Information Services and Use最新文献

Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D.'s interests extended far beyond his scientific expertise into the arts and humanities, as evidenced, for example, by his love of opera, his talents in photography, and his affection for history. It is therefore not surprising that he had a strong interest in the National Library of Medicine's historical programs and services, going beyond supporting these activities to becoming actively involved in some of them. The subject of this essay is Dr. Lindberg's contributions to these programs and services, which may be grouped under three main headings: placing greater emphasis on more contemporary history, promoting the digitization of historical materials to increase access, and enhancing outreach through an exhibition program.

This chapter describes how the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), under the leadership of Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D., promoted new and expanded roles for librarians and information specialists in response to advances in technology and public policy. These advances brought information services directly to all potential users, including health professionals and the public and stimulated NLM to expand its programs, policies, and services to serve all. Dr. Lindberg included librarians and information specialists in all of NLM's new endeavors, helping both to recognize and establish new or expanded roles. The involvement of librarians and information specialists in multidisciplinary healthcare research teams, in underserved communities, and in research data management and compliance has helped to redefine the health sciences information profession for the 21st century.

Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. arrived as Director, U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) in late 1984 with the intention of implementing a physician-friendly interface to MEDLINE, a prime example of his interest in making NLM information services more directly useful in medical care. By early 1986, NLM's Grateful Med, an inexpensive PC search interface to MEDLINE useful for health professionals, had joined the group of end-user systems for searching MEDLINE that emerged in the 1980s. This chapter recounts Grateful Med's rapid iterative development and the subsequent campaign to bring it to attention of health professionals. It emphasizes Lindberg's role, the challenges faced by those introducing and using the interface in a pre-Internet world, and some longer-term effects of the effort to expand health professionals' use of MEDLINE during the decade from 1986 to 1996.

When Donald A. B. Lindberg M.D. became Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine in 1984, trained searchers, primarily librarians, conducted less than three million searches of NLM databases. They paid for their fair share of the commercial telecommunications costs to reach NLM's computer system. In 2015 when Lindberg retired, millions of scientists, health professionals, patients, members of the public, and librarians conducted billions of free searches of NLM's greatly expanded electronic resources via the Internet. Lindberg came to NLM intending to expand access to biomedical and health information along multiple dimensions: reaching more users, providing more types and volumes of information and data; and improving the conceptual, technical, and organizational connections needed to provide information to users when and where it is needed. By any measure he and NLM were spectacularly successful. This chapter discusses some key decisions and developments that contributed to that success.

When Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. was sworn in as Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in 1984, MEDLINE, NLM's online database of citations and abstracts to biomedical journal articles, was searched primarily by librarians trained to use its command language interface. There were fees for searching, primarily to recover the cost of using commercial value-added telecommunications networks. Thirteen years later, in 1997, MEDLINE became free to anyone with an Internet connection and a Web browser. This chapter provides an insider's view of how Dr. Lindberg's vision and leadership - combined with new technology, astute handling of policy issues, and key help from political supporters and influential advocates - enabled a tremendous expansion in access to biomedical and health information for scientists, health professionals, patients, and the public.

This chapter introduces the importance and some of the multidisciplinary diversity in Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D.'s home library. The latter collection minimally suggests his varied interests, which often inspired a multidisciplinary approach to tackling problems and managing the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Dr. Lindberg converted the ideas he picked up from reading into administering projects as well as to set aspirational goals for NLM and for himself. The chapter suggests Dr. Lindberg's home library was an enduring reservoir of knowledge, judgment, planning, and creativity. The chapter also discusses two of Dr. Lindberg's leadership traits: the cultivation of discovery and project development in educational administration and the need for leaders to determine and act in the greater public interest. The chapter suggests the latter two traits defined Dr. Lindberg's NLM leadership.

When Dr. Lindberg was sworn in as Director, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) was providing few resources with information useful to the public, having concentrated efforts towards health professionals and scientists. With his arrival, and that of the Internet in the 1990s, NLM embarked on a research and user-focused path towards providing authoritative health information for patients, families and the public. MedlinePlus, NIHSeniorHealth, and MedlinePlus en espanol delivered health information in a variety of formats using text, still images, audio and video. These resources were supported by NLM advisors and Dr. Lindberg's strong belief that patients and families needed easy access to medical information to be able to effectively care for themselves in illness and maintain the best health possible throughout their lives.