening the new recommended formats for citing Internet resources, you may need to adjust your Acrobat Reader preferences. Karen Patrias provided information on how to do that in a MEDLIB-L posting:
Patrias, Karen. Accessing "Citing the Internet." In: MEDLIB-L [Internet]. (Chicago, IL): Medical Library Association; 2001 Aug 2, 15:45:57 [cited 2001 Aug 13]. Available from: http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0108A&L=medlib-l&P=R2643
Articles in Journals or Other Periodicals:
Tong, Vincent; Abbott, Frank S.; Mbofana, Salome; Walker, Michael J. In vitro investigation of the hepatic extraction of RSD1070, a novel antiarrhythmic compound. Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences [Internet]. 2001 [cited 2001 May 3]; 4(1):15-23. Available from: http://www.ualberta.ca/~csps/JPPS4(1)/F.Abbott/RSD1070.pdf
Connolly C. Deaths from heart disease, cancer, AIDS declined in '99. The Washington Post Online [Internet]. 2001 Jun 27 [cited 2001 Jun 28]:A03. [about 31 paragraphs]. Available from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-cyn-articles/A48806-2001Jun26.html
Books:
Lawrence, Ruth A. A review of the medical benefits and contraindications to breastfeeding in the United States [Internet]. Arlington (VA): National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health; 1997 Oct [cited 2000 Apr 24]. 40 p. Available from: http://www.ncemch.org/pubs/PDFs/breastfeedingTIB.pdf Hardin meta directory of Internet health resources [Internet]. Iowa City (IA): University of Iowa, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences; [updated 2001 Apr25; cited 2001 Apr 30]. Available from: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/index.html
Chapters in Books:
Monath, Thomas P. Dengue: the risk to developed and developing countries. In: Roizman, Bernard, editor. Infectious diseases in an age of change: the impact of human ecology and behavior on disease transmission [Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 1995 [modified 2001 Mar 2; cited 2000 Apr 4]. P. 43-58. Available from: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309051363/html/43.html#pagetop
Dobzhansky, Theodosius; Robinson, Arthur. The physical basis of heredity. In: Encyclopedia Britannica [Internet]. Chicago: Britannica.com Inc.; c1999-2000 [cited 2000 Mar 17]. [about 22 paragraphs]. Available from: http://britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/3/0,5716,120933+1+111157,00.html
Databases:
Prevention News Update Database [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US), National Prevention Information Network. 1988 Jun - [cited 2001 Apr 12]. Available from: http://www.cdcnpin.org/db/public/dnmain.htm
Pulse Generator Database [Internet]. Irvington (NY): Amadeus Multimedia Technology, Inc.; c1995-98 - [updated 2000 Sep 19; cited 2001 Jun 23]. Available from: http://www.heartwe.org/heartweb/pulsegen.htm Searchable by manufacturer, model, and x-ray code.
Graphics:
The Urbana atlas of pathology [Internet]. Urbana (IL): University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign; c1994-97 [modified 1997 Nov 4; cited 2001 Apr 24]. Image No. 034, Left ventricular hypertrophy, heart; [about 1 screen]. Available from: http://www.med.uiuc.edu/PathAtlasf/WWW_CV_Images/V2767.html
Zhuomei L, Joseph D, Bugnard E, Zaal KJ, Ralson E. Golgi complex reorganization during muscle differentiation: visualization in living cells and mechanism. Mol Biol Cell [Internet]. 2001 Apr [cited 2001 Jun 23]; 12(4):795-808. Figure 2, Golgi complex dynamics in C2 myoblasts and during fusion [video]; [about 30 sec.] Available from: http://www.molbiolcell.org/content/vol12/issue4/images/data/795/F2DC1/. System Requirements: RealPlayer Basic or Quicktime Player required to view.
Journals:
Digital Journal of Ophthalmology [Internet]. Boston: Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Vol. 1, No. 1, 1997- [cited 2001 Apr 1]. Available from: http://www.djo.harvard.edu/.
The Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials [Internet]. New York: Chapman & Hall. Doc. No. 1, 1992 - Doc. No. 200-2001, 1996 [cited 2001 May 3]. Available from: http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/. Subscription required.
