ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries

564 /C&RL News

In te rn e t resources fo r
h e a lth an d m edicine

B y Lee H a n c o c k

Inform ation on cancer, AIDS, a n d
other health issues

I nternet use by health workers, and thoseinterested in health issues, is growing rap
idly. The num ber of new resources has expa

ed dramatically in the past year. Interfaces such
as gopher and the World Wide Web (WWW)
are making the Internet less cryptic, thus at
tracting large num bers of new users. Adding to
this “structuring” is the use of subject trees to
categorize resources. This article examines these
medical resources as they are categorized by
disease.

Non-disease-specific programs and
documents

• HEALTHLINE. The University of Mon
tana’s Healthline service offers topics of gener
al health interest. It covers topics of physical
and mental health including sexuality, drug and
alcohol information, academic tips, and dietary
facts. Access: URL: gopher://selw ay .u m t.ed u :
700/1.

• NLM’s PRACTICE GUIDELINES-HSTAT.
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers
a free electronic resource which provides ac
cess to the full-text of clinical practice guide
lines developed under the auspices of the Agen
cy fo r H e a lth C are P olicy a n d R esearch
(AHCPR). HSTAT also includes other documents
useful in health care decision-making: National
Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus State
ments, NIH Technology Assessments, and the
U.S Preventive Services Task Force Guide to
Clinical Preventive Services. Access: Telnet:
te x t.n lm .n ih .g o v or URL: h ttp ://w w w .n lm .

nih.gov/, select NLM Online Information Ser
vices.

• MEDSEARCH AMERICA. This is the only
national health care em ployment network on
the Internet. Standard services to Healthcare
Job Seekers are free of charge. Access: Gopher:
T y p e= l, Name=M edSearch America, Path=,

H ost=g o p h e r.m e d se a rch .c o m , Port=9001 or
URL: gopher://gopher.m edsearch.com :9001/l;
e-mail: office@medsearch.com.

• THE VIRTUAL LIBRARY-MEDICINE. This
is a comprehensive listing of WWW resources
for biology and medicine. Access: World Wide
Web, URL: http://golgi.harvard.edu/biopages/
medicine.htm.

• THE VIRTUAL HOSPITAL. The Virtual
Hospital (VH) is a continuously updated m ed
ical multimedia database stored on computers
and accessed through high speed networks 24
hours a day. The VH will provide invaluable
patient care support and distance learning to
practicing physicians. Access: World Wide Web,
URL: h ttp ://indy.radiology.uiow a.edu.Virtual
Hospital.html; e-mail: librarian@indy.radiology.
uiow a.edu.

Health resources categorized by
disease
Menu trees are the current trend in trying to
organize the perceived chaos of the Internet.
Disease descriptions, treatment protocols, nurs
ing information, news sources, and drug infor
m ation are currently available. An excellent
overall disease categorization on a gopher serv
er is the Yale Biomedical G opher of Diseases
and Disorders. The server offers articles and
resources on AIDS, cancer, diabetes, digestive
disorders, and more. Access: URL: g o p h er://
yaleinfo ,y ale. e d u .

Lee H ancock is educational technologist at the University o f Kansas M edical Center, Kansas City; Bitnet:
LE07144@UKANVM; Internet: LE07144@UKANVM.CC. UKANS.EDU

gopher://selway.umt.edu
text.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.nlm
nih.gov/
gopher://gopher.medsearch.com
gopher://gopher.medsearch.com:9001/l
mailto:office@medsearch.com
http://golgi.harvard.edu/biopages/
http://indy.radiology.uiowa.edu.Virtual
uiowa.edu
mailto:LE07144@UKANVM.CC
UKANS.EDU

October 1994 / 5 6 5

AIDS
• AIDS RELATED INFORMATION-NIAID

GOPHER. This contains AIDSNews, CDC Na
tional AIDS Clearinghouse, and much more. A c
cess: URL: gopher://o d ie.n iaid .n ih .g o v /ll.

• SOUTH EAST FLORIDA AIDS INFORMA
TION NETWORK. This database contains in
formation on AIDS research organizations, and
individuals working within these organizations
located in southeastern Florida. Available in
formation also includes educational and infor
mational services on AIDS topics, health and
social services, and research eligibility. This da
tabase was created with the help of the Na
tio n a l Library o f M edicine. Access: te ln e t
129.171.78.1, login: library, select L on main
menu, select 1 on next menu.

