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The planning of the Countway Library took place in an atmosphere of community interest and support. Architectural planning was effective and harmonious. The building functions well. The program of the Library is briefly described. Serials records, involving 17,000 titles, have been mechanized. A rare books program has been initiated. Since building occupancy, the Library has substituted copy service for the lending of periodicals. For an experimental period, the copy service was cost free. The Aesculapian Room, for non-medical recreational reading, has had the generous support of the Aesculapian Club. Plans for regional library service in New England are based upon an historic commitment of the Boston Medical Library. A MEDLARS regional search center and a national Vision Information Center have been established in the Countway.

In plants, accumulation in specific compartments and huge structural diversity of secondary metabolites is one trait that is not understood yet. By exploring the diverse abiotic and biotic interactions of plants above- and belowground, we provide examples that are characterized by nonlinear effects of the secondary metabolites. We propose that redox chemistry, specifically the reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and, in their absence, reduction of molecular oxygen by the identical secondary metabolite, is an important component of the hormetic effects caused by these compounds. This is illustrated for selected phenols, terpenoids, and alkaloids. The redox reactions are modulated by the variable availability of transition metals that serve as donors of electrons in a Fenton reaction mode. Low levels of ROS stimulate growth, cell differentiation, and stress resistance; high levels induce programmed cell death. We propose that provision of molecules that can participate in this redox chemistry is the raison d’être for secondary metabolites. In this context, the presence or absence of functional groups in the molecule is more essential than the whole structure. Accordingly, there exist no constraints that limit structural diversity. Redox chemistry is ubiquitous, from the atmosphere to the soil.

A brief profile of Janet Doe is given. Twenty-five years of library automation are reviewed from the author's point of view. Major projects such as the SUNY Biomedical Communication Network and the Regional Online Union Catalog of the Greater Midwest Regional Medical Library Network are discussed. Important figures in medical library automation are considered, as is the major role played by the National Library of Medicine.

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In 1962, an analysis of interlibrary loan requests for serials filled by NLM in 1959 was published. In the twenty-five years following 1959, important changes occurred in the biomedical library community, which had a significant impact on interlibrary loan activities, including the development of MEDLARS and online searching, the Regional Medical Library (RML) network, and union listing for serials. To describe NLM's current interlibrary loan request traffic for serials and to identify any significant changes in traffic between 1959 and 1984, a comparative analysis of 1984 serial loan requests was performed, primarily by manipulation of automated request records. The changes in request traffic strongly suggest that the efforts to strengthen regional document delivery through the RML program have been successful and that NLM's collection is now used primarily as a last resort.

When the National Library of Medicine acquired a computer to augment its publication program, the intent was to present in one medium an index to journal articles and a catalog of books and new serial titles. The computer programs designed for indexing were unsatisfactory for cataloging, however; so two publications were issued, the Index Medicus and the NLM Current Catalog.

The Current Catalog features separate name and subject sections, added volumes, and technical reports.

The Express Cataloging Service was one of the first attempts to increase the speed and coverage of the Catalog. Shared cataloging with the Library of Congress, the Countway Library at Harvard, and the Upstate Medical Library in Syracuse, New York, have also contributed to the efforts toward improving this library service. An additional shared cataloging program, this time with the National Medical Audiovisual Center, is expected to be implemented shortly.

This paper describes the procedures and practices adopted for the cooperative cataloging program between NLM, Countway, and the Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse. Catalogers were trained by NLM, and the two libraries communicated data and queries by means of TWX and, later, IBM terminals. A description is given of how books are selected for cataloging, and details are given as to how conflicts in cataloging practice are settled. Further results of such cooperation are given, such as the addition of Upstate's holding symbol in Current Catalog. Statistics of work done are given, and impending changes are mentioned.

The National Library of Medicine is charged with the development and management of a National Biomedical Communications Network. The Regional Medical Library Program is a forerunner of such a network; the product and institutions involved will be critical elements in its evolution. The immediate objective of the RMLP, the facilitation of biomedical information transfer, presents a logistical problem requiring substantial commitment from the health sciences community and extensive cooperation among libraries in each region.

