LIS417: NLM Classification and MeSH

National Library of Medicine Classificationand Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Joshua A. Parker4 December 2007

LIS417: Subject Cataloging & Classification (Joudrey)Graduate School of Library & Information Science

Simmons College • Boston, MA

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Joshua A. Parker • LIS417: Subject Cataloging & Classification (Joudrey) • Simmons College GSLIS • 4 December 2007

The National Library of Medicine

National medical library of the United States 1836: Library of the Surgeon General's Office 1922: Army Medical Library 1956: National Library of Medicine

Largest medical collection in the world Developed and maintains the NLM Classification

and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) MEDLINE, PubMed, and PubMed Central UMLS (Unified Medical Language System) Maintains several databases of genetic information Produces advanced bioinformatics research tools

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Development & History of NLMC & MeSH

1944: Need for a new specialized medicalclassification system recognized

1948: Preliminary edition of the Army MedicalLibrary Classification published

1951: First edition of Army Medical LibraryClassification published

1954: Subject Heading Authority List published

1960: First edition of MeSH published

Present: NLMC & MeSH updated annually and arefreely available for download at www.nlm.nih.gov

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NLMC: Basic Structure, Strengths, & Weaknesses

Basic Structure Covers preclinical as well as medical sciences 35 main classes Supplemental 19th Century Schedule

Strengths Well-suited for most contemporary medical collections Simple, highly enumerative structure; easy to apply Accommodates the use of LCC for non-medical works

Problem Areas Alternative and non-Western medicine Public Health/Social Medicine Not analytico-synthetic; limited descriptive potential

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NLM Classification: Main ClassesQS Human AnatomyQT PhysiologyQU BiochemistryQV PharmacologyQW Microbiology and ImmunologyQX ParasitologyQY Clinical PathologyQZ Pathology

W Health ProfessionsWA Public HealthWB Practice of MedicineWC Communicable DiseasesWD Disorders of Systemic, Metabolic or

Environmental Origin, etc.WE Musculoskeletal SystemWF Respiratory SystemWG Cardiovascular SystemWH Hemic and Lymphatic Systems

WI Digestive SystemWJ Urogenital SystemWK Endocrine SystemWL Nervous SystemWM PsychiatryWN Radiology. Diagnostic ImagingWO SurgeryWP GynecologyWQ ObstetricsWR DermatologyWS PediatricsWT Geriatrics. Chronic DiseaseWU Dentistry. Oral SurgeryWV OtolaryngologyWW OphthalmologyWX Hospitals and Other Health FacilitiesWY NursingWZ History of Medicine19th Century Schedule

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NMLC: Notation

Structure: Main Class indicated by letters Subordinate classes by ordinal numbers Cutters; special geographic codes (Table G)

Arrangement Division between preclinical & clinical topics Rough attempt to express structural relationships

The annual report of the Boston Lying-in Hospital for 1947 WX 2 Hospitals, etc. + Serial Hospital Reports .AM4 Massachusetts (from Table G) B7L6a Cutter for author + work mark 1947 Year of publication

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NMLC: Comparison to DDC & LCC

Notation modeled on LCC Schedules very highly enumerative, the only

supplementary schedule (sometimes) appliedis Table G.

Less structured than DDC; does not stronglyexpress relationships among classes

Some mnemonic use of numbers as in DDCQX 18.2 Parasitology. Educational materialsWI 18.2 Digestive System. Educational materialsWN 18.2 Radiology. Educational materialsWZ 18.2 History of Medicine. Educational materials

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MeSH: Basic Structure & Strengths

Structure Poly-hierarchical

• The entry for each term fully describes the location ofthe term using both visual trees and notation

Syndetic Structure• See Also/See Related, XR references• Entry Term/X (Used For references)• Consider Also references

Strengths Allows for several approaches to any single term Scope notes and annotations for every term and

qualifier (subheading) Used for both monographic literature and indexing

papers published in journals

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MeSH Structure Example: Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer Disease

DementiaTauopathies

Brain Diseases

Central Nervous System Diseases

Nervous System Diseases

Neurodegenerative Diseases

DISEASES

Delirium, Dementia, Amnestic, Cognitive

Disorders

Mental Disorders

PSYCHIATRY & PSYCHOLOGY

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MeSH Structure Example: Sjögren's Syndrome

Musculoskeletal Diseases

Stomatognathic Diseases

Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases

Immune System Diseases

Sjogren's Syndrome

Arthritis, Rheumatoid

Autoimmune DiseasesRheumatic Diseases

Connective Tissue Diseases

Mouth Diseases

Salivary Gland Diseases

Xerostomia

Arthritis

Joint Diseases

Eye Diseases

Dry Eye Syndromes

Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases

DISEASES

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MeSH: Characteristics of the Vocabulary

Extremely specific and exhaustive for medical andmedically-related topics

Vocabulary designed to treat each term consistentlyin comparison to other parallel terms

Limited subject field helps maintain internalcoherence

Particularly powerful when used with NLM'sMEDLINE/PubMed, allowing for the construction ofvery focused searches

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MeSH: Facilities for Coordination

Use of Qualifiers Each qualifier has a note detailing its use

The description of each MeSH term includes a list ofallowable qualifiers

Application of multiple terms

parasitology (A, B1, B2, B6, C, E7, F3, J2) PS, parasitolUsed with animals, higher plants, organs, and diseases for parasitic factors. Indiseases, it is not used if the parasitic involvement is implicit in the diagnosis.

