Specific classification of elibrary resources says more about users' preferences.

BACKGROUND: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) are a hierarchical taxonomy of over 42,000 descriptors designed to classify scientific literature; it is hierarchical with generic high order headings and specific low order headings. Over 1,000 resources in the Primary Care Electronic Library (PCEL - www.pcel.info) were classified with MeSH. METHODS: Each of the entries or resources in the primary care digital library was assigned up to five MeSH terms. We compared whether the most generic or specific MeSH term ascribed to each resource best predicted user preferences. RESULTS: over the four month period analysed statistically significant differences were found for resources according to specific key MeSH terms they were classified by. This result was not repeated for generic key MeSH terms. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the use of specific MeSH terms reveals user preferences that would have otherwise remained obscured. These preferences are not found if more generic MeSH terms are analysed.

Using UMLS to map from a library to a clinical classification: Improving the functionality of a digital library.

The Metathesaurus of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) offers the possibility of mapping between various medical vocabularies. The Primary Care Electronic Library (PCEL) contains a database of over six thousand Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms) describing the resources of the electronic library. We were interested to know if it was possible to map from MeSH to the Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). Such a mapping would aid healthcare professionals to retrieve relevant data from our digital library as it would enable links between clinical systems and indexed material.

The Primary Care Electronic Library: RSS feeds using SNOMED-CT indexing for dynamic content delivery.

BACKGROUND: Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds are a method for disseminating and syndicating the contents of a website using extensible mark-up language (XML). The Primary Care Electronic Library (PCEL) distributes recent additions to the site in the form of an RSS feed. When new resources are added to PCEL, they are manually assigned medical subject headings (MeSH terms), which are then automatically mapped to SNOMED-CT terms using the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus. The library is thus searchable using MeSH or SNOMED-CT. Our syndicate partner wished to have remote access to PCEL coronary heart disease (CHD) information resources based on SNOMED-CT search terms. OBJECTIVE: To pilot the supply of relevant information resources in response to clinically coded requests, using RSS syndication for transmission between web servers. METHOD: Our syndicate partner provided a list of CHD SNOMED-CT terms to its end-users, a list which was coded according to UMLS specifications. When the end-user requested relevant information resources, this request was relayed from our syndicate partner's web server to the PCEL web server. The relevant resources were retrieved from the PCEL MySQL database. This database is accessed using a server side scripting language (PHP), which enables the production of dynamic RSS feeds on the basis of Source Asserted Identifiers (CODEs) contained in UMLS. RESULTS: Retrieving resources using SNOMED-CT terms using syndication can be used to build a functioning application. The process from request to display of syndicated resources took less than one second. CONCLUSION: The results of the pilot illustrate that it is possible to exchange data between servers using RSS syndication. This method could be utilised dynamically to supply digital library resources to a clinical system with SNOMED-CT data used as the standard of reference.

The increasing globalization of health librarianship: a brief survey of international trends and activities.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Throughout his career, Leslie Morton was interested in international developments in health librarianship. In memory of the work he did in this field, the authors examine current developments in international health librarianship and describe some current themes. PROCEDURES: The authors draw from their combined experience in international activities and the published information available from selected library associations and related organizations. FINDINGS: Although many of the major health library associations around the world are tackling agendas specific to their own country, issues of international concern are emerging in common. These are grouped around globalization, partnerships and co-operation, electronic access, especially open access, and working with the developing world in a number of different ways. Of course, the basis of all of these initiatives is to improve the health of the population by providing the best possible access to materials. CONCLUSIONS: Professional associations can provide a useful institutional infrastructure for addressing issues of international interest. Librarians should encourage their associations to develop these international initiatives and to seek out new and innovative ways to work together across international boundaries.

How to create successful partnerships-a review of the literature.

This literature review covers a wide range of publications (articles, books, reports and government publications) that provide an overview of the wider topic of partnership working. It is not a systematic review, but the authors' personal review, drawing largely on the resources available in the King's Fund Library. Partnership working is a key component of the UK government's modernization agenda, particularly in the health field. However, the principles of achieving successful partnership are generally applicable. The review therefore concentrates on literature that can provide guidance for people planning to set up a partnership, or re-evaluating an existing partnership. The sections of this review comprise: definition of partnership working; types of partnership; partnership initiatives; drivers; critical success factors; barriers; benefits; the process of partnership working; evaluation and assessment tools; demolishing the Berlin Wall: government policy on partnership working; exemplars of library information service partnerships.