Sections of Web Sites and Databases:
Inhalant abuse [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institute on Drug Abuse (US); 1994 [revised 2000 Jul; cited 2001 Mar 1]. How can inhalant abuse be recognized; p. 5. (NIH pub. No.; 00-3818). Available from: http://165.112.78.61/ResearchReports/Inhalants/RRInhalants.pdf System Requirements: Adobe Acrobat.
CancerNet [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Cancer Institute (US); [modified 2001 May; cited 2001 May 10]. Ovarian epithelial cancer (PDQ): treatment - patients; [about 5 p.]. Available from: http://www.cancernet.gov/cgi-bin/srchcgi.exe?DBID=pdq&TYPE=search&SFMT=pdq_statement/1/0/0&Z208=208_00950P
Web Sites
The AAMC's Academic Medicine Web Site [Internet]. Washington: Association of American Medical Colleges; c1995-97 [cited 1997 Nov 4]. Available from: http://www.aamc.org/.
University of Maryland [Internet]. College Park (MD): The University; c2001 [updated 2001 Apr 28; cited 2001 May 1]. Available from: http://www.maryland.edu/.
Email, and Email Discussion Lists (aka "Listservs")
These are presented last because they are personal communications
and may not be appropriate for inclusion in a reference list.
Nevertheless, if you do decide to cite email messages, here is
the format:
Burns, Edwin (Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, Little Rock, AR. burnse@cteh.uams.edu). Availability of documents from 2,4-D study [Internet]. Message to: Margaret Brennan (Headquarters Library, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. mbrennan@lib.epa.gov). 2001 Mar 23, 1:34pm [cited 2001 Mar 24]. [about 5 paragraphs].
Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 -- Vol.32, Number 3Smith, John. WebMD. In: MEDLIB-L [Internet]. [Chicago (IL): Medical Library Association]; 1998 Feb 23, 10:27 am [cited 1998 Feb 24]. [about 5 paragraphs]. Available from: MEDLIB-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU.
Outreach partnerships benefit all participants, but it is a challenge to find the time and resources needed to assure success. RML staff have often heard that network members are hesitant to "write a big grant application" or tackle a large-scale planning process. In response, this year we have initiated mini-awards, simplified online applications for training or exhibits support. There are also mini-awards for upgrading to persistent (i.e., 24/7), high-speed internet connectivity.
Ideas and opportunities for outreach may occur at any time, so applications for these mini-awards will not need to meet a specific deadline. Applications will be considered until the funds are exhausted. Each training or exhibit award will be $500, and we plan to fund five exhibit and five training projects during Year 1 (May 2001-April 2002). We hope to also make five persistent connections awards this year, at $1000 each.
The "applications" are really fill-in-the-blank templates on the web, linked from the mini-award descriptions at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/funding/miniaward.html. We will process your request quickly, generally within two weeks.
These mini-awards are one strategy for involving network members in fulfilling the NN/LM mission, specially targeting underserved populations and/or people suffering from poor health status (and providers and intermediaries who serve them). We hope you will use these funds to collaborate with a group, institution or community that you see as a potential outreach partner. After a successful foray into training or exhibiting with this group, you just might be motivated to apply for a larger Outreach Project Award. This year's Outreach Project Award proposals are due September 28, 2001. But, there's always next year! Questions, comments, suggestions? Please contact Linda Milgrom, Outreach Coordinator, at lmilgrom@u.washington.edu or by phone (1-800-338-7657 or 206-221-3400).
Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 --
Vol.32, Number 3
(posted on PNRNews August 13, 2001)
Curious about outreach? Considering working with consumers, health professionals, or community groups in new ways? The Regional Medical Library wants to encourage you, and we have revamped our outreach funding initiatives in hopes of making the award process easier and your outreach efforts more successful. Outreach to underserved populations, to populations suffering from poor health status, and to the health care providers, public health workers, librarians and other health intermediaries who serve these communities remains a key element of our mission. This year, hoping to involve network members in effective outreach and mindful of the successes and challenges of past efforts, we will initially offer three types of awards (always hopeful that NLM will provide additional opportunities): Outreach Subcontract for Resource Libraries (applications have closed and we anticipate an award announcement soon), Outreach Project Awards (proposals due September 28, 2001), and Mini-Awards (more on those in the next installment).