• AIDS ALERT FOR HEALTH CARE WORK
ERS. This is an index to journal articles and
occasional papers concerning the occupation
al health and safety issues of health care w ork
ers providing care to AIDS patients. The Alert
is annotated and compiled by Charlotte Broome
of the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute’s Educa
tion and Life Sciences Library. Issues of the Alert
will appear three to four times per year. A c
cess: The Alert is distributed electronically by
the Institute for AIDS Inform ation; e-mail:
libr8508@ryerson. Contact: Bob Jackson, librar
ian for education and life sciences.

• AIDS. A listserv m ailing list for th e
Sci.Med.AIDS Newsgroup. This is a redistribu
tio n list fo r th e U s e n e t n e w s g r o u p
Sci.Med.AIDS. Mail to the list is automatically
fo rw ard ed to th e m o d e ra to r team for the
new sgroup. Subscribe: LISTSERV‹ãWUVMD.
WUSTL.EDU or LISTSERV@WUVMD. Contact:
Moderator team at aids@cs.ucla.edu.

• AIDSNEWS. The AIDSNews Forum is
used for the discussion of any issue relating to
AIDS/ARC. AIDS Treatment News reports on
experimental and alternative treatments, espe
c ia lly th o s e a v a ila b le n o w . Su b scrib e:
LISTSERV@RUTGERS.EDU or LISTSERV@
RUTVM1. Contact: Michael Smith; e-mail:
msmith@umaecs.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• ALS. This electronic mailing list has been

set up to serve the worldwide ALS community.
This includes ALS patients, ALS support/discus-
sion groups, ALS clinics, ALS researchers, etc.
Others are welcome to join. THIS IS NOT
LISTSERV SETUP. Contact: Veto Broedel; e-mail:
bro@huey.met.fsu.edu.

• ALS DIGEST-Lou Gehrig’s Disease. This
electronic publication covers all aspects of
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) o r Lou
Gehrig’s Disease. This includes ALS patients,
patient supporters, physicians, support groups,
research centers, etc. To subscribe, unsubscribe,
or to contribute notes, send e-mail to: Bob
Broedel at bro@huey.met.fsu.edu.

Alzheimer's disease
• ALZHEIMER. ALZHEIMER is an e-mail

discussion group for patients, professional and
family caregivers, researchers, public policy
makers, students, and anyone with an interest
in Alzheimer’s or related dementing disorders
in older adults. ALZHEIMER is intended to pro
vide interested individuals from various per
spectives an opportunity to share questions,
answ ers, suggestions, an d tips. Subscribe:
m ajo rd o m o @ w u b io s.w u stl.ed u a n d in th e
BODY of the message send the command: sub
scribe ALZHEIMER (no name necessary). Con
tact: ALZHEIMER-owner@wubios.wustl.edu.

Cancer
• BREAST CANCER INFORMATION

CLEARINGHOUSE. The Breast Cancer Informa
tion Clearinghouse is an Internet-accessible re
source for breast cancer patients and their fam
ilies. Information currently available includes
patient education materials from the American
Cancer Society and the National Cancer Insti
tute, statistical information, and m uch more.
Access: Gopher: nysernet.org or URL: h ttp ://
nysem et.org/. Contact: tmdamon@nysernet.org.

• BREAST-CANCER. This is an open dis
cussion list for any issue relating to breast can
cer. It is an unm oderated list open to research
ers, physicians, patients, family and friends of
patients, for the discussion of related issues.
Subscribe: LISTSERV@MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA.
Contact: Jon G. Church; e-mail: jchurch@kean.
ucs.mun.ca.

• CANCERNET— GUIDE TO CANCER
TREATMENT. This is a quick and easy way to
obtain, through electronic mail, cancer infor
mation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
CancerNet lets you request information state
ments from the NCI’s Physician Data Query da
tabase, fact sheets on various cancer topics from
the NCI’s Office of Cancer Communications,
and citations and abstracts on selected topics
from the CANCERLIT database. Selected infor
mation is also available in Spanish. There is no
charge for the service unless your local com

gopher://odie.niaid.nih.gov/ll
WUSTL.EDU
mailto:aids@cs.ucla.edu
mailto:LISTSERV@RUTGERS.EDU
mailto:bro@huey.met.fsu.edu
mailto:bro@huey.met.fsu.edu
mailto:majordomo@wubios.wustl.edu
mailto:ALZHEIMER-owner@wubios.wustl.edu
nysernet.org
nysemet.org/
mailto:tmdamon@nysernet.org
mailto:LISTSERV@MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA

