PubMed Changes & Recalling the Medline Updates of Years Gone By

This is a mental note to link to the video presentation from this year's MLA (Medical Library Association) annual conference in Honolulu that outlines changes to the NCBI new home page - with a major redesign as well as new custom featueres and no limits now to the number of saved searches. Everyone is breathing a deep sigh of relief to learn that the Single Citation Matcher feature is NOT going away, as originally forecast! Instead there will be three different ways to complete a "citation fragment," including by means of the PubMed search box - without having to tag the terms, and finally by using the advanced search feature. the new PubMed summary format is like evrything else, simplified and more user friendly - and they showed a mock up of a cleaner, sharper image for the familiar PubMed home page. Another major change is the disappearance of the icons showing free full text links - there's a whole new feel to that , with three different types of links whether it be to a PubMed Central or free journal site. If a citation lacks the familiar abstract notation, then just knowthat it includes an abstract - unless indicated: "Abstract not available."

I look back to pre-Internet days and recall the big yearly "Medline Updates" each Fall, when the new MeSH subject terms were unleashed - my favorite ones being the wonderful presentations by the late Susan Feinglos, former Director at the Duke Medical Center Library. The most memorable update occured at Burrough's Wellcome Pharmaceuticals (everything there is top secret, amazing security procedures for visitors!). It was a sad day because Anwar Sadat had just been assassinated by a madman and the wide TV screens were all broadcsting the riveting news. Susan kept her calm and guided the update to a smooth finale amid the stunning news. Her passing several years ago was a big loss to the profession. There were so many outstanding professionals back there in the Reserach Triange Park area of beautiful North Carolina.