Network members in the Pacific Northwest have conducted a wide variety of outreach activities through the years. Wonderful new partnerships have evolved, and we suspect the impact of your projects is much greater than we realize. One area of difficulty has been evaluation, qualitative and quantitative assessment of outcomes. Most projects have been funded for only one year, and this just hasn't been enough time to thoroughly plan, conduct and evaluate outreach. In the past we also lacked tools to support planning and assessment. With this in mind, features of the new Outreach Project Awards include:
What should you do next? Review the Outreach Project Award RFP. Proposals are due September 28, 2001. In order for us to enlist adequate numbers of reviewers, please notify us of your intent to apply by September 1, 2001. To do this, contact Linda Milgrom, the RML Outreach Coordinator, by email (lmilgrom@u.washington.edu) or phone (1-800-338-7657 or 1-206-221-3400). Linda is also happy to discuss project ideas or concerns.
Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 --
Vol.32, Number 3
(posted on PNRNews August 9, 2001)
Reprinted with permission from: PH/HA News, Summer/Fall 2001
A forum on outreach to the public health workforce was held at the National Library of Medicine on April 4-5, 2001. Health science librarians and public health professionals gathered to consider the nature of information needs among public health workers and factors that contribute to the effectiveness of information outreach to this audience. Projects that had been funded from 1998-2001 by the National Library of Medicine, either through the Partners in Information Access to Public Health Professionals or the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, formed to body of the work considered. Descriptions for most of the projects represented at the Forum can be found at the Partners website at http://phpartners.org/nnlm_projects.html
Areas of focus for the two day Forum were assessing information needs, defining outreach objectives and determining outcomes, partnerships and sustainability, and fulfilling information needs through Web resources. An outcome of the Forum was the identification of research questions that need to be addressed to better understand information needs in public health settings, in order to design and deliver more effective information services in support of public health goals. Forum organizers tentatively conclude that effective, sustainable outreach starts with a thorough understanding of the audience: especially their information needs but also aspects of their professional culture.
Articles describing the Forum and its conclusions will be posted later this summer on MLANET and will appear in print in the October issue of the BMLA (Bulletin of the Medical Library Association). Information about the Forum and materials presented are available at http://phpartners.org/phof.html.
The Forum Steering Committee consisted of: Neil Rambo, University of Washing\ ton, chair; Kristine Alpi, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Catherine Burroughs, University of Washington; Marjorie Cahn, Nation/phof.html.
The Forum Steering Committee consisted of: Neil Rambo, University of Washington, chair; Kristine Alpi, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Catherine Burroughs, University of Washington; Marjorie Cahn, National Library of Medicine; Jocelyn Rankin, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and, Joan Zenan, University of Nevada-Reno.
Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 --
Vol.32, Number 3
(posted on PNRNews August 7, 2001)
If a journal is not in SERHOLD or LOCATORplus, how can a DOCLINE library add its holdings? And if a journal changes its title - what then?
If you encounter a new health-related journal title, (or a title change, or some other bibliographic change) that you cannot find in SERHOLD or LOCATORplus: NLM wants to hear from you! NLM appreciates learning of new, in-scope titles and of any journalistic behaviors that should be reflected in a title's LOCATORplus record. There is an Official Form for providing this input at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/nlm_bib_add_mod_form.html. At this URL you'll find the "NLM LOCATORplus Bibliographic Data Addition/Modification Form."
These questions come up fairly often because it is not uncommon for one of us to become aware of a journal - or of a title change -- before NLM does. We benefit in the northwest in having some DOCLINE libraries that have collections that are strong in nontraditional areas. Examples include Bastyr University, the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, and the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. We are also fortunate to have library collections in our region that are deep in specialized areas, such as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Arnold Library, the St. Luke's/Mountain States Tumor Institute Library, the Oregon Health Sciences University's dentistry library and the library of the Intercollegiate College of Nursing. At the same time, just about any library staff member who does serials work has been faced with title changes or serial peculiarities.
So remember the "NLM LOCATORplus Bibliographic Data Addition/Modification Form" at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/nlm_add_mod_form.html! Hint: links from NLM's SERHOLD Fact Sheet will guide you there.
Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 --
Vol.32, Number 3
(posted on PNRNews July 24, 2001)
Public libraries and health libraries are inundated these days with health questions from the public. Librarians quite rightly worry about providing good information, especially when they don't know much about medicine. How can librarians SAFELY help the public find the information needed?
We posed that question to our Regional Medical Library's Consumer Health Information Advisory Group, which consists of clinicians, health librarians, health educators, a medical ethicist, a health journalist, a medical student, and others concerned with providing good health information. The Advisory Group collaboratively came up with the following, which is also up on the web at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/hip/waystohelp.html
" Note: This list was developed in consultation with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region's Consumer Health Information Advisory Group. For a list of Advisory Group members (http://nnlm.gov/pnr/hip/advisors.html). Major contributors were Judith Bendersky, Cezanne Garcia, Warren King, Jane Saxton, Michele Spatz, Patty Owen, Tom McCormick, Juli Gregory, and Margo Harris.
Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 --
Vol.32, Number 3
(posted on PNRNews 27, 2001)
Last year, 100 million Americans used the Internet to get health care information, up from 70 million the previous year, according to Harris Interactive. Only Web sites devoted to weather and sports received more visitors than those devoted to health. Traffic at health sites last year for the first time exceeded porno sites! (from the June 8, 2001 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times.) Meanwhile, another Harris Interactive study has reported that physicians have become less resistant to the Internet: 55 percent of physicians use e-mail to communicate with professional colleagues, while 42 percent work in practices with Web sites (up from 29 percent in 1999). Only 7 percent of doctors aren't online at all. As they become more knowledgeable about using the Internet, some physicians are beginning to refer their patients to Web resources (from the May 17, 2001 issue of the Minneapolis Star Tribune).
Health information is clearly of almost supreme importance to our family, friends, neighbors, library users, and co-workers. It's also extremely important to us - and in additional ways, since health information is the substance that most of us work with for a living. However, users of health information must approach their searching with care, and scrutinize what they find. A recent study of accessibility and quality of health information on the Internet concluded that search engines are not efficient and that coverage of key information on Web sites is poor and inconsistent (from JAMA, 285 (20):2612-21, May 23/30, 2001). In the health information arena, for materials that are online and off, evaluation is a critical component of information literacy skills and has been a major part of the instruction that many of us provide to our clientele.
For those of you who wonder what "information literacy" means, there are many definitions of it, some of them very long (see http://library.austin.cc.tx.us/staff/lnavarro/CommunityPartnerships/infolit.html for some examples). A pragmatic way to think of it is that information literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, and use information. Most, if not all, of the instruction that librarians provide - no matter whether medical, public, or some other species - could be thought of as information literacy instruction. Quality information literacy instruction touches on both analog and digital resources. Health care users and health professionals are finding information that they need on the Internet, often using computers on libraries' tables. Meanwhile, other important information resides in printed volumes on libraries' shelves.
Fortunately, use of the Internet is not causing library use to decline - at least, not in the state of Washington, as a recent survey has shown. While the rise of the Internet has decreased visits to library buildings among some online computer users, overall library use in the state is holding steady. In fact, just as many Washingtonians are visiting the library more often as less often. One in three adult Washington residents use their local public libraries at least once a month or more often to do research and get information. Results also hint that the Internet may actually be expanding library usage in many cases, through libraries' provision of electronic full text to their users. Still, 25% of respondents were unsure what they would use a computer at a library for (let's hope that none of those respondents work in the health sciences!).
This survey was the first step in the Washington State Library's Information Literacy campaign. The Washington State Library (WSL) has received a grant funded by the Federal Library Services and Technology Act to conduct this statewide campaign to publicize the vast array of information sources available from libraries. Publicity will also include details about location and navigation assistance that library staff can provide. Behind the scenes, WSL will be conducting training and refresher sessions for library staff to ensure their readiness to respond to questions generated by the publicity campaign. This project is an important step towards building a population which has the skills it needs to find, evaluate, and use information, including - perhaps especially - health information. WSL will share what it learns from this project with other states so that they have an opportunity to take the same approach.
More information about the survey:
Produced by NN/LM PNR.
Maryanne Blake, Editor
Michael Boer, Publication Manager
This publication is funded in whole with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. NO1-LM-1-3516.