NLM Musings from the Mezzanine
Innovations in Health Information from the Director of the National Library of Medicine
Right now, I am reading The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles. One quote that struck me the most is, “Libraries are lungs. Books the fresh air breathed in to keep the heart beating, to keep the brain imagining, to keep hope alive.”
Guest post by Kathryn Funk, program manager for NLM’s PubMed Central. In 2020, I shared information about NLM’s launch of the NIH Preprint Pilot: A New Experiment for a New Era to explore how inclusion of preprints in our literature resources, PubMed Central (PMC) and PubMed, could accelerate the discoverability and maximize the impact of … Continue reading NIH Preprint Pilot Expands to Include Preprints Across NIH-Funded Research
When we launched this blog over six years ago, we selected the title NLM Musings from the Mezzanine to reflect that the thoughts and ideas originated in this beautiful place, situated on the upper story of the National Library of Medicine building on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. I reflected on this inspirational place … Continue reading The NLM Mezzanine . . . A Space and a Place
During the summer of 2017, my first summer as Director of the National Library of Medicine, Joyce Backus—our then-NLM Associate Director for Library Operations (ADLO)—approached me with a wild idea: “How about we engage an architectural firm to guide renovations of our library space?” Joyce was a forward-thinking ADLO and had already done much to … Continue reading Anticipating a Future We Never Anticipated
One of the great joys of being the Director of the National Library of Medicine is the many opportunities for me to express gratitude. In the past, I have given thanks to NLM staff who are veterans (2021), for progress during my tenure (2020), and to our amazing NLM staff members (2019). This year, I … Continue reading Giving Thanks Where Thanks is Due
This blog contains my remarks from the 2022 Lindberg-King Lecture and Scientific Symposium: Science, Society, and the Legacy of Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., which took place on September 1, 2022. Watch a recording of the event here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTDPTxjL6oc&t=10617s I had the great fortune of becoming the director of the National Library of Medicine immediately following … Continue reading When You Stand on the Shoulders of a Giant, What Do You See?
Guest post by Richard J. Hodes, MD, Director, National Institute on Aging, and Eliseo Pérez-Stable, MD, Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH. A few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we shared how NIH was working to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 through NIH’s Rapid … Continue reading RADx-UP Program Addresses Data Gaps in Underrepresented Communities
Guest post by Lyn Hardy, PhD, RN, Program Officer, Division of Extramural Programs, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. Before the advent of algorithms to determine the best way to treat and prevent heart disease, a health care provider looking for best practices for their patients may not have had the resources to … Continue reading Using Large Datasets to Improve Health Outcomes
In mid-May, at their 2022 National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition in Houston, Texas, I received a great honor from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN): the AACN Pioneering Spirit Award. I was delighted to receive this prestigious award, which recognizes significant contributions that influence progressive and critical care nursing worldwide and … Continue reading How Being an ICU Nurse Prepared Me to be NLM Director
As we start year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s time for NLM to take stock of the parts of our past that will support the next normal and what we might need to change as we continue to fulfill our mission to acquire, collect, preserve, and disseminate biomedical literature to the world. Today, I … Continue reading The Next Normal: Supporting Biomedical Discovery, Clinical Practice, and Self-Care