The Information Age in Concept and Practice at the National Library of Medicine

• Published in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1988-01, Vol.495 (1), p.117-126
• Main Authors: Schoolman, Harold M., Donald A. B. Lindberg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computers; Diffusion of Innovation; Grants; Health administration; History of medicine; Information; Information Age; Information Dissemination; Information management; Information Processing; Information search; Libraries; Medical education; Medical Informatics; Medical research; Medicine; MEDLARS; Methodology; National libraries; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) - organization & administration; Terminology as Topic; United States
• ISSN: 0002-7162; 1552-3349
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716288495001011

The evolution of today's information age is mirrored in the growth of the National Library of Medicine's bibliographic services: from the pioneering work of the Library in the last century to develop Index Medicus, to developing the innovative computerized MEDLARS system in the early 1960s, to the easily searchable on-line data bases now available to health professionals. This evolution has not come about without controversy, however, as tension developed between the public sector, where the information was viewed as a social benefit, and the private sector, where it was viewed as a source of profit. The Library has fostered research and development in biomedical communications in the laboratories of its Lister Hill Center and through grants to assist in establishing the field of medical informatics. The future of biomedical communications will be profoundly affected by work now being carried out by the Library: in fields such as biotechnology, through integrative methodologies such as the Unified Medical Language System now under development, and by a grant program to improve the infrastructure for information within academic health science centers.