245 00 ‡a Salivary electrostimulation in Sjogren's syndrome.650 _2 ‡a Xerostomia ‡x therapy.650 _2 ‡a Xerostomia ‡x etiology.650 _2 ‡a Sjogren's Syndrome ‡x complications.650 _2 ‡a Salivary Glands ‡x secretion.650 _2 ‡a Electric Stimulation Therapy.

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MeSH: Comparison to LCSH

MeSH designed for a specific set ofdisciplines (medical sciences; associatedbasic and social sciences; healthadministration, etc.) Permits much more specific description for these

fields LCSH may also be required to adequately

describe non-medical works

MeSH documentation much more clear andexhaustive than that provided for LCSH

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Current Use of NLM Classification & MeSH

National Library of Medicine Maintains NLMC and MeSH

Other Medical Libraries Academic Hospital

MEDLINE/PubMed http://www.pubmed.gov/ Powerful tool for using MeSH to search

biomedical literature

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Bibliography [1]

Army Medical Library. Classification: Medicine. Preclinical Sciences, QS-QZ.Medicine and Related Subjects, W. 1st ed. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print.Off., 1951.

———. Classification: Medicine. Preclinical Sciences, QS-QZ. Medicine andRelated Subjects, W. Prelim., 1948 ed. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off.,1949.

Coletti, M. H. and H. L. Bleich. "Medical Subject Headings used to Search theBiomedical Literature." Journal of the American Medical InformaticsAssociation: JAMIA 8, no. 4 (Jul-Aug, 2001): 317-323 (accessed November17, 2007).

Cunningham, Eileen R., Eleanor G. Steinke, and Mary Louise Gladish.Classification for Medical Literature. 5th ed. Nashville: Vanderbilt UniversityPress, 1967.

Gault, L. V., M. Shultz, and K. J. Davies. "Variations in Medical SubjectHeadings (MeSH) Mapping: From the Natural Language of Patron Terms tothe Controlled Vocabulary of Mapped Lists." Journal of the Medical LibraryAssociation: JMLA 90, no. 2 (Apr, 2002): 173-180 (accessed October 6,2007).

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Bibliography [2]

Hallett, K. S. "Separate but Equal? A System Comparison Study of MEDLINE'sControlled Vocabulary MeSH." Bulletin of the Medical Library Association86, no. 4 (Oct, 1998): 491-495 (accessed November 17, 2007).

Hjørland, Birger. "Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), Lifeboat for KnowledgeOrganization. http://www.db.dk/bh/Lifeboat_KO/SPECIFIC%20DOMAINS/medical_subject_headings.htm (accessed November 17, 2007).

Jenuwine, E. S. and J. A. Floyd. "Comparison of Medical Subject Headings andText-Word Searches in MEDLINE to Retrieve Studies on Sleep in HealthyIndividuals." Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA 92, no. 3 (Jul,2004): 349-353 (accessed November 17, 2007).

Lindberg, Donald A. B. and Robert Mehnert. "National Library of Medicine." InEncyclopedia of Library and Information Science, edited by Miriam A.Drake. 2nd ed., 2013-2022. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2003 (accessedOctober 6, 2007).

Lipscomb, Carolyn E. "Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)." Bulletin of theMedical Library Association 88, no. 3 (2000): 265-266 (accessed October 6,2007).

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Bibliography [3]

Lowe, H. J. and G. O. Barnett. "Understanding and using the Medical SubjectHeadings (MeSH) Vocabulary to Perform Literature Searches." JAMA: TheJournal of the American Medical Association 271, no. 14 (Apr 13, 1994):1103-1108 (accessed November 17, 2007).

Muench, Eugene V. Biomedical Subject Headings :A Reconciliation of NationalLibrary of Medicine (MeSH) and Library of Congress Subject Headings. 2nded. Hamden, Conn.: Shoe String Press, 1979.

National Library of Medicine. "Medical Subject Headings."http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ (accessed November 17, 2007).

———. "NLM Classification 2007." http://www.nlm.nih.gov/class/ (accessedNovember 17, 2007).

———. Medical Subject Headings: Annotated Alphabetic List. Springfield, Va.:National Technical Information Service, distributor, 2003.

———. National Library of Medicine Classification: A Scheme for the ShelfArrangement of Library Materials in the Field of Medicine and its RelatedSciences. NIH Publication. 5th , rev ed. Bethesda, Md.; Washington, DC:U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, NationalInstitutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, 1999.

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Bibliography [4]

———. Medical Subject Headings. Bethesda, Md.: U.S. Dept. of Health andHuman Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health,National Library of Medicine, 1960.

Olson, Tony and Gary Strawn. "Mapping the LCSH and MeSH Systems."Information Technology and Libraries 16, no. 1 (1997): 5-19 (accessedNovember 17, 2007).

O'Rourke, Alan J., Andrew Booth, and Nigel Ford. "Another Fine MeSH:Clinical Medicine Meets Information Science." Journal of InformationScience 25, no. 4 (1999): 275-281 (accessed November 17, 2007).

Wineburgh-Freed, Maggie and Norris Medical Library. Medical SubjectHeadings (MeSH) and NLM Classification for Catalogers: A Syllabus. 2nded. Los Angeles, CA: Norris Medical Library, University of SouthernCalifornia, 1997.

Womack, Kristina R. "Conformity for Conformity's Sake? the Choice of aClassification System and a Subject Heading System in Academic HealthSciences Libraries." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 42, no. 1 (2006):93-115 (accessed October 6, 2007).