Internet Resources for Medical Librarians #1  

Internet Health 2003;1:6

Compiled and maintained by
Vinod Scaria
Center for Cybermedicine and Internet Research
Calicut.

Last Updated May 2003

Correspondence:

Vinod Scaria
Perumcheril
33/4711 Malaparamba
Calicut, Kerala
India
E-Mail: vinodscaria@yahoo.co.in

Internet has evolved into one single large resource station, where information and resources are seamlessly integrated by hypertexts. This makes Internet an inevitable media in information collection and dissemination. Librarians, being the middlemen, and gateways of information cannot possibly overlook the potential of Internet. Here we discuss the potentially useful resources Medical Librarians can rely.

Medical Library Website Directories:

MedLib-The Medical library Gateway:

This is an exhaustive directory of Medical library websites and currently indexes more than 750 websites covering all continents. The website also contains a discussion forum, a job announcement utility and an exhaustive collection links to resources for Medical librarians
URL: http://www.medlib.netfirms.com

Hardin Meta Directory Medical/Health Science Libraries:

This is another large index of Medical Library websites, maintained by the University of Iowa, and is a part of the larger Meta directory –Hardin MD. All links are hand-checked. There is also a search utility that allows you to search across the whole database. This is one of the most popular [judged by incoming links] resource databases.
URL: http://www.arcade.uiowa.edu/hardin-www/hslibs.html

MedwebPlus Medical Libraries

This index of Medical libraries is a part of MedWebPlus the Medical website index.
URL: http://www.medwebplus.com/subject/Libraries,_Medical.html

Lib Web Cats

This unique index of Library websites contains a fairly good number of Medical libraries. Marshall Breeding of Vanderbilt University maintains this research database. The website also has other useful resources like Library technology guides which discuss breakthroughs in this domain.
URL: http://www.librarytechnology.org/libwebcats

Med Web:

This search engine from Emory University also indexes Medical library websites
URL: http://www.medweb.emory.edu

NLM Libraries:

The National network of Libraries of Medicine
URL: http://nnlm.gov/index.html

Selected Medical library Catalogs:
This resource is maintained by Theresa Baker, Dykes Library, University of Kansas
URL: http://library.kumc.edu/catalog/med_cats.htm

Medical Library Journals 

Journal of the Medical Library Association

The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA), formerly known as the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association (BMLA), is an international, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly that aims to advance the practice and research knowledgebase of health sciences librarianship
URL: http://www.mlanet.org/publications/jmla/index.html

The Journal is also freely available through PubMedCentral;
URL: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

Health Information and Libraries Journal –

This international peer reviewed Journal is published by  Blackwell Science and publishes research of interest to medical librarians.
URL: http://www.blackwell-science.com/~cgilib/jnlpage.asp?Journal=hlr&File=hlr&Page=contents

Library Journals, Newsletters and E-zines:

This exhaustive index of Library Journals at Libdex is a useful resource to Medical Librarians too. Apart for a number of Journals related to Library Science, the website also indexes magazines related to this domain.
URL: http://www.libdex.com/journals.html

Medical Discussion Lists:

Discussion lists have become an inevitable utility in advancement of professional knowledge, at par or even beyond professional journals. Here are some discussion lists Medical Librarians would find useful.

MEDLIB-L Archives (Medical Library listserv)

This is a Discussion List, which discusses issues concerning Medical Library and Professionals. The list also permits to enquire availability of inter library loans and to verify citations. Maintained by the University of Buffalo, this is undoubtedly the leading discussion lists in its domain
URL: http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/medlib-l.html

Canadian Health Libraries Association - Listserv     

This list is maintained by the Canadian Health Libraries Association to help professionals address and discuss their opinion and concern. It is a useful discussion forum for Medical Librarians and Students.
URL: http://www.mun.ca/lists/canmedlib/

MEDIBIB-L

Medical librarian listserv for professionals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
URL: http://medweb.uni-muenster.de/zbm/medibib.html

Other Useful Library Lists:

Web4Lib:

This is one of the most informative and unique discussion lists on the Internet and discusses issues concerning Internet and Librarians. Subscription to the list itself opens you up to a host of informative communication strings and you will probably hate unsubscribe from the list.
URL: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/archive.html

ifla-l@infoserv.inist.fr
International Federation of Library Associations mailing list.
URL: http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/ifla-l

libjobs@infoserv.inist.fr
Library and Information Science jobs mailing list
URL: http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/libjobs  

Medical Library Weblogs

Weblogs, or blogs, are frequently updated Web pages with brief paragraphs of information. Many softwares and utilities are available on the Internet to create such highly informative pages. An article on such resources have been published in mlanet website. Medical librarians would find it highly informative.

Weblogs and Web log Publishing Tools Laura A. Dixon
URL: https://www.mlanet.org/members/mla_news/2002/aug_02/inet_resource.html

Health Libraries News 
This informative and interesting web log is maintained by Carol Cooke, University of Manitoba
URL: http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/health/newslog.shtml

Health News
This weblog on health news from UofS Health Sciences Library is a useful resource for medical librarians.
URL: http://library.usask.ca/hsl/healthnews.html

The Handheld Librarian
This Weblog discusses issues on handheld computer technology.
URL: http://www.handheldlib.blogspot.com/

Wyliemac's Blog  
URL: http://wyliemac.blogspot.com/2002_08_01_wyliemac_archive.html

More Library Weblogs:

Libdex: Library Weblog Directory:

This is an exhaustive collection of links to library Weblogs classified by country.
URL: http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html

National Library Of Medicine Resources:

The National Library of Medicine, USA [NLM] hosts a number of useful websites.

Here are some of them:

NLM Libraries:

The National network of Libraries of Medicine http://nnlm.gov/index.html

NLM Gateway

The NLM Gateway lets you search in multiple NLM retrieval systems URL: http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd

MeSH Subject Headings

The NLM website lets you browse through the Medical Subject Headings list at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html

NLM Classification can be found at: http://wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/class/

NLM Bibliographies in Medicine and resource list at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/resources.html

Health Info Quest: The pathfinder to common consumer questions http://nnlm.gov/healthinfoquest/

Medical library associations:

The Medical library Association:
URL: http://www.mlanet.org/

International Federation of Library Associations:
URL: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s28/sbams.htm

German Medical Librarian Association:
URL: http://www.agmb.de/

Association of research libraries:
URL: http://www.arl.org/

Other Resource Websites:

MedLib Resources for Medical librarians:
URL: http://www.medlib.netfirms.com/resources.html

Health Sciences Internet Librarianship Resource Page:
This is a very useful and interesting resource page maintained by Eric Schnell of Ohio State University.
URL: http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/hsl_resources/index.html

National library of Australia:
URL: http://www.nla.gov.au/