Use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in Portuguese for categorizing web-based healthcare content

Introduction: Internet users are increasingly using the worldwide web to search for information relating to their health. This situation makes it necessary to create specialized tools capable of supporting users in their searches. Objective: To apply and compare strategies that were developed to investigate the use of the Portuguese version of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) for constructing an automated classifier for Brazilian Portuguese-language web-based content within or outside of the field of healthcare, focusing on the lay public. Methods: 3658 Brazilian web pages were used to train the classifier and 606 Brazilian web pages were used to validate it. The strategies proposed were constructed using content-based vector methods for text classification, such that Naive Bayes was used for the task of classifying vector patterns with characteristics obtained through the proposed strategies. Results: A strategy named InDeCS was developed specifically to adapt MeSH for the problem that was put forward. This approach achieved better accuracy for this pattern classification task (0.94 sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve). Conclusions: Because of the significant results achieved by InDeCS, this tool has been successfully applied to the Brazilian healthcare search portal known as Busca Saude. Furthermore, it could be shown that MeSH presents important results when used for the task of classifying web-based content focusing on the lay public. It was also possible to show from this study that MeSH was able to map out mutable non-deterministic characteristics of the web. (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of Online Information Resources for Knowledge Organisation in Library and Information Centres: A Case Study of CUSAT

The paper discusses the use of online information resources for organising knowledge in library and information centres in Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). The paper discusses the status and extent of automation in CUSAT library. The use of different online resources and the purposes for which these resources are being used, is explained in detail. Structured interview method was applied for collecting data. It was observed that 67 per cent users consult online resources for assisting knowledge organisation. Library of Congress catalogue is the widely used (100 per cent) online resource followed by OPAC of CUSAT and catalogue of British Library. The main purposes for using these resources are class number building and subject indexing

Tags in the Catalogue: Insights From a Usability Study of LibraryThing for Libraries

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the standard subject language used in library catalogues, are often criticized for their lack of currency, biased language, and atypical syndetic structure. Conversely, folksonomies (or tags), which rely on the natural language of their users, offer a flexibility often lacking in controlled vocabularies and may offer a means of augmenting more rigid controlled vocabularies such as LCSH. Content analysis studies have demonstrated the potential for folksonomies to be used as a means of enhancing subject access to materials, and libraries are beginning to integrate tagging systems into their catalogues. This study examines the utility of tags as a means of enhancing subject access to materials in library online public access catalogues (OPACs) through usability testing with the LibraryThing for Libraries catalogue enhancements. Findings indicate that while they cannot replace LCSH, tags do show promise for aiding information seeking in OPACs. In the context of information systems design, the study revealed that while folksonomies have the potential to enhance subject access to materials, that potential is severely limited by the current inability of catalogue interfaces to support tag-based searches alongside standard catalogue searches.

Educating physicians in the nineteenth century : selected titles bearing on the subject in the collections of the National Library of Medicine /

Includes index.

Medical subject headings.

Print ceases at v.48 (2007), then becomes online only.

Subject headings used in the catalogs of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

Mode of access: Internet.

Second catalogue of the Library of the Peabody Institute of the City of Baltimore, including the additions made since 1882.

Reprint of First printing by Press of Deutsch Lithographic & Printing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1896-1905.

Classified catalogue of the books, except fiction, French and German, in the Carnegie Free Library, of Allegheny, Pa. Class-list. Author-index. Subject-index.

Mode of access: Internet.

The writings of Thomas Jefferson : being his autobiography, correspondence, reports, messages, addresses, and other writings, official and private : published by the order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the original manuscripts, deposited in the Department of State /

Includes indexes.

Subject index of the modern works added to the library of the British Museum.

Mode of access: Internet.

Medical subject headings, tree annotations, 1978 : technical notes, Medlars indexing instructions /

"PB 271 246."

The papers of James Madison, purchased by order of Congress; being his correspondence and reports of debates during the Congress of the Confederation and his reports of debates in the Federal convention: now published from the original manuscripts deposited in the Department of state, by direction of the Joint library committee of Congress, under the superintendence of Henry D. Gilpin.

Mode of access: Internet.

The works of Alexander Hamilton : comprising his correspondence, and his political and official writings, exclusive of the Federalist, civil and military. Published from the original manuscripts deposited in the Department of State, by order of the Joint Library Committee of Congress.

Mode of access: Internet.

Medical subject headings:

Mode of access: Internet.