Subject Access: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) R. Campbell B. Durland A. Kussman D. Schmick J. Roberts K. Kloser C. Leckenby B. Robben S. Thornton Emporia State University

What is MeSH? The acronym created from Medical Subject Headings An organized listing of words and phrases related to biomedical topics A controlled vocabulary thesaurus created and maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM)

MeSH is also Used to index articles and to catalog items owned by the NLM Used to search for biomedical information in: - PubMed/MEDLINE database of the NLM - Other databases of the NLM

MeSH provides Consistent terminology Refined search terms Terminology equivalent to the controlled vocabulary Links to broader or narrower search terms Weekly updates

How is MeSH organized? There are three basic types of records in MeSH - Headings or descriptors…over 25,000 - Subheadings or qualifiers - Supplementary Concept Records

Searching with MeSH Automated mapping - Other NLM databases - PubMed/MEDLINE MeSH browser - More detailed searching - Obtain terms to use outside of NLM databases

What is the MeSH Browser? Part of the MeSH web pages, governed and updated by NLM An online tool to determine the MeSH vocabulary Search headings, subheadings or Supplementary Concepts Does not link to any database retrieval system

History of MeSH First published in 1954 as the Subject Heading Authority List Adapted from the Quarterly Cumulative Index Medicus (1940) and the Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General’s Office

The Subject Heading Authority list was hierarchical, which exposed inefficiencies when searching for a subject The system had subheadings that fell mostly within the headings they were contained in For example: “Abnormalities” was a subheading under the general headings of organs, tissues, and regions, and “Anesthesia and Analgesia” would be a subheading under surgical procedures Subject Heading Authority List (1954) Organs Abnormalities Tissues Abnormalities Regions Abnormalities Surgical Procedures Anesthesia

1960 – A TRAILBLAZING YEAR The creation of the Index Medicus, a bibliography that would be combined with the Subject Heading Authority List. The combination would be known as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) A digitization project was in the works to allow a user to search the index on demand.

MeSH – First Design (1960) Advantages Subheadings reduced from 100 to 67 Subheadings broader and classifiable under any practical header Articles AND books were classified under this single authority list Disadvantages An entry could only be assigned ONE subheading › That one subheading was as specific as an entry could be described › Example: If one were to classify a paper discussing the cause, diagnosis and treatment of Polycystic Kidney Disorder (PKD), the graphic illustrates how restrictive the descriptors would be Cause(s) of PKD Diagnosis Treatment Classify under “Therapy” Under the subheading “Etiology” Couldn’t be classified

MeSH Beyond first Medical Subject Headings List published - 13 main categories - 58 separate subheadings and main headings Designed to be dynamic and evolving. Annual updates no longer done. - Updates done in an instant - overseen by the NLM under the NIH The number of descriptors has expanded to classify new science-related discoveries: – 4,400 descriptors – 5,700 descriptors – 25,588 descriptors

Uses for MeSH

Users in an Academic/Medical Library Researchers Medical Students Faculty Clinicians Patients

MeSH in Many Languages BabelMeSH and PICOLinguist = Translation into 41 Languages incuding: Arabic French German Italian Portuguese Japanese Russian Finnish Dutch Spanish Slovene Swedish Norwegian Turkish Chinese An interlingual database of MeSH translations or

The Health Information Prescription Program began in Iowa in 2003

MeSH Uses in Hospital Libraries How is it used? - Locate and identify medical information - The Librarian acts as an internal consultant when information is needed Who uses it? - Clinicians - Patients and their family & friends - Hospital staff

Uses in a Public Library Librarian as information professional… on all topics? - Assist patrons on the different databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, LocatorPlus) - Anyone has use of these databases; there are free versions and versions that can be purchased

Comparing MeSH and text-word searches in Medline Why MEDLINE? MeSH and text- word compliment each other

Social Tagging: A Case Study Why Social Tagging? 46% of survey responders found MeSH a clear concept 12% found MeSH “muddy”

MeSH and PubMed It’s in the details Automated Term Mapping It’s all relevant, just not in Pub Med

But what does it all mean, Basil?

Changes to MeSH for 2010 Vocabulary Data Changes - New Descriptors Changed Descriptors - Deleted Descriptors - New by Tree Subcategory The Medical Subject Headings Section Staff continually revise and update the MeSH vocabulary 11 Staff Members

Filters on PubMed Reduce the amount of articles retrieved Specific characteristics Single term filters Further research is needed to determine value of filters

PubMed and NCBI New and Noteworthy PubMed Homepage redesigned Auto Suggest button added to search box My NCBI My Bibliography

The Future of MeSH Programmers are combining MeSH with other qualifiers to ease find-ability of unpublished information. Adaptations include improving search terms, changing the display of published information, and classifying information on the deep web.

MeSH Spiderbots GEOGLE GENDOO SCIMINER CLEANEX

The Future is in the Mother Ship Centralized data application combining MeSH terms with data miners. Focus on print and non-print sources. Requires removal of contracts for Open Access.

References Dillon, K. (January/February/March, 2004). "Health Information Prescription" Project Launched in Virginia. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from Jenuwine, E., & Floyd, J. (2004). Comparison of medical subject headings and text-word searches in medline to retrieve studies on sleep in healthy individuals. Journal of Medical Library Association, 92(3), Maggio, L., Bresnahan, M., Flynn, D., Harzbecker, J., & Blanchard, M., Ginn, D. (2009). A Case study: using social tagging to engage students in learning mesh. Journal Medical Library Association, 97(2), With special thanks to Rhonda Altonen for answering questions. MeSH Subject Headings.What’s New. Retrieved October 16, 2009 from National Center for Biotechnology Information. (January 13, 2009). PubMEd New and Noteworthy. Retrieved October 16, 2009 from National Center for Biotechnology Information. (January 13, 2009). Databases. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from National Library of Medicine. (December 15, 2008). Fact Sheet: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Retrieved September 12, 2009 from

References con’t. National Library of Medicine. (December 22, 2006). Uses of MeSH in Online Retrieval. Retrieved September 12, 2009 from National Library of Medicine. (November 20, 2001). An Interlingual Database of MeSH Translations. Retrieved September 30, 2009 from National Library of Medicine, Mehnert, R. and Cravedi, K. The Health Information Prescription: Senator Tom Harkin Joins National Library of Medicine and American College of Physicians—American Society of Internal Medicine Foundation to Launch Patient Information Program. (April 2, 2003). Retrieved October 12, 2009 from RX03. html\ NIH. (July 11, 2006). Summary: NIH International Representatives Meeting. Retrieved September 30, 2009 from United States National Library of Medicine. (September 1, 2009). MeSH Subject Headings. MeSH Record Types. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from United States National Library of Medicine. (September 1, 2009). Medical Subject Headings. MeSH Browser. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from