In April, new uniform international license terms for Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine — Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) replaced the US-wide license terms negotiated by the National Library of Medicine in 2003, giving US users broader rights to distribute derivative products internationally. The newly formed International Health Terminology Standards Organization (IHTSDO) acquired SNOMED CT from the…
John Phillip (“Jack”) McGovern, MD, former member (1970-74) and chair (1973-74) of the NLM Board of Regents, died May 31 of pneumonia in Galveston, Texas. He was 85. His tenure on the Board saw the inauguration of MEDLINE, the beginning of a national toxicology online search service, a number of satellite-based communications experiments, and emergency…
After more than 43 years of federal service, Bob Mehnert, the widely respected Director of the National Library of Medicine’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL), retired in June. In a career that paralleled the rise of the computer, Bob Mehnert adapted his considerable editorial and literary talents to promote and share the vast…
A newly revised edition of the National Library of Medicine Classification, available in April, adds six new class numbers to the schedules and 45 MeSH terms to the index, including 27 new to the MeSH vocabulary as of 2007. In addition, 32 schedule records and 164 index entries have been updated since publication of the…
Sifting through the vast array of information on genetic disorders available from the National Library of Medicine became easier and more efficient with the opening, in May, of a new Web portal, developed by the NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and the Genetic Alliance to help patients, caregivers and health professionals gain access…
NLM in Focus 