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The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world's
largest medical library. The Library collects materials in all areas
of biomedicine and health care, as well as works on biomedical aspects
of technology, the humanities, and the physical, life, and social
sciences. The collections stand at 5.9 million items--books, journals,
technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, photographs and images.
Housed within the Library is one of the world's finest medical history
collections of old and rare medical works. The Library's collection
may be consulted in the reading room or requested on interlibrary
loan. NLM is a national resource for all U.S. health science libraries
through a National Network of Libraries of Medicine®.
For
more than 100 years, the Library has published the Index Medicus®, a
monthly subject/author guide to articles in 3400 journals. This
information, and much more, is today available in the database MEDLINE®,
the major component of PubMed, freely accessible via the World Wide
Web. MEDLINE has more than 11 million journal article references and
abstracts going back to the early sixties. Other databases provide
information on monographs (books), audiovisual materials, and on such
specialized subjects as toxicology, environmental health, and
molecular biology. Through the Web some 250 million searches of MEDLINE are done each year by health
professionals, scientists, librarians, and the public. There are
increasing links between article references and full text, and a new
service called PubMed Central will allow free access to a central
repository of journal articles. The NLM has created a special Web
site, MEDLINEplus,
to link the general public to many sources of consumer health
information.
Research
and Development:
R and D is carried out by the Lister Hill National Center for
Biomedical Communications (LHNCBC) and the National Center for
Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The LHNCBC explores the uses of
computer, communication, and audiovisual technologies to improve the
organization, dissemination, and utilization of biomedical
information. Currently the Center is applying modern communications
technologies to health care-related projects involving, for example,
telemedicine, testbed networks, virtual reality, and a Unified Medical
Language System. The Visible Human Project® has created, in complete
anatomical detail, 3-dimensional representations of the male and
female human body, resulting in a large digital image library. "Profiles
in Science" is the Center's new Web site that
provides access to the laboratory notes, photographs, and
correspondence of notable American scientists.
Established
by Congress in 1988, the National Center for Biotechnology Information
has assumed a leadership role in developing information services for
biotechnology--the task of storing and making accessible the
staggering amounts of data about the human genome resulting from
genetic research at the NIH and laboratories around the nation. NCBI
is a recognized leader in basic research in computational molecular
biology, and is also responsible for developing innovative computer
solutions for the management and dissemination of the rapidly growing
volume of genome information. NCBI distributes GenBank®, a collection
of all known DNA sequences, and also provides access to the assembled
Human Genome data.
Toxicology
and Environmental Health Program (TEHIP): TEHIP, established at NLM in 1967, is charged with setting up computer
databases from the literature and from files of governmental and
nongovernmental organizations. TEHIP has implemented the TOXNET®
(Toxicology Data Network) system of 10 data banks useful in chemical
emergency response and other applications. TOXNET is searchable
without charge on the Web.
Grant
Programs:The Extramural Programs Division provides grants to support research
in medical informatics, health information science, and biotechnology
information, as well as for research training in these areas. Network
planning and development grants support computer and communication
systems in health institutions and the study of new opportunities with
high-speed computer networks in the health sciences. Health science
library resource grants assist in improving information access and
services for health professionals. Research and publications in the
history of medicine and the life sciences are also supported.
Annual
Statistical Profile of NLM: (September
30, 2000)
Staff
(full-time equivalents) - 625; Appropriation (FY 2000) - $228 million;
Articles indexed (all databases) - 442,000; Circulation requests -
750,000; Collection (book and nonbook items) - 5,939,000; Journals
indexed (for MEDLINE) - 4,300; Serial titles received - 23,100; Titles
cataloged - 20,100.
For
Visitors:
Metrorail--NLM is 300 yards south of the Medical Center stop on the
Red Line.
Address: 8600
Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894; Phone toll-free: 888-346-3656.
Tours:
Mon. through Fri. at 1:30 p.m. (begin in Visitors Center, lobby of
Bldg. 38A, Lister Hill Center). For group tours: Call (301) 496-6308.
Reading
Room Hours: (Main
Reading Room) (Winter) Mon., Tues., Wed., Fri: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.;
Thurs.: 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (reference assistance available until
8:00 p.m.); Sat.: 8:30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. (Summer ) Mon. through Fri.:
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Sat.: 8:30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. History of
Medicine Division Hours: Mon. through Fri.: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00
p.m. |
