MedlinePlus Connect links EHR users to consumer health information
The National Library of Medicine recently announced the debut of MedlinePlus Connect (http://medlineplus.gov/connect), a free service that allows electronic health record (EHR) systems to link users to MedlinePlus. MedlinePlus is an authoritative up-to-date health information resource for patients, families and health care providers, and delivers information about conditions and disorders, medications, and health and wellness. MedlinePlus has hundreds of health topic pages that bring together information from the National Institutes of Health, other US government agencies and authoritative health information providers.
General information about MedlinePlus Connect can be found at
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/connect/overview.html.
Technical support for MedlinePlus Connect can be found at
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/connect/technical.html.
John Shaw Billings, c. 1870s
Online exhibit: “Building a National Medical Library on a Shoestring: 1872, the First Year
The National Library of Medicine recently mounted a new online exhibition, “Building a National Medical Library on a Shoestring: 1872, the First Year.” The exhibition may be found at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/buildingnlm/index.html.
The exhibition focuses on the dramatic 1872 change in the library’s mission. Founded in 1836 as the office library for the Army Surgeon General, the library came under the stewardship of Army Major John Shaw Billings in 1865. Seven years later, the library embarked on a venture to acquire the most complete set possible of medical books and journals. Billings and his work set the course for the library’s identity today as the world’s largest medical library.
The core of the exhibition is found in the stories, difficulties, and situations that Billings encountered as he began building a comprehensive collection as quickly and frugally as possible. The exhibition also shows the library’s early years, exploring the practical uses that the limited collection then supported.
The online exhibit includes a full bibliography of published materials by and about John Shaw Billings, including articles and pamphlets, reports, books and monographs, and speeches.
