Spring, Vol. 21, no. 1 (2007)

From the Editors:  "Change is coming....."                                 

Spring is finally upon us, and maybe because it took such a long time getting here this year, it is very appreciated!  Warm weather beckons us outside into sun and fresh air.  Our minds are open to new ideas and experiences.  What a great time of year to be traveling and meeting with our colleagues! 

The Spring issue of Technical Trends is always full of information and announcements that will help you prepare for the MLA Annual Meeting and section activities.  In addition, we have a couple of special articles from two regular contributors.  Leopoldo Montoya finishes his Decalogue series with one you’ll want to share with your colleagues who do computer lab and pc support.  They will appreciate it!  Dick Miller shares his very creative work enhancing authorities on systems at Lane Medical Library.

Spring is also a time of change and you’ll find that theme in this issue, not just because of the annual meeting title, but also here at the editor’s desk!  Connie Machado who’s been co-editor of this publication since 2001 is taking on new challenges and is ready to turn over the reins to someone else this summer. 

                               

Interested in web editing?  TSS currently has 2 openings: Technical Trends newletter and the TSS website!  This may (or may not) be my last editorial romp with Technical Trends!  I am moving to another position, effective Aug. 2 of this year, outside the realm of medical librarianship.  If no one steps up to edit the newsletter with JoLinda, I will be able to edit the fall edition.  So, give this some serious thought.  

I have enjoyed editing the newsletter and website, learning to work in the web environment.  After 17 years in medical librarianship, I have made wonderful friends all over the country through MLA and TSS, while acquiring new skills.  I now move into another environment where I will again, gain new skills!  I became very involved with HSOCLCUG early in this career, then it progressed to MLA/TSS.  Now they have almost become one, ever changing and ever challenging.  Due to my move, TSS will be moving the webpage and newsletter onto MLANET.  This will require different skills than Microsoft FrontPage, which has been the current platform.  So, please let Cecilia or JoLinda know if you are interested in working with the newsletter or website.  Basically, the work is divided into one person who proof-reads and rewrites, and another that posts, designs, and develops the web newsletter. Feel free to contact either of us via email if you are interested or have questions.

Adios to my medical library friends!  I have listed my personal email below, where I can be reached after Aug. 2...only not immediately, as I have a 10 day trip to Ireland scheduled before I start my new position!!  Can't be all work and no play!!  The biggest challenge before I leave is where to place the over 200 pigs that currently reside in my office with me!!    Connie

Happy Spring and pleasant travels from both of us!

Connie Machado                                                 JoLinda Thompson
Head of Cataloging                                              Systems Librarian
Rowland Medical Library                                       Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library
University of Mississippi Medical Center                George Washington University Medical Center
cmachado@rowland.umsmed.edu                        jleethompson@verizon.net   or  mlbjlt@gwumc.edu
mspggy@yahoo.com

From the Chair:  MLA '07 in Philadelphia is upon us!  "Information Revolution: Change is in the Air"                

MLA Technical Services Section Program Planning  -  MLA 2007, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
 

Opportunities for Professional Development
                                                                                       SPRING ' 07 Learning Opportunities

 Enhancing Authority Records to Improve Identification and Access
Although it is difficult to gauge how effective the enhancements to authority records discussed below are, they have proven useful to staff in identifying and selecting terms to apply and in responding to questions about history and special collections.  Generally, more is better when trying to improve both precision and recall.  Lane Medical Library is developing a history portal, which will further expose the information about people, organizations, and events.  Previously, this information has not been integrated with other search mechanisms outside the catalog’s authority mechanism.  It will be interesting to see what we learn.  While each factotum in the authority file may be insignificant in isolation, the accretion of thousands of such enhancements begins to pay off as new interfaces take advantage of the richer metadata. 

Cooperatively creating a broad array of enhancements, instead of duplicative efforts in individual medical libraries, should make this level of effort feasible.  However, in the meantime these examples are intended to help demonstrate the potential of this approach.  Further ideas along this line may be found in my forthcoming article (1). 

1.  Relationships:  A Remedy for Fuzzy Recollections or Lack of Awareness? 

The bibliographic apparatus under-represents relationships, which provide a potential mechanism to position users and staff alike into an information landscape where they should be able to navigate seamlessly between authorities (people, places, events, topics, organizations, etc.) and bibliographic works.  Relationships between people deserve more emphasis.  Most of these examples are related persons (500 with relationship in an initial ^e). 

Ch’oe, Han-gi, 1803-1870.
Influenced by:  Hobson, Benjamin, 1816-1873.

