1. MeSH: Medical Subject Headings Anne Allen, Heather Braum, Paula Davidson, Ellen Rose LI 804: Organization of Information

2. Overview What is MeSH? National Library of Medicine MEDLINE/PubMed® database How is MeSH constructed? Hierarchical tree structure

3. MeSH Structure 1. Anatomy (A) 2. Organisms (B) 3. Diseases (C) 4. Chemicals and Drugs (D) 5. Analytical, Diagnostic & Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment (E) 6. Psychiatry and Psychology (F) 7. Biological Sciences (G) 8. Natural Sciences (H) 9. Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena (I) 10. Technology, Industry, Agriculture (J) 11. Humanities (K) 12. Information Science (L) 13. Named Groups (M) 14. Health Care (N) 15. Publication Characteristics (V) 16. Geographicals (Z)

4. Example

5. MeSH Components Descriptors (Main Headings) Qualifiers Supplementary Records (SCRs) See references

6. Purpose Benefits medical community Indexing Cataloging Supports retrieval

7. History Early History Index-Catalogue (1880) Surgeon-General’s Library 2 volumes

8. History 1879: Index Medicus first published Comprehensive index Published monthly Published under other names

9. Development of MeSH Frank B. Rogers, 1954 Winifred Sewell, 1960 Current MeSH structure, 1963

10. Development of MeSH MEDLARS MEDLINE (1970s) Bethesda, Maryland

11. Analysis: Strengths Controlled vocabulary Established and stable resource for almost 50 years Backbone of MEDLINE® Most widely used medical research tool Hierarchical tree structure See references

12. Analysis: Weaknesses Terms are only annually updated Only text-formatted information is indexed Researchers now using keyword searching, not MeSH vocabulary Differences between online tree structure and printed structure Outdated terms still in use

13. Impact & Future Trends Common language created for researchers Structure still free to access -- anyone can access MeSH through the Internet (unlike most legal indexing) Specialization occurring in medicine NLM website, where to follow what happens to MeSH: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/whatsnew.html http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/whatsnew.html