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Endings and Beginnings: Medical Literature Milestones
The year 2004 marks two milestones in the world of medical literature: the end of Index Medicus in print form, and the beginning of IndexCat. In December 2004, Index Medicus, published for the last 125 years by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), will cease to be printed in paper format. The print version was considered the primary tool for locating medical literature until the advent of the MEDLINE database in 1971, and the arrival of the free PubMed version of MEDLINE in 1997. MEDLINE includes all the articles indexed in Index Medicus, as well as additional articles from journals in related areas, such as dental medicine and nursing. Free access to PubMed has drastically reduced demand for the print index, making its continued production impractical. Library patrons who are accustomed to using Index Medicus to browse, rather than search the literature, can instead use MEDLINE for this purpose. Contact an HSLS reference librarian at 412-648-8796 to learn how to generate a list of recent articles under a given subject heading of interest to you. The other milestone for 2004 is the release of a new NLM online Databases called IndexCat - the digitized version of The Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, a 61-volume print series published between 1880 and 1961. The database is available free of charge at <http://indexcat.nlm.nih.gov/>, and is also linked from the HSLS Web site database list <www.hsls.pitt.edu/resources/databases/titles>. For the first time, medical researchers and medical historians have online, keyword-searchable access to a significant amount of pre-1950 medical literature, some dating back prior to the Guttenberg Bible. While not as comprehensive in its literature coverage as MEDLINE is today, IndexCat does provide access to important information from this earlier period. Scholars can trace the evolution of theories of disease causation and treatment for specific illnesses, and the development of drugs and other forms of therapy. In addition, this resource will allow grant writers, doctoral students and other researchers to conduct a more thorough literature review. A hands-on workshop, Searching IndexCat, will be presented in Falk Library CMC Classroom 2 on Friday January 14, 2005 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Check the HSLS class calendar for additional up-coming classes at <www.hsls.pitt.edu/services/instruction/calendar>. --John Erlen & Ammon Ripple |