Murray, George Redmayne, 1865-1939.
Mentor: Horsley, Victor (Victor Alexander Haden), Sir, 1857-1916.

Lister, Joseph, Baron, 1827-1912.
Teacher: Sharpey, William, 1802-1880.

Casseri, Giulio Cesare, ca. 1552-1616.
Do not confuse with: Gasser, Achilles Pirmin, 1505-1577.
Do not confuse with: Gasser, Lorenz, 1723-1765.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
Grandfather: Darwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802.
Grandfather: Wedgwood, Josiah, 1730-1795.
Cousin: Galton, Francis, Sir, 1822-1911.
Colleague: Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913.
Related: Beagle Expedition (1831-1836). 

2.  Online Indexing for the Dictionary of Medical Biography 

The 5 volume Dictionary of Medical Biography published in 2007 is not available online.  To compensate for this, it has been indexed in a fashion in our public authority file, which converts authority records into a Voyager bibliographic format (2).  The search Guided = ("dmb 2007")[in Keyword Anywhere] yields the 1,140 names selected for inclusion in the DMB; sort by 'title' for alphabetic order.  Included names have a characteristic note: DMB 2007; 4:893-4. 

In addition to the 2-4 page entries per name, volume 1 includes various contextual essays, e.g. The Islamic Medical Tradition, (cf. catalog record for others). Volume 5 has appendices listing names by country, field of activity, and chronologically.

Country and field can be approximated by searching:
Guided = (canada AND person)[in Subject] AND ("dmb 2007")[in Keyword Anywhere]

Currently, the only chronological values that work are Ancient or Medieval:
Guided = (person AND medieval)[in Subject] AND ("dmb 2007")[in Keyword Anywhere]

This results in 50 Medieval folks.  In all three cases omitting the "dmb 2007" will broaden the result, to 139 in the case of Medieval.  DMB can be thought of as indicating ‘Core’ people.

Most of the names were already in our authority file.  Others were only represented in the bibliographic file.  The remaining names were telling in that people from Africa, Asia, and South America were underrepresented in our names using the DMB as a measure.  DMB includes 76 women, a number of whom were lacking from Lane’s authorities.

Some of the life stories are fascinating.  My favorite is the French woman physician who was allowed only the most remote bush doctor assignments, learned to fly, bought her own plane, and became the revered Mama Daktari in East Africa.  I was particularly struck by the recurrent theme of life's difficulties (adversity, rivalries, unpopularity, being ignored, chance misfortunes, etc.) and how in the final analysis these were some of the most successful people.  The contributors tried to take a fresh look at the usual suspects as well as including lesser known people who made significant contributions.   Did you know only one physician became Pope?  Interestingly, only 4 names are 'Stanford-Related' (a local genre term).  Some facts are uniquely in cifdb; others uniquely in the printed index.  It's too bad the entries cannot be loaded as fulltext. 

Sample Records (One in display format; related one in MARC; some diacritics omitted) 

Information Type:           [person]
Personal Name:             Ėrisman, F. F. (Fedor Fedorovich), 1842-1915.
Variant:                        Erismann, Friedrich Huldreich, 1842-1915.
                                    Erisman, F. (Friedrich), 1842-1915.
                                    Ėrisman, Fedor Fedorovich, 1842-1915.
                                    Erisman, Huldreich Friedrich, 1842-1915.
Related Person:             Wife:  Suslova, Nadezhda Prokofevna, 1843-1918.
Biog/Hist/Def:                Swiss. Active in hygiene and public health in Russia, 1869-1896.
                                    Published the first manual on public hygiene in the Russian language, 1872-1877.
Reference(s):                 DMB 2007; 2:461-2.
                                    Wick, Hanspeter. Friedrich Huldreich Erismann (1842-1915):
                                    Russischer Hygieniker-Zürcher Stadrat. Zürcher medizingeschichtliche Abhandlungen 1970; 82.
Topic (MeSH):               Public Health
                                    Switzerland
                                    Russia (Pre-1917)
Category:                      Person, Male    
Lane Control No.:           96Z4859L 

