Highlights of the January - February 2003 issue of the NLM Technical Bulletin
Cataloging
Technical services staff will find many articles of interest in this issue of the NLM Technical Bulletin. The beginning of a new year is always full of rule and system changes! For example, LOCATORplus now uses the 2003 MeSH vocabulary for cataloging. It's always interesting to think about the decisions made regarding subject heading changes, including, for example, why NLM would map "cotton" to either "cotton fiber" or to "Gossypium". You can read about it here!
NLM also began using the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition, 2002 Revision; however, NLM is delaying the implementation of some sections of the Rules pending further investigation. Specifically, NLM is not implementing rules 21.2A2c (differences involving the name of the same corporate body), 21.2Ah (order of words in a list), 21.2A2i (addition or deletion of words indicating the type of resource) in cases when these changes would affect the first word of a title. In addition NLM is not applying rule 21.2A2a if the first word changes from an acronym to a full-form or vice-versa. Whew! These are changes that might affect the small or medium sized library that shelves its journals alphabetically by title. It is NLM's view that users in these institutions will have a difficult time finding these journals if there are significant differences between the titles as they appear on the publications and the shelving order based on the cataloging records.
There are discussions of searching and browsing NLM authority records in LOCATORplus (that was implemented in LOCATORplus on January 21, 2003 and hasn't been available since 1995 when the Name Authority File was removed from the MEDLARS system). These records are now available for download into a modified MARC 21 authority format. From a practical standpoint, what does this mean? Well, users can now browse and search over 1,175,000, including subject, name, series, uniform title, and name/title authority records. You can also see scope notes from within LOCATORplus rather than going out to NLM's MeSH Browser (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).
Finally, the National Library of Medicine Classification was issued in a newly revised edition online on February 4, 2003; it is available at http://wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/class/. Another revision is planned for spring 2003 and is slated to include all MeSH terms added to the 2003 vocabulary.
PubMed
PubMed's LinkOut for Libraries feature has been enhanced. There is no longer a daily limit on the number of libraries that can sign up to link to their SERHOLD data. This is very easy to do, and - in and of itself - is a sure reason to sign your library up for LinkOut. You can now store your library's icons at NCBI if you wish; this is now an option in the LinkOut Submission Utility. (Note: you can continue to host your icon at your own institution, and PSRML will continue to host your icon if you so wish.) Finally - and perhaps most importantly - there is a new tutorial on Setting Up LinkOut for Libraries; you can find this either at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/linkout/doc/linktutorial.html or from within PubMed (click on LinkOut on the left sidebar, and then select Tutorials).
In an effort to promote the availability of free full text in PubMed Central (PMC), PubMed will soon display an icon next to each PubMed citation in the Summary display. There will be three possible icons, one each for: 1) no abstract, 2) abstract, and 3) free full text in PMC.
A new feature has been added to the Journals Database in PubMed. When you search for a journal, in addition to the results of your specific search, you will receive suggestions added by the system. For example, a search for 'Post Graduate Medicine' will not retrieve the journal Postgraduate Medicine, but this title is included in the suggestions. What a boon for ailing memories!
MEDLINEplus "Go Local"
MEDLINEplus has taken the first step towards bridging the gap between health information and local health services by introducing the "Go Local" pilot project. This first implementation refers users to "Go Local" resources in North Carolina. "Go Local" links are designed to connect consumers with local resources and services. Additional states will be added in the future. More information is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/golocal.html.
Other Databases
News about other databases includes the following. When users search the NLM Gateway and select the results category "Consumer Health", they will now find results from ClinicalTrials.gov in addition to MEDLINEplus and DIRLINE. This issue includes screen shots to walk you through this new feature. Also featured is an article on Haz-Map, a new database from NLM's Specialized Information Services group that focuses on occupational toxicology. Haz-Map links hazardous agents, occupational diseases, and high-risk jobs. Haz-Map is available at http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/. You will not find librarians listed here although some of the health occupations listed include: anesthesiologists, dentists, home health aids, surgeons, and veterinarians, among many others.
Classes
The following course opportunities are particularly noteworthy; check the Bulletin for more information about them.
- Introduction to Molecular Biology Information Resources (3 day)
- NCBI Advanced Workshop for Bioinformatics Information (5 day)
- Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Basics Classes (1 day)
Miscellany
New training manuals are available for PubMed, the NLM Gateway and ClinicalTrials.gov. These workbooks are not copyrighted. You may use any part of the workbooks and customize any or all of them for your own training programs, demonstrations, or workshops.
Search Subsets
Early in March 2003, search subsets will be available in the NLM Gateway. Implementation of search subsets will enable users to limit their searches of PubMed Journal Citations, Books/Serials/AVs, and Meeting Abstracts.
Each search subset employs customized search strategies to assist in the retrieval of relevant items in the three collections (PubMed, Books/Serials/AVs, Meeting Abstracts). The subsets will limit searches to items on one of four specialized topics: AIDS, Bioethics, History of Medicine, and Space Life Sciences.
The User enters a search term(s) in the search query box and clicks on Limits on the features bar. In Limits, a topic is selected from the Subsets pull-down menu. Clicking on the Search button initiates the search. Please consult the Technical Bulletin article for more information.