MEDLARS (information retrieval)
Encyclopedia
MEDLARS is a computerised biomedical bibliographic
retrieval system. It was launched by the National Library of Medicine in 1964 and was the first large scale, computer based, retrospective search service available to the general public. In 1971 an online version called MEDLINE
("MEDLARS Online") became available.
, a monthly guide to medical articles in thousands of journals. The huge volume of bibliographic citations were manually compiled. In 1957 the staff of the NLM started to plan the mechanization of the Index Medicus; what was needed was a way to manipulate all this information to produce subsidiary products. By 1960 a detailed specification was prepared and by the spring of 1961 a request for proposals was sent out to 72 companies to develop the system. As a result a contract was awarded to the General Electric Company. The computer (a Minneapolis-Honeywell 800
) which was to run MEDLARS was delivered to the NLM in March 1963, and Frank Bradway Rogers
(Director of the NLM 1949 to 1963) said at the time "..If all goes well, the January 1964 issue of Index Medicus will be ready to emerge from the system at the end of this year. It may be that this will mark the beginning of a new era in medical bibliography."
MEDLARS cost $3 million to develop and at the time of its completion no other publicly available, fully operational electronic storage and retrieval system of its magnitude existed. The original computer configuration operated from 1964 until its replacement by MEDLARS II in January 1975.
Bibliography
Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology...
retrieval system. It was launched by the National Library of Medicine in 1964 and was the first large scale, computer based, retrospective search service available to the general public. In 1971 an online version called MEDLINE
MEDLINE
MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care...
("MEDLARS Online") became available.
Initial development
Since 1879, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has published Index MedicusIndex medicus
Index Medicus is a comprehensive index of medical scientific journal articles, published since 1879. It was initiated by John Shaw Billings, head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office, United States Army...
, a monthly guide to medical articles in thousands of journals. The huge volume of bibliographic citations were manually compiled. In 1957 the staff of the NLM started to plan the mechanization of the Index Medicus; what was needed was a way to manipulate all this information to produce subsidiary products. By 1960 a detailed specification was prepared and by the spring of 1961 a request for proposals was sent out to 72 companies to develop the system. As a result a contract was awarded to the General Electric Company. The computer (a Minneapolis-Honeywell 800
Honeywell
Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
) which was to run MEDLARS was delivered to the NLM in March 1963, and Frank Bradway Rogers
Frank Bradway Rogers
Frank Bradway Rogers was born in Norwood, Ohio, United States to Frank Shane and Nettie Bradway Rogers. He was a Medical Doctor and Librarian who was instrumental in changing the Army Medical Library into the National Medical Library...
(Director of the NLM 1949 to 1963) said at the time "..If all goes well, the January 1964 issue of Index Medicus will be ready to emerge from the system at the end of this year. It may be that this will mark the beginning of a new era in medical bibliography."
MEDLARS cost $3 million to develop and at the time of its completion no other publicly available, fully operational electronic storage and retrieval system of its magnitude existed. The original computer configuration operated from 1964 until its replacement by MEDLARS II in January 1975.