000       01194cqn a2200217o 4N
001       64658
005       20070108131347.0
008       070105nbeannnnaabn n aaa d
035       __ |9 Z64155 |z Z64155
035       __ |a 64155
100       1_ |a Suslova, Nadezhda Prokofevna, |d 1843-1918.
245       10 |a Suslova, Nadezhda Prokofevna, 1843-1918 |h [person]
500       1_ |e Husband |9 (1868-): |a Ėrisman, F. F. |q (Fedor Fedorovich), |d 1842-1915.
655       27 |a Preliminary
655       27 |a Original
655       47 |a Person, Female
678       __ |a First Russian woman physician and first woman graduate of University of Zurich with MD.
683       __ |a University of Zurich, Faculty of Medicine, |b MD (first woman graduate), |c 1867.
686       __ |a Bonner, Thomas Neville. Rendezvous in Zurich. Seven who made a revolution in women’s medical education, 1864-1874. J Hist Med Allied Sci. 1989 Jan;44(1):7-27. PMID: 2644347
990       __ |a Pervaia russkaia zhenshchina-vrach (1960).
998       __ |a 035 0351b 0352b 0359 035z 100 10011 1002b 100a 100d 245 24511 24520 245a 245h 500 50011 5002b 5009 500a 500d 500e 500q 655 65512 65514 65527 655a 678 6781b 6782b 678a 683 6831b 6832b 683a 683b 683c 686 6861b 6862b 686a 990 9901b 9902b 990a 

Note:  The 998 values are automatically generated to permit searching by field, subfield and indicator values. 

3.  MeSH as Local Authority Records 

NLM converted MeSH to XML in 2001 (3).  The MARC version suitable for loading into the ILS authority file became a poor step-sister to the enhanced XML version, lacking many data elements.  To preserve all the data included in XML and to keep track of local enhancements, Lane maps the data to MARC for use in our local Authority file.  Ironically, the completed mapping of XML MeSH to MARC made it easier to understand the restructuring that took place during this change.  This exercise also underscored the limitations of MARC in handling hierarchical relationships.  In retrospect, the complexity of having many embedded concepts included under a single MeSH descriptor record could be reduced by creating separate linked records, much as the supplementary concepts/chemical terms are mapped to a corresponding term for indexing. 

Exposing more complete MeSH data in an extended MARC format helps clarify what is included and how it is structured.  The features of our mapping listed below include elements that are not displayed in either PubMed MeSH (4) or the MeSH Browser (5), e.g. scope notes related to specific embedded terms. 

New 2007 MeSH records and updates to all other MeSH have been recently reloaded in our Authority file and copied to our poorly named Community Information File (2) available for public searching.  The 24+K MeSH terms appear over 450K times in our bibliographic records and in other authority records.

Overview of Mapping Features

- Broader and narrower terms explicitly linked (providing context within the record)
- Date of NLM creation/introduction/update of terms clearly labeled
- De-blinded links to previous indexing (linked when terms still valid)
- Embedded related concepts with definitions (with "indented" xrefs for clarity)
- Entry combination (descriptor/qualifier) synonym references
- Eponyms (~80%) linked to related persons, organizations, places (1,000+ done manually)
- LCSH equivalents (when known; currently almost 10K; began with file from Northwestern)
- Lexical tags displayed (e.g. eponym, abbreviation, lab number, trade name, etc.)
- Local enhancements (additional xrefs and historical notes) clearly delineated
- "Non-print" references selectively displayable ("elevated" xrefs)
- Notes (selected) replaced with explicit links (deblinded when generic)
- Pharmacologic actions of drugs (linked)
- Post-processing link validation
- Semantic types from UMLS
- Subheading authorities include relationships to other subheadings and to topical MeSH
- Subheadings allowable with a term appear as succinct code string and in spelled out list
- Under the hood details (MARC display includes hidden control nos., dates, variants, etc.)

The improved data presentation is proving helpful in ongoing MeSH assignment and in incorporating and coordinating local changes (now in over 3,500 records). 

Sample MARC Record with Extensions (Partial Display version precedes) 

Information Type:            [topic (MeSH)]
Term:                            Duodenal Ulcer
Variant:                         -- Ulcer, Duodenal
                                    -- Eponym: Curling’s Ulcer
                                    -- C06.405.469.275.800.348 Duodenal Ulcer
                                    -- C06.405.608.173 Duodenal Ulcer
Includes: Eponym: Curling Ulcer [Acute stress DUODENAL ULCER, usually observed in patients with extensive third-degree burns.]
Related Person:             Curling, Thomas Blizard, 1811-1888.
Related Topic:               Broader: Peptic Ulcer
Semantic type:              Disease or Syndrome
MeSH Definition:            CURLING’S ULCER was heading 1975-96 (see under DUODENAL ULCER 1975-90)
MeSH History:               CURLING’S ULCER was heading 1975-96 (see under DUODENAL ULCER 1975-90)
MeSH Scope:                A PEPTIC ULCER located in the DUODENUM.
LC Heading:                  Duodenum Ulcers         
Category:                      Topic, Disease
Record Type:                 LCSH
                                    Locally-Enhanced

…Note:  Technically, the reference Curling’s Ulcer should be subordinate to Curling Ulcer, an embedded concept with its own control no. (cf. ^3 below).  Note the separate definition for this embedded concept.  “Includes:” is how we mapped a narrower embedded concept; two others occur:  “Includes related:” and “Includes broader:”, which are good examples of things learned during the mapping. 