The Countway Library, Boston, was the nation's first Regional Medical Library under the Regional Medical Library Program of the NLM. New England Regional Medical Library Service (NERMLS) began in October 1967 and is the outgrowth of traditional extramural services of the Harvard and Boston Medical Libraries (constituents of the Countway). During the first year over 27,000 requests were received of which 84 percent were filled. Some problems of document delivery (and their solution) are recounted. Other activities were: a limited amount of reference work; distribution of a Serials List; and planning for a region-wide medical library service. Proposals call for consultation and education, regional reference service, and improved document delivery service. Emphasis is placed on the role of the Community Hospital as a center for continuing education and the need to strengthen and assist hospital medical libraries. With the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Boston, NERMLS assisted in the compilation of a small physician-selected medical Core Collection which would serve as a minimum standard collection for community hospital libraries.

Since February 1976, The Medical Library Center of New York, with the assistance of the SUNY/OCLC Network, has offered, on a subscription basis, a centralized automated cataloging service to health science libraries in the greater metropolitan New York area. By using workforms and prints of OCLC record (amended by the subscribing participants), technical services personnel at the center have fed cataloging data, via a CRT terminal, into the OCLC system, which provides (1) catalog cards, received in computer filing order; (2) book card, spine, and pocket labels; (3) accessions lists; and (4) data for eventual production of book catalogs and union catalogs. The experience of the center in the development, implementation, operation, and budgeting of its shared cataloging service is discussed.

Descriptive cataloging practices for serial differ significantly in some respects between the Library of Congress and the National Library of Medicine. This paper compares some of these differences and indicates the impact they can have on the development of on-line cooperative data bases such as OCLC. Attention is also given to the possible impact of the second edition of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules on serials cataloging. The need for standardization is stressed.

The Medical Library Resource Grant Program of the National Library of Medicine is reviewed as it was administered under the Medical Library Assistance Act and as it is now administered under the Medical Library Extension Act of 1970, and program objectives are discussed. The “project” concept and the “general support” approach for library assistance are considered, as is the relationship of the Regional Medical Library Program. In the context of the evolving Biomedical Communications Network, recommendations are made for improving the effectiveness of the grant program through coordinated efforts of intermediary libraries.

A national sample of health sciences and other types of libraries having significant holdings of biomedical literature was studied to determine the status of library preservation programs. Findings pertaining to 134 basic health sciences libraries and to ninety-seven resource libraries in the Regional Medical Library Program network are reported and discussed. Basic health sciences libraries participating in the study were primarily hospital libraries; resource libraries were primarily academic health sciences center libraries. Findings include information on topics perceived to be of greatest need for staff training and for informational or educational materials; on levels of preservation activity, staffing, and funding; and on capabilities for participating in a national cooperative preservation program. Efforts to identify general and special biomedical collections of potential importance to a national preservation program met with limited success.

The discussion covers the development of a national union list or finding tool for biomedical serial holdings and its integration into the National Serials Data Program, which is being developed under the auspices of the three National Libraries. Specific topics which are covered include: (1) Selection of the Union Catalog of Medical Periodicals (UCMP) as the basis for a biomedical list and the status of that activity; (2) discussion of the various methods of recording holdings; (3) status of the National Serials Data Program and a discussion of its relationship to the UCMP file; and (4) status of the Standard Serial Number and its relationship to other existing coding schemes for serial titles.

A recent solicitation over the MEDLIB-L e-mail discussion list revealed over thirty diverse examples of hospital library-based interlibrary cooperative initiatives currently underway. Many are familiar and have been featured in the professional literature. Most go unreported and unrecognized however, comprising invisible resource-sharing infrastructures that hospital librarians painstakingly piece together in order to provide their clients with expanded service options. This paper, drawing from the MEDLIB-L survey as well as descriptions in the published literature, provides a broad overview of such recent interlibrary cooperative efforts. Examples include interlibrary loan networks, collective purchasing initiatives, holder-of-record or union catalog access agreements, arrangements to provide e-mail and Internet access, and consortia to share electronic resources. Examples were chosen based on the initiatives' diversity of participants, and represent a wide range of locations across the United States. Such initiatives focus on local, statewide, or regional collaboration, and several involve partnerships between academic medical center libraries and regional hospital libraries. An early example of a hospital-based interlibrary cooperative IAIMS effort is described, pointing to future possibilities involving the Internet and regional hospital system intranets.

