National Library of Medicine Announces Plan to Increase Public Access to Health Information on the Internet

Noting that "the Internet offers the public one of the most cost-effective opportunities for accessing timely and critical health information," Dr. Donald A. B. Lindberg, director of the National Library of Medicine, has announced that 37 public libraries would take part in a multi-state pilot project designed to increase public awareness of and access to health information via the Internet. The project will evaluate the degree to which public libraries and the Internet can help meet the health information needs of the public. "These 37 public libraries will help us to determine the feasibility of mounting these programs in public libraries nationwide," Dr. Lindberg says.

Donald A. B. Lindberg, M.D., director NLM; Naomi C. Broering, M.L.S., M.A., executive director HAM-TMC Library; Deborah D. Halsted, M.L.S., M.A., assistant director KNS HAM-TMC Library; and Tenley Albright, M.D., chair NLM Board of Regents.

"This initiative was prompted, in part, by growing public enthusiasm and thirst for medical information," notes Dr. Lindberg. "For more than 25 years, MEDLINE has been one way in which health professionals have attempted to keep up with what's new in their field. Last year, Vice President Al Gore extended this same ability to all when he conducted the first free MEDLINE search on the Internet. Since then, public interest in MEDLINE has skyrocketed. The number of searches on MEDLINE has increased tenfold. About 7 million searches took place annually before the first free MEDLINE search. There are about 120 million annually, now. And, about one-third of the searches are being done by consumers - indicative of the increasing public appetite for health information."

"Informed consumers are better patients," he adds, "and MEDLINE is the world's largest database of peer-reviewed information." He noted that this public education campaign would not be possible without the cooperation of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine in partnership with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Public Library Association, and the Medical Library Association.

There are 10 public libraries in the South Central Region participating in the pilot project; the Houston Public Library is one of them. During August and September, staff from the NN/LM SCR, the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio Briscoe Library, and the trained librarians at the public libraries to search PubMed, IGM, and the Internet, in preparation for a nationwide publicity kickoff in October 1998.

This pilot project will last one year. NLM staff is planning extensive project evaluation before beginning similar projects nationwide.

For a list of the 37 participating libraries, please contact the NN/LM SCR office at 800-338-7657 or NNLMSCR@library.tmc.edu.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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