MEDLINEplus: building and maintaining the National Library of Medicine's consumer health Web service

• Published in: Bulletin of the Medical Library Association Vol. 88; no. 1; pp. 11 - 17
• Main Authors: MILLER, N, LACROIX, E.-M, BACKUS, J. E. B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL Medical Library Association 2000
• Subjects: Community Participation; Consumer health information; Exact sciences and technology; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Internet; MEDLINE - organization & administration; MEDLINEplus; National Library of Medicine (U.S.); Online databases; Other aspects of specialized information. Miscellaneous; Sciences and techniques of general use; Specialized information sources; Specialized information sources (paper or electronic format); United States; Web sites; World Wide Web; Medicine; Web site; Health; System description; Internet resource
• ISSN: 0025-7338

MEDLINEplus is a Web-based consumer health information resource, made available by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). MEDLINEplus has been designed to provide consumers with a well-organized, selective Web site facilitating access to reliable full-text health information. In addition to full-text resources, MEDLINEplus directs consumers to dictionaries, organizations, directories, libraries, and clearinghouses for answers to health questions. For each health topic, MEDLINEplus includes a preformulated MEDLINE search created by librarians. The site has been designed to match consumer language to medical terminology. NLM has used advances in database and Web technologies to build and maintain MEDLINEplus, allowing health sciences librarians to contribute remotely to the resource. This article describes the development and implementation of MEDLINEplus, its supporting technology, and plans for future development.