On December 18, 1996, a new database, OLDMEDLINE, will join the family of MEDLINE databases. OLDMEDLINE, or OLDMED, will initially contain over 307,000 citations that were published in the 1964 and 1965 Cumulated Index Medicus (CIM).
This database will be accessible to command language searchers from any USER: prompt with the command FILE OLDMED or FILE OLDMEDLINE. Until programming changes can occur, the file will not have an input form screen in any of the Grateful Med programs; however, Grateful Med users who know how to search directly with the command language may choose direct searching and then give the FILE command. This file will not be immediately available via Internet Grateful Med (IGM).
While the OLDMED database may contain older data, it is a new database, and it will continue to grow. NLM expects to add citations from earlier years of Index Medicus as resources permit. NLM will begin the effort to add citations from 1963 an d 1962 CIM during 1997. NLM has begun work on making interlibrary loan available for this file as well as offline print capabilities. The $DSFILE command is operational in OLDMED. Watch the online news for the most up-to-date announcements.
The OLDMEDLINE database is expected to be available for leasing in 1998.
NLM will evaluate user response to OLDMED, and will consider enhancements to the data as resources permit. We welcome your comments on, and suggestions for improving OLDMEDLINE.
-prepared by Jan Willis
MEDLARS Management Section