January/February 2002
volume 11, issue 1

In this issue:

Where Have All the Databases Gone?
 
Announcing ILL Web Delivery from the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library!
 
What is Web Delivery Anyway?
 
Announcing the New Savitt Medical Library Facility
 
We'll Meet You There!
 
Medical Subject Headings Home Page
 
Late Night Reading: Medical Subject Headings 2002
 
Systematic Reviews
 
NLM Funds Three Internet Connection Grants in the Pacific Southwest Region
 
Membership Renewal Update
 
NLM Technical Bulletin Highlights
 

In every issue:

Table of Contents for the NLM Technical Bulletin
 
Upcoming Events - 2002
 
Publication Information

Late Night Reading: Medical Subject Headings 2002

The MeSH team has made some big changes to MeSH for 2002, more so than other years.

• Viruses: all virus names were reviewed and updated to conform to the 7^th Report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Some of these changes may seem trivial (having to do with capitalization) but many new virus names are now included. Example: Ebola-like Viruses
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine: MeSH terms in this area have been restructured into the following sub-groups: physical, sensory, mind-body, spiritual and an unclassified group to provide a space for everything that did not fit in the other categories! Example: Laughter Therapy
• Plants and Phytotherapy: Major changes occurred for plant names. More Latin binomials are used and fewer common names appear. Changes also involved indexing policy. Plants used for therapy will now use the term Phytotherapy as well as the most specific plant name available. In addition, coordinate indexing will now use specific Plant Components because of the importance of what part of the plant is being used. Example: Mentha
• Bioethics: A cooperative project with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics has resulted in an expansion of terms in this discipline. This project was a prelude to migrating the Bioethicsline database to PubMed and LOCATORplus. Example: Moral Obligations
• Transport and Carrier Proteins: This area has been enhanced considerably with new headings that follow very recent nomenclature guidelines. The resultant indexing rules were a coordinated effort on the part of the MeSH team and NCBI staff. Example: Organic Anion Transport Polypeptide C

Finally, there are new terms just because they are new. These include Bystander Effect, Exercise Movement Techniques, and Animals, Genetically Modified. Be careful, however, and read the scope notes. Sometimes we assume a term means something that it does not. Most librarians would get very excited with the new term, Access to Information, since that's what we're all about. However, the scope note for this new term is "Individual's rights to obtain and use information collected or generated by others" and one of the Entry Terms is "Freedom of Information Act Requests". Who would guess!  JKK

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