000       03820cqz a2200973n 450
001       4730
005       20070217075435.0
008       731227 neancnnbabn a ana b
035       __ |9 94Z5690L |z 94Z5690L
035       8_ |a (DNLM)D004381
035       __ |a 5253
075       8_ |a BL |a CF |a CI |a CL |a CN |a CO |a DH |a DI |a DT |a EC |a EH |a EM |a EN |a EP |a ET |a GE |a HI |a IM |a ME |a MI |a MO |a NU |a PA |a PC |a PP |a PS |a PX |a RA |a RH |a RI |a RT |a SU |a TH |a UR |a US |a VE |a VI
150       8_ |a Duodenal Ulcer |3 M0006885 |4 T013378 |9 1999-01-01
245       10 |a Duodenal Ulcer |h [topic (MeSH)]
450       89 |1 -- |a Ulcer, Duodenal |3 M0006885 |4 T013378
450       8_ |1 -- |e Eponym: |a Curling’s Ulcer |3 M0006884 |4 T013377 |9 1996-04-12
450       8_ |1 -- |a C06.405.469.275.800.348 |x Duodenal Ulcer
450       8_ |1 -- |a C06.405.608.173 |x Duodenal Ulcer
450       8_ |e Includes: |e Eponym: |a Curling Ulcer |2 Acute stress DUODENAL ULCER, usually observed in patients with extensive third-degree burns. |3 M0006884 |4 T529865 |9 2003-01-07
500       1_ |a Curling, Thomas Blizard, |d 1811-1888.
550       8_ |e Broader: |a Peptic Ulcer |w 94Z19059L
550       8_ |e Semantic type: |a Disease or Syndrome |3 T047
650       92 |a Duodenal Ulcer
650       92 |a Ulcer, Duodenal
650       92 |a Curling’s Ulcer
650       92 |a C06.405.469.275.800.348 |x Duodenal Ulcer
650       92 |a C06.405.608.173 |x Duodenal Ulcer
650       92 |a Curling Ulcer
650       92 |a Peptic Ulcer
650       92 |a Disease or Syndrome
655       47 |a Topic, Disease
655       87 |a MeSH
655       27 |a LCSH
655       27 |a Locally-Enhanced
667       8_ |a perforation = DUODENAL ULCER /compl (IM) + PEPTIC ULCER PERFORATION (IM); hemorrhage = DUODENAL ULCER /compl (IM) + PEPTIC ULCER HEMORRHAGE (IM)
680       8_ |a CURLING’S ULCER was heading 1975-96 (see under DUODENAL ULCER 1975-90)
688       8_ |a CURLING’S ULCER was heading 1975-96 (see under DUODENAL ULCER 1975-90)
689       8_ |a A PEPTIC ULCER located in the DUODENUM.
750       _0 |a Duodenum |x Ulcers
915       8_ |e NLM created: |a 1999-01-01
915       8_ |e NLM revised: |a 2003-07-09
925       8_ |a blood
925       8_ |a cerebrospinal fluid
925       8_ |a chemically induced
925       8_ |a classification
925       8_ |a complications
925       8_ |a congenital
925       8_ |a diagnosis
925       8_ |a diet therapy
925       8_ |a drug therapy
925       8_ |a economics
925       8_ |a embryology
925       8_ |a enzymology
925       8_ |a epidemiology
925       8_ |a ethnology
925       8_ |a etiology
925       8_ |a genetics
925       8_ |a history
925       8_ |a immunology
925       8_ |a metabolism
925       8_ |a microbiology
925       8_ |a mortality
925       8_ |a nursing
925       8_ |a parasitology
925       8_ |a pathology
925       8_ |a physiopathology
925       8_ |a prevention & control
925       8_ |a psychology
925       8_ |a radiography
925       8_ |a radionuclide imaging
925       8_ |a radiotherapy
925       8_ |a rehabilitation
925       8_ |a surgery
925       8_ |a therapy
925       8_ |a ultrasonography
925       8_ |a urine
925       8_ |a veterinary
925       8_ |a virology
995       88 |1 -- |a Duodenal Ulcers |3 M0006885 |4 T013378
995       89 |1 -- |a Ulcer, Duodenal |3 M0006885 |4 T013378
995       88 |1 -- |a Ulcers, Duodenal |3 M0006885 |4 T013378
995       88 |1 -- |e Eponym: |a Ulcer, Curling |3 M0006884 |4 T529865
995       88 |1 -- |e Eponym: |a Curlings Ulcer |3 M0006884 |4 T013377
998       __ |a 035 03518 0351b 0352b 0359 035a 035z 075 07518 0752b 075a 150 15018 1502b 1503 1504 1509 150a 245 24511 24520 245a 245h 450 4501 45018 4502 45029 4502b 4503 4504 4509 450a 450e 450x 500 50011 5002b 500a 500d 550 55018 5502b 5503 550a 550e 550w 650 65019 65022 650a 650x 655 65512 65514 65518 65527 655a 667 66718 6672b 667a 680 68018 6802b 680a 688 68818 6882b 688a 689 68918 6892b 689a 750 7501b 75020 750a 750x 915 91518 9152b 915a 915e 925 92518 9252b 925a 995 9951 99518 99528 99529 9953 9954 995a 995e 