5 6 6 / C&RL News

puter center charges for use of e-mail. The
CancerNet contents list changes at the begin
ning of each month as new statements and other
information is included. Access: 1) Address your
mail message to: cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov.
If you are not on Internet, you may have to
change the format of the address. Consult your
systems m anager for the correct address for
mat. 2) In the body of the message: a) if you
need the CancerNet contents list, enter “help”
to receive the most current list (substitute the
w ord “Spanish” for “help” if you want the con
te n ts lis t in S p a n is h ). F o r e x a m p le :
cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov, subject: help ‹This
is the body of the m essage›; b) if you have the
CancerNet contents list and w ould like to re
quest a particular statement or piece of infor
mation, enter the code from the contents list
for the desired information. If you want more
than one piece of information, enter the code
for each piece of information desired on a sep
arate line within the message. Note: Individual
statements may exceed 100K and some mail
systems are limited in the size of the mail mes
sages a user can receive. Please check your
mail and storage capacity prior to submitting
requests.

The information in CancerNet is also avail
able on several gopher servers as well as a num
ber of secondary distributor sites. To access a
gopher server if you have gopher client soft
ware on your host com puter or PC, point to
gopher.nih.gov. CancerNet can also be access
ed via telnet: gopher.ncc.go.jp (160.190.10.1),
using “gopher” as the logon and password (ad
ditional gopher public access sites can also be
accessed via telnet). You m ay have to go
through several m enus and submenus to ac
cess CancerNet on a gopher server. For a com
plete listing of all gopher and secondary sites,
request item cn-400030 from CancerNet.

If you have any further questions, call: (301)
496-7403 or send an Internet message to Cher
yl Burg, C an cerN et p ro je c t m a n a g e r, at:
cheryl@icicb.nci.nih.gov.

• ONCOLINK—U. OF PENN MULTIMEDIA
ONCOLOGY RESOURCE. OncoLink is a WWW
server and gopher server oriented to cancer.
This resource is directed to physicians, health
care personnel, social workers, patients and
their supporters. Access: World Wide Web, URL:
http://cancer.m ed.upenn.edu. Contact: E. Loren
Buhle Jr.; e-mail: buhle@ xrt.upenn.edu.

• CER-L. This electronic discussion list is a
public group for the discussion of cancer-relat

e d top ics. Subscribe: LISTSERV@WVNVM.
WVNET.EDU or LISTSERV@WVNVM. Contact:
Susan Rodman; e-mail: u0ac3@wvnvm.bitnet.

Diabetes
• DIABETES. This is an International Re

search Project on Diabetes discussion group.
S«tecnte.LISTSERV%IRLEARN.bitnet@HEARN.
nic.SURFnet.nl orLISTSERV@IRLEARN. Contact:
Martin Wehlou; e-mail: wehlou@fgen.rug.ac.be.

• DIABETIC. This forum is open to all us
ers on this and any other node to aid diabetic
persons in the exchange of views, problems,
anxieties, and other aspects of their condition.
As this is a public forum, all messages are sub
ject to review by anyone w ho might request a
copy. Subscribe: LISTSERV%PCCVM.BITNET@
cm sa.B erK eyw ordsley.ED U or LISTSERV@
PCCVM. Contact: R. N. H athhorn; e-mail:
sysmaint@pccvm.

Lyme disease
• LYMENET-L. Subscribers to LymeNet-L re

ceive the LymeNet Newsletter about twice a
month. This publication provides readers with
the latest research, treatment and political news
about the lyme disease epidemic. Contact: Marc
Gabriel, editor-in-chief, the LymeNet Newslet
ter; e-mail: mcg2@lehigh.edu.

Multiple sclerosis
• MSLIST-L. The multiple sclerosis discus

sion list. Subscribe: LISTSERV%TECHNION.AC.
IL@VM.TAU.AC.IL or LISTSERV@TECHNION.

Conclusion
There are also entry points to specialty-based
medical knowledge on Internet. Computer d e
partments, medical schools, and infomatics pro
grams tend to develop information sources.
Medical specialties are just beginning to take
an interest in the Internet. An example is the
Global Emergency Medicine Archives which
includes an online emergency medical journal.
A ccess: W o rld W id e W eb, URL: h t t p : / /
herbst7.his.ucsf.edu.

Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) and the
previously mentioned Yale offer access to m ed
ical information by specialty and topic. These
are good starting points for exploration of m ed
ical Internet resources and give a good sense
o f their scope. TJU offers gopher topic catego
rized medical knowledge. The gopher allows
a hypertext access to worldwide servers relat-

(Intemet cont. on page 605)

mailto:cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov
mailto:cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov
gopher://gopher.nih.gov
gopher://gopher.ncc.go.jp
mailto:cheryl@icicb.nci.nih.gov
http://cancer.med.upenn.edu
mailto:buhle@xrt.upenn.edu
WVNET.EDU
nic.SURFnet.nl
mailto:wehlou@fgen.rug.ac.be
cmsa.BerKeywordsley.EDU
mailto:mcg2@lehigh.edu
mailto:IL@VM.TAU.AC.IL
herbst7.his.ucsf.edu

October 1994/ 605

dation to provide national leadership in edu
cating information professionals through pro
viding graduate fellowships, hiring faculty, and
supporting pilot projects in creating and ac
cessing information.

The University of Texas at Austin's Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center has re
ceived $181,716 from the National Endowment
for the Humanities to catalog and create auto
mated access to the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ar
chive, an invaluable resource for the study o
American publishing history, literature, and
culture in the twentieth century.

Williams College in Williamstown, Mas
sachusetts, has been awarded a $100,000 grant
from the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation to
support preservation initiatives. Funds will be
used over a two-year period to construct and
equip a small state-of-the-art conservation lab
oratory for the College Archives and Chapin
Library of Rare Books. Additional funds will be
used to survey the collections in order to select
materials to be reformatted or conserved in the
laboratory.

A cq u isitio n s
The Bert Corona Oral History Collection
has been donated to the California Ethnic and
Multicultural Archives at the University of Cali
fornia, Santa Barbara, as a joint gift of profes
sor Mario T. Garcia and Bert Corona, a labor
organizer in the Mexican-American community
in the 1930s-1950s. The materials document
Corona’s life history as published in Garcia’s
Memories o f Chicano History: The Life a n d Nar
rative o f Bert Corona and includes extensive
taped interviews with Corona along with tran
scriptions, documents, and photographs.

Graham Greene's personal library of
Victorian detective fiction has been acquired
by the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory
University. The collection, which was begun
by Greene and Dorothy Glover in the last years
of the Second World War, includes 613 works
of mystery and detection dating from the earli
est days of the genre up to the turn-of-the-cen-
tury (Edgar Allen Poe through the early work
of Arthur Conan Doyle).

A large collection of special event man
agement materials from two leaders in that field,
Joe Jeff Goldblatt and Nancy Lynner, has been
acquired by George Washington University’s
Gelman Library. The donation includes video
tapes, audiocassettes, and documents, includ
ing the original manuscript of Goldblatt’s pio
n eering b ook, Special Events: The A rt a n d
Science o f Celebration.

A collection of scholarly journals be
longing to Henry A. Fischel, a professor in the
Department of Near Eastern Language and Lit
erature and the Program of Jewish Studies, has
been acquired by the Indiana University Librar
ies, Bloomington. The large collection includes
monographs, pamphlets, and journals in Greek,
Hebrew, Aramaic, German, French, and English,
all concerning the impact of Hellenism on Near
Eastern languages and literature.

The personal papers of A. C. Greene,
noted journalist, historian, and radio and tele
vision commentator, have been acquired by the
Special Collections Division of the University
of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Among the pa
pers are a 30-year collection of daily journals
maintained by Greene, voluminous correspon
dence with various literary figures (including
most Texas writers of the 1960-1990 period),
much material about Greene’s involvement with
the Texas Institute o f Letters, and historical
materials on Texas railroads and industries. ■

(Internet cont.from page 566)
ed to topics such as AIDS, biology, cancer, di
abetes, disability information, epidemiology,
etc. Access: World Wide Web, URL: gopher://
tjgopher.tju.edu/11/medical/bytopic or gopher:
tjgopher.tju.edu.

Of course, it’s beyond the scope of this arti
cle to list all health resources available on the
Internet. There are over 300 listserv lists alone.
Over the years this author has cataloged about
700k worth of resources in a document titled
Lntemet/Bitnet Health Science Resources. It cov
ers a vast array of listservs lists, newsgroups, e-
publications, databases, gophers, WWW serv
ers, and much more. The document is available
via anonymous ftp from ftp2.cc.ukans.edu in
th e d ir e c to r y p u b /h m a tr ix as th e file
medlstxx.txt or .zip. The xx in the address is
the date of the release and will change with
updates. ■

tjgopher.tju.edu/11/medical/bytopic
tjgopher.tju.edu
ftp2.cc.ukans.edu