From the vantage point of her personal experience, the author examines milestones since the 1960s which have changed the medical library profession and helped shape the Medical Library Association. The advent of automation, including cataloging with OCLC and online literature searching through the SUNY Biomedical Communication Network, was a dramatic event that transformed the work and priorities of librarians, fulfilling the dreams of earlier visionaries. The application of technology in libraries led to an increased demand for education and training for librarians. The Medical Library Association responded with continuing education programs, and a series of important reports influenced how the association filled its role in professional development. Legislation providing federal funding, such as the Medical Library Assistance Act, resulted in a period of expansion for libraries and their services. The Medical Library Association has developed a legislative agenda to influence action in areas such as copyright. In the future, health sciences librarians must take a leadership role.

The SUNY Biomedical Communication Network became operational in 1968 as the first on-line bibliograhpic retrieval service for biomedical literature. Since 1968, the SUNY/BCN has grown in size from nine to thirty-two medical and university libraries and has expanded its data base coverage to include the ERIC and Psychological Abstracts data bases in addition to the full ten-year retrospective MEDLARS data base. Aside from the continuous provision of an on-line searching system, the SUNY experience over the last six years has yielded valuable information in the following areas of: (1) monograph indexing and retrieval, (2) shared cataloging, (3) user interaction and education in on-line systems, and (4) member participation in Network policy-making processes. The continued success of the SUNY/BCN is evidence that it is possible to provide a high quality on-line bibliographic retrieval system at cost to academic institutions. SUNY's success in this effort is the result of centralized resource sharing and effective regional networking, combined with thoughtful planning by user advisory committees.

As the National Library of Medicine expands access to its products and services by making them available on the Internet, more accurate information about current and future access in medical libraries is needed. The National Network Office of the National Library of Medicine conducted a survey of all network member libraries to determine the extent of connectivity and the barriers preventing 100% connectivity. Respondents called a toll-free number and, using interactive voice technology, answered questions concerning Internet access in their library. Seventy-eight percent of the network member libraries responded. Four percent of academic libraries, 27% of hospital libraries, and 10% of "other" libraries reported that they were not connected. Computer cost, lack of in-house expertise, and lack of management support were the highest ranked barriers to connecting. The National Library of Medicine and the Regional Medical Libraries will use information from this survey to develop strategies to help all member libraries achieve full connectivity.

The Health Sciences Resource Centre forms part of the National Science Library of Canada, whose collections and services are described. The new Centre coordinates activities of the various provincial medical libraries. Its creation began with increased collections of medical journals, and plans are underway to print out a union list of medical journals from the Union List of Scientific Serials tapes.

The first product of the Centre is a medical “proceedings index” to proceedings held by the National Science Library; this is computer-produced, and will appear annually.

An analysis was made of the medical items requested for borrowing from the National Science Library according to type of material, service provided, type of user, and geographical location. The results are given.

A description is given of the SDI service currently provided by the National Science Library, based on Chemical Titles, Chemical Abstracts Condensates, INSPEC, and the ISI tapes. It is hoped to expand this data base with MEDLARS tapes.

The collection development practices of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), with the goal of comprehensive acquisition of biomedical monographs, are compared with those of the resource libraries of the TALON (Region IX) Regional Medical Library. Holdings of two resource libraries in the TALON region, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and of the TALON Union Catalog of Monographs were compared with the NLM CATLINE data base for four subject classes and selected imprint years. Foreign-language coverage is lacking in Region IX, with English-language coverage is lacking in Region IX, with English-language coverage ranging between 70 and 88% of titles listed in CATLINE. Absent English-language material tends to be ephemeral or otherwise out of scope for the resource libraries. Between 7.1 and 18.8% of monographs acquired in each subject class by the two recource libraries are lacking in CATLINE; this represents between 2 and 8% of the CATLINE titles for each class.

