The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the world’s largest biomedical library. There are those that believe it should become an “epicenter for data science” across the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The American Association for the Advancement of Science brought this to our attention in their article, “National Library of Medicine urged to take on broader role.” This isn’t to say that they shouldn’t continue its current program. The plan encourages new directions for the library without mentioning anything being cut, which comes as a relief to many.
This stems from a working group appointed in January by NIH Director Francis Collins, who invited them to re-envision the future of NLM.
The NLM has a 179-year history and became part of NIH in 1962. In the beginning, it was a paper collection, but the library soon added digital resources.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
