Addressing the issue of cataloging and making chiropractic literature accessible: Part I: Defining the problem

Health science journals are a principle source of new knowledge for chiropractors, chiropractic faculty and students. Regrettably, clinically or educationally relevant articles (appearing in the nearly 20,000 journals annually) are often overlooked due to access difficulties. Innovations are needed to assist the reader to select articles relevant to chiropractic and reduce the time spent sorting through the volumes of literature. A review of the literature shows there is a trend toward database management for cataloging and accessibility of other, nonchiropractic, literature. Most notable of these is an endeavor by National Technical Information Service, commonly referred to as MEDLARS (Medline). It is interesting to note that a computer-assisted library database program does not exist on any chiropractic campus. This is in contrast with the trend on campuses of other health care fields. Manual search strategies within the chiropractic literature are time consuming, subject to a high failure rate, and even if the search produces citations, there is no assurance the journal can be accessed unless a chiropractic campus is nearby. Furthermore, difficulties exist when a chiropractic literature search is attempted in any computerized database, e.g., MEDLARS (Medline). Journals/articles that are unique to chiropractic (national, international or on the state level) are not specifically included in these computerized databases. Aside from these difficulties, there exists the problem of finding those articles that contain valid and relevant information from among those that are less valid or informative.

[Standardization of the tooth numbering systems]

When identifying a specific tooth, dentists list the dentition, arch, quadrant and tooth name. There are several systems of naming and coding teeth. It is necessary that the dental team be familiar with all systems so that communication between dental offices is possible. In this article, the most popular systems are reviewed and their advantages, disadvantages are discussed. These systems are Universal, Palmer and FDI. Also, other systems are summarized. The Palmer/Zsigmody notation have been used widely in the world, but caused problems in typing and printing. And also, it is not suitable for computer processing. The FDI two-digit system helps to prevent errors when differentiating between right and left sides of the mouth or between upper and lower dental arches. It also has advantages when typing and is capable of being incorporated in computer languages.

Low cost organization of a mental retardation facility staff library

A mental retardation facility staff library of 700 volumes required complete organization. Two restraining factors were lack of personnel and limited funds. A plan was developed to classify titles according to Library of Congress, with the subject heading catalog predominantly based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). A cataloging service was located which produced custom card sets and book labels from CATLINE and MARC computer databases. Where necessary, MARC records were edited to alter LC subject headings to MeSH terminology. Organization was accomplished at an average cost per title of less than $1.50.

Online search patterns: NLM CATLINE database

In this article the authors present their analysis of the online search patterns within user searching sessions of the National Library of Medicine ELHILL system and examine the user search patterns on the CATLINE database. In addition to the CATLINE analysis, a comparison is made using data previously analyzed on the MEDLINE database for the same time period, thus offering an opportunity to compare the performance parameters of different databases within the same information system. Data collection covers eight weeks and includes 441,282 transactions and over 11,067 user sessions, which accounted for 1680 hours of system usage. The descriptive analysis contained in this report can assists system design activities, while the predictive power of the transaction log analysis methodology may assists the development of real-time aids.

Library-media production interface

This article presents a detailed discussion of the roles of the health sciences library and the media production service personnel in providing a standardized system for accessing audiovisual and video in-house produced software. A worksheet and guidelines for collecting complete bibliographic information for these programs are also included.

ABC of computing. Computers in the medical library

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The NEOUCOM Cooperative Cataloging Service: development and review of the first four years

The Basic Medical Sciences Library of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) provided a Cooperative Cataloging Service to fourteen of its affiliated hospitals' libraries since March 1978, using the OCLC system. Analysis of the first four years of service showed that the hospital libraries spent almost $30,000 to catalog more than 18,000 titles. Personnel expenses and other costs eclipsed the savings from a 31.3% duplication rate. Centralized bibliographic control control and the principal by-product of the service, a uniform, machine-related data base, provided the foundation for an on-line integrated library system to serve the consortium. The hospital libraries contributed 44% of the unique titles in this data base, which emphasis the need to share resources and continue cooperation.

OCLC for the hospital library: the justification plan for hospital administration

This paper delineates the necessary steps to provide hospital administrators with the information needed to evaluate an automated system, OCLC, for addition to the medical library. Based on experience at the Norton-Children's Hospitals, included are: (1) cost analyses of present technical processing systems and cost comparisons with OCLC; (2) delineation of start-up costs for installing OCLC; (3) budgetary requirements for 1981; (4) the impact of automation on library systems, personnel, and services; (5) potential as a shared service; and (6) preparation of the proposal for administrative review.

The learning center: what to do until the librarian is hired

By providing a self-instructional learning resources center to employees, a health care institution can expand the training and education function without initially adding to the education staff. This article describes the basic procedures for setting up and managing the learning resources collection until such time as a librarian can be hired.

Descriptive cataloging of serials: the National Library of Medicine versus the Library of Congress

Descriptive cataloging practices for serial differ significantly in some respects between the Library of Congress and the National Library of Medicine. This paper compares some of these differences and indicates the impact they can have on the development of on-line cooperative data bases such as OCLC. Attention is also given to the possible impact of the second edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules on serials cataloging. The need for standardization is stressed.

Recommended data elements for the descriptive cataloging of computer-based educational materials in the health sciences

A large part of the mission of the National Library of Medicine is to collect, index, and disseminate the world's biomedical literature. Until recently, this related only to serial and monographic material, but as new forms of information appear responsibility for bibliographic control of these also must be assumed by the National Library of Medicine. This paper briefly describes the type of information that will be necessary before descriptive cataloging of computer-based educational materials can be attempted.