The experience of two libraries participating in the SUNY Biomedical Communication Network is described. The history of the Network is briefly given, together with its original aims and their current status. Use of the terminals and formulation of queries are explained. Figures are given for total costs, number of searches performed, and cost per search. There is an account of the internal structure of the administration of the Network.

Before 1970, library facilities and services at the small hospitals in rural Vermont were essentially nonexistent. Similar findings were later encountered along the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and in a small area of upstate New York. The Hospital Library Development Services program was established at the University of Vermont's Dana Medical Library to improve these conditions. Financial assistance was received from the National Library of Medicine, and by the end of 1974, thirty-three hospitals had staffed libraries. Earlier that year it has been decided to begin emphasing cooperation among the developing libraries, including the production of union lists and regular meetings of staff members from geographically proximate hospital libaries to plan and implement various activities. An additional one-year award from NLM was received in 1975. Results achieved during and after the period of grant support are reported. Cooperation among hospital libraries is seen as a feasible and beneficial undertaking provided that the participating libraries are internally supported and developing.

In March 1981 the Consortium for Information Resources (CIR) was chosen by the Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network to develop and automate a statewide biomedical union list of serials. Employing a commercial processor, ANSI standard Z39.42-1980, and SERLINE, CIR consolidated the journal holdings of six Massachusetts health-related library consortia. SERLINE, with its unique identifier as the single control element, governed the form of entry and bibliographic data for each journal. Additionally, SERLINE enhanced the union list by providing "see references" and general notations to map users to main titles or special information. An original feature of this union list is the "rolled" holdings and location statements intended to encourage even distribution of interlibrary loan transactions. The resulting union list of serials includes the holdings of 116 Massachusetts libraries, 94 of which are hospital libraries. The list includes nearly 3,000 unique titles and 15,000 holdings statements; production costs averaged $1.35 per unique title and 27 per holdings statement.

The international programs of the National Library of Medicine may vary in mechanism, but all share the common objective of improved medical research, education, and practice. They are a natural extension of domestic responsibilities and represent a sharing of time, talent, and resources. The programs may be service-oriented, cooperative efforts based on the computerized information storage and retrieval system (MEDLARS), or establishment of regional medical library programs. Policy and operational aspects are presented.

The processing system used in the UCLA Biomedical Library is modest in size and still under development. Its origins date back to a batch mode serials control system begun in the mid-1960s. This was converted to an on-line system which currently has modules for check-in, updating and retrieval, claims, bindery preparation, and invoice information. Titles can be retrieved at the terminal by search of any word in the title, by subject heading, language, country of publication, and type of publication. The system is adaptable to network use and at present is shared with one other library. To the serials system has been added a computer-assisted cataloging and card production system. The latter utilizes serials nucleus software as well as design for data input and data storage. In-house listings and coding procedures overlap in a general way. Work is under way on further integration of the two processing subsystems and a feasibility study has been completed for addition of a subsystem for acquisitions which will combine and adapt features of the other two; for example, information retrieval characteristics from both, catalog coding and programs for acceptance of data, serials programs for claims, and other output programs. Cost benefits of the subsystems are described and discussed.

A formal medical library system is developing nationally to improve library service, but not all users or even all librarians are alert to the need. The main stimulus seems to come from federal money and from leaders at the top, rather than from the small local library and its user, yet progress depends on participation at all levels. Planning for a state-wide medical library system as part of the Connecticut Regional Medical Program began with a survey of the state's medical library resources, which led to a grant request for operating funds to strengthen reference and inter-library loan service in Connecticut and to begin a training and consultation program for medical librarians in the state. These activities are intended to expand and intensify in Connecticut those back-up services provided for all of New England by the New England regional medical library service at the Countway Library in Boston and also are related to the other Regional Medical Program activities planned for Connecticut.