| Donald A.B. Lindberg Director National Library of Medicine |
Elliot R. Siegel Associate Director for Health Information Programs Development National Library of Medicine |
| Michael J. Ackerman Assistant Director for HPCC, NLM Project Officer National Library of Medicine |
George Thoma Chief, Communications Engineering Branch National Library of Medicine |
Although interactive publications account for only approximately 2% of the published journal articles currently indexed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is expected that this number could grow dramatically in the years ahead. This growth will entail new technical challenges for NLM and other libraries in providing effective storage and accessibility, while improving the potential for journal article readers to experience and benefit from enhanced learning and understanding. Publishers are also concerned with the need to innovate and improve the way scientific information is communicated and used. NLM is presently pursuing three complementary initiatives that provide platforms and tools for experimenting with interactive technology and assessing its impact on users. They differ in strategy by initially emphasizing, variously, the perspective of the end-user (Collaborative Experiment with Elsevier and the Student National Medical Association); the author/editor/reviewer (Collaborative Experiment with the Optical Society of America); and the perspective of the engineer (Lister Hill Center R&D).
Presentation (PDF)