Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Resources The Role of the National Library of Medicine (1997) / Chapter Skim
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6 Accessing and Navigating the TEHIP Databases
6 Accessing and Navigating the TEHIP Databases
Pages 101-118
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From page 101... ...
Recommendations to NLM involving the refinements in the technology associated with the TEHIP databases will facilitate use by all interested searchers. This chapter focuses on searching the TEHIP databases directly through NLM and does not address the diverse interfaces and search mechanisms available through commercial vendors or academic institutions.
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From page 102... ...
On the other hand, the more specialized databases have fewer points of access, and there is only one access point-direct searching that allows the user to connect with the entire TEHIP complement of all 16
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From page 103... ...
Commercial vendors may add value to the databases by providing easy-to-use search interfaces and may integrate the database into the vendor's network of databases on similar topics. Academic institutions and hospitals may offer access to the NLM databases as a component of the campus-wide network with connections to a wide range of applications including library services and email.
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From page 105... ...
The committee commends NLM for these efforts and believes that increased publicity regarding the availability of this assistance may encourage more health professionals, especially those without networked access to attempt to search the NLM databases. Cost The NLM databases are available under a number of different pricing structures.
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From page 106... ...
Although the committee realizes that frequent users know which database they need to access, numerous other potential users, including many health professionals, reach the list of databases and do not know in which direction to proceed. Efforts to assist users in determining which database to search by providing information on the scope of the subject matter and the type of information available (e.g., summaries, experimental data, and bibliographic citations)
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From page 107... ...
These included morbidity and mortality statistics related to environmental health, community emergency preparedness and response, radiation, and molecular medicine (NLM, 1993~. Similarly, the IOM committee solicited input from health professionals regarding directions in which to expand the subject coverage of the TEHIP databases.
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From page 108... ...
For many health professionals and other user communities who are interested in searching the TEHIP databases but who do not have the time to learn the command language, menu searching offers a preferred search interface. The trade-off with the menu system is the loss of the intricacies of direct searching, including the ability to modify the search quickly and to narrow or expand the search strategy easily.
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From page 110... ...
The Grateful Med program automatically inserts the Boolean logical operators into the search request and handles other technicalities (e.g., formatting the author's name correctly. As with menu searching, expert searchers may find Grateful Med limiting, whereas novice searchers get useful results with minimal effort or training.
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From page 111... ...
However, it will be important to coordinate the development of this interface with Internet Grateful Med to produce a single interface (or similar interfaces) for searching all of the NLM databases on the Internet.
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From page 112... ...
Additionally, primary care professionals, emergency medical personnel, and poison control center personnel need to be able to conduct searches on the basis of the brand names of household or other products to retrieve treatment information. Commercially-available databases, such as POISINDEX(D, provide brand name searching and interfaces that are developed to provide rapid access to the acute care information needed by poison control centers and emergency departments.
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From page 113... ...
The issue of quality indicators was discussed in the NLM Long Range Planning Panel report (NLM, 1993) , and NLM has made efforts to address this concern.
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From page 114... ...
However, the committee hopes that this effort will be coordinated with the development of Intemet Grateful Med and other future Intemet developments at NLM, to provide health professionals with similar interfaces whether they are searching MEDLINE or one of the TEHIP databases.
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From page 115... ...
The UMLS knowledge sources are available to systems developers, who can incorporate them into expert systems that provide cross-database searching, natural language queries, and a variety of other applications. The UMLS knowledge sources have been incorporated into the Internet Grateful Med program and provide users with additional terms that can be used to narrow or expand the search strategy.
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From page 116... ...
The pioneering efforts applied to MEDLINE should, when applicable, be incorporated into the TEHIP program. As discussed in Chapter 1, the demands for toxicology and environmental health information by health professionals and other interested user communities, including the general public, are increasing, and it is critically important for information resources to be easily accessible with intuitive search interfaces.
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From page 117... ...
The committee recommends that in the long term and on the basis of priorities set as a result of the user analysis, NLM expand its efforts to facilitate access and navigation of the TEHIP databases by making full use of the navigational tools being developed within NLM and beyond. This includes: · implementation of more efficient and intuitive user inter faces, · incorporation of UMLS knowledge sources and other expert systems that would enhance symptom-related and other natural language searches, · incorporation of navigational tools and interfaces that would create a seamless interface between databases, and · implementation of indicators of peer review into new search interfaces.
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From page 118... ...
Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 81~2~:217-222. Siegel ER, Cummings MM, Woodsmall RM.
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