Summary Highlights of Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery at the National Library of Medicine for 2005

ALA Mid-Winter 2006, San Antonio

1/10/06

Hurricane Response

Many of our DOCLINE libraries have been devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The recovery efforts will be lengthy and difficult. We are heartened to hear from our Regional Medical Libraries that many member libraries are resolutely absorbing the workload of their affected neighbor libraries.

As part of The National Library of Medicine's ongoing effort to assist those libraries in need, NLM has announced that we will forgive ILL fees to 65 affected libraries for requests filled by NLM for at least two billing periods from September 2005 through March 2006. The National Library of Medicine and the RMLs in those areas will re-evaluate the situation again in March to determine which libraries may need continued assistance for the April-June 2006 billing quarter.

Within 48 hours of Hurricane Katrina, MedlinePlus staff added 27 site records to the following topics: Disaster and Emergency Preparedness, Drinking Water, Food Safety, Food Contamination and Poisoning, Bacterial Infections, and Coping with Disasters.

New disaster-related topics have also been added to MedlinePlus to better serve users looking for related information. They include:

  • preparing for disasters and recovering in the aftermath,
  • natural disasters,
  • man-made disasters, and
  • psychological coping with disaster events.

DOCLINE Becomes Fully ISO Compliant

In November 1, 2005, the National Library of Medicine released DOCLINE 2.6, making it compliant with the ISO (International Standards Organization) Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Protocol. The ISO ILL Protocol allows users to exchange messages (requests) between proprietary interlibrary loan systems. For more information about the ISO ILL Protocol, DOCLINE is now compatible with Atlas-ILLiad, Fretwell Downing’s VDX (Virtual Document eXchange), RLG’s ILL Manager, and Relais International.

DOCLINE libraries that are using one of the tested ILL management systems mentioned above are eligible to begin using the ISO ILL Protocol to communicate between their ILL system and the DOCLINE system. These libraries will be able to send, receive, and fill DOCLINE requests without logging into DOCLINE. DOCLINE requests will no longer need to be manually receipted, exported, or imported into the library's local ILL management software. The library will only log into DOCLINE to get more information on the status of requests, update serial holdings, update their institution's record, and to retrieve statistical reports.

Future Development Plans for DOCLINE ISO

Testing and implementation with other ISO ILL management system vendors will be considered during open windows in our development schedule. Libraries must be DOCLINE participants to send requests to DOCLINE via the ISO ILL Protocol. DOCLINE libraries interested in using the ISO ILL Protocol can find additional information and how to request conversion to ISOILL by reading our FAQs.

Summary of Network and NLM Transactions

Not surprisingly, the total number of ILL transactions to NLM and in the NN/LM went down in FY05 compared to FY04. The same was true for onsite request activity at NLM. NLM received just over 5% fewer ILL requests, and over 12% fewer onsite requests. At NLM, many more materials are available to our patrons online from the Reading Rooms, and many volumes of journal articles are now available free on PubMed Central. With more and more materials available electronically to subscribers (or free online), many libraries have less reason to borrow from others. This drop off is very evident in the NN/LM network, where the total number of requests was down 9.5%.

Collection Access Section / Percent
Change
FY05 / Total
FY05 / Total
FY04 / Percent of total Requests
FY05 / Percent of total
Requests
FY04
Total Requests Received / --8.2% / 580,072 / 631,806
Interlibrary Loan Requests Received / -5.1% / 341,239 / 359,577 / 59%* / 57%*
Interlibrary Loan Requests Filled / +2% / 273,870 / 281,543 / 80% / 78%
Onsite Requests Received / -12.3% / 238,833 / 272,229 / 41%* / 43%*
Onsite Requests Filled / 0% / 201,753 / 229,208 / 84% / 84%
* = Percentage of Total CAS Requests

Looking at the longer term picture, NLM’s total volume of requests for print materials onsite and offsite is down to the level it was in 1996.

DOCLINE System

NLM released DOCLINE 2.5 and Loansome Doc 2.5 on June 5, 2005, unveiling a totally redesigned appearance for Loansome Doc, many new features, and an easier to use interface. Highlights of the release include password reset feature for users who forget their password, display of library holdings during order process, warning message of possible duplicate order, email confirmation of registration, ability for patron to email their library from within Loansome Doc, and the ability for libraries to edit their patron’s records. The release also added SSL (secure socket layer) to Loansome Doc to provide security of patron information as it is passed across the internet

SERHOLD/MARC 21

MedlinePlus

During FY2005, nearly 75 million unique visitors used over 661 million MedlinePlus pages, an increase from 52 million visitors and 160 million page views over the previous year. The site now features 707 MedlinePlus health topics, and 658 of these are also available in Spanish.

MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español remain two of the top five government sites based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Nearly 70,000 people subscribe to the twelve weekly announcements lists. Other achievements:

  • Go Local sites added: Alabama (September), Indiana, Massachusetts and Southern Texas (all released in May)
  • New announcement lists: Men’s Health, Nutrition
  • Nine new interactive tutorials added, including highly requested titles such as: AIDS, C-Section, Vaginal Birth, Cold Sores and Flashers and Floaters.
  • New feature: Surgery videos from OR-Live.

PubMed Central

PubMedCentral Backfile Scanning Project

The PMC Back Issue Scanning Project has proceeded smoothly throughout the year. Currently, the complete back runs of 20 journals have been processed, and over 70 more journals are in production. The back issue scanning project is vastly increasing the material in PMC, making this information available electronically for the first time.It currently accounts for over 287,000 articles in PubMed Central. In each case, the complete volume is available, including front and back covers, tables of contents, administrative material such as masthead and editorial boards, and the advertisements. Views include a full-text summary, HTML view, separate views of TIFF images, and the full PDF. The earliest titles available in their entirety, each starting with volume 1 number 1, include Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 1911-, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1915-, and Journal of Bacteriology 1916-. Many more important early works are in progress, including BMJ back to 1853. Titles scanned in cooperation with the Wellcome Trust and the JISC in the UKwhich are nearing completion include Annals of Surgery back to 1885, Journal of Physiology to 1878, Biochemical Journal and Journal of Anatomy.

Customer Service

In order to better serve Saturday customers, who tend to be health professionals, patients and families, NLM extended Saturday hours to 8:30 am to 2:00 pm, beginning in September. The Reading Room is no longer open on Thursday evenings and consistently closes at 5:00 pm Monday-Friday. Customer response to the change has been positive. Reading Room patrons can now self-instruct on two new tutorials created by Cynthia Burke, Call Slip Requests and Patron Registration.

Martha Fishel 1/10/06