Note:  Some of the tagging above is automatically generated to “move” data into bibliographic fields that are indexed.  Thus, a 450 is displayed, while the corresponding 650 is indexed. 

References 

1.  Miller, Dick R.  Principia bibliographica?-- balancing principles, practice, and pragmatics in a changing digital environment.  Cat Class Q  2007; 44(1/2):[in press].  Preprint:  http://elane.stanford.edu/laneauth/Principia_CCQ.pdf  
2.  Community Information File [Lane Medical Library public authority file].  http://cifdb.stanford.edu 
3.  Introduction to MeSH in XML format (2001).  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/xmlmesh.html 
4.  MeSH Database [PubMed] (2007).  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=mesh  
5.  MeSH Browser (2007).  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html  
         

North American Serials Interest Group 2006/07 Annual Meeting Report
NASIG officers for 2006-2007 are: President:     Denise Novak, Carnegie-Mellon University
                   Vice-President/President-Elect:    Char Simser, Kansas State University
                                                 Secretary:    Joyce Tenney, Univ of MD, Baltimore County
                                                 Treasurer:     Rose Robischon, U.S. Military Academy Library
                                         Past-President:     Mary Page, Rutgers University
                                     Members at Large:    Rick Anderson, Univ of Nevada, Reno
                                                                    Adam Chesler, American Chemical Society
                                                                    Katy Ginanni, EBSCO Information Services
                                                                    Kim Maxwell, MIT Libraries
                                                                    Alison Roth, Swets Information Services
                                                                    Bob Schatz, Coutts Information Services

With the newly elected 2006-2007 executive board, all NASIG constituencies are well represented with one publisher; one book vendor and two subscription agents, in addition to academic librarians. 

Officers for 2007-2008 are: Vice President/President Elect:      Jill Emery, University of Texas Libraries
                                                                      Treasurer:      Peter Whiting, University of Southern Indiana
                                                          Members-at-Large:     Anna Creech, Central Washington University
                                                                                          Kimberly Maxwell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
                                                                                          Jeff Slagell, Delta State University

The 22nd annual conference "Place Your Bet in Kentucky: The Serials Gamble", will be held May 31-June 3, 2007 in Louisville, Kentucky. Three pre-conferences are planned.  They are Metadata Standards and Applications (2 days), with presenters Diane Hillmann, Cornell University, and Sherry Vellucci, Rutgers University, SCCTP Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop with presenter Jeanne Baker, University of Maryland Libraries, and Publishing 101 -- The Basics of AcademicPublishing with presenter Zachary Rolnik, Now Publishers.  

There are three vision sessions scheduled.  They are The Evolution of Reading and Writing in the Networked Era presented by Bob Stein, USC Annenberg Center, Hurry up, Please. It's Time -- State of Emergency presented by Karen Schneider, Florida State University, and A New Approach To Library Service Discovery and Resource Delivery presented by Daniel Chudnov, Library of Congress, Office of Strategic Initiatives.  

Strategy and tactics sessions provide information about all phases of the serials world, from finding your first job, through cataloging, ERMs, digital archiving, and much more. Poster sessions and time to meet and discuss with librarians, vendors, and publishers will round out the meeting. Information is available on the NASIG web site, http://www.nasig.org/conference/2007. 

MOTION

This report is informational and requires no action by the Board of Directors.


                Maggie Wineburgh-Freed
                MLA Representative to NASIG, 2007/2010
                mwfreed@usc.edu