The national library of medicine and future of medical databases

摘要

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) was originally estab- lished in 1836 as the Library of the Army Surgeon General's Office. NLM today is the world's largest research library in a single scientific field, it's extensive collections and information services are indispensable to all health professionals, researchers and general public. MEDLARS is the computerized system of databases and databanks offered by NLM reside over 40 online databases containing about 18 million references.