The WELMED Database Management System: A Case Study in System Design and Applications
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047767 |
| Published date | 01 March 1989 |
| Date | 01 March 1989 |
| Pages | 71-80 |
| Author | Gary Moore |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The WELMED Database Management
System:
A Case Study in System
Design and Applications
Gary Moore
The long-term goal for integrated information man-
agement at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
is the creation of a knowledge management en-
vironment--a network of databases that an indi-
vidual would tap as one would one's own memory.
An important library component in this emerging
environment is WELMED, a general purpose bib-
liographic database management system that per-
mits the library to distribute its databases and
related services to its users through common, cus-
tomizable interfaces. The characteristics and com-
ponents of the WELMED system are detailed.
The William H. Welch Medical Library is one
of six institutions composing the Johns Hopkins
Medical Institutions (JHMI). The long-term goal
for integrated information management at the JHMI
is the creation of a knowledge management environ-
ment--a network of databases that an individual
would tap as one would one's own memory.1 This
vision and the pragmatic strategies required to
achieve it provide the context from which the Welch
Library designs and delivers new information ser-
vices,
tools, and products. An important Library
component in this emerging environment is
WELMED, a general purpose bibliographic database
management system that permits the Library to
distribute its databases and related services to
our users through common, customizable interfaces.
This article provides a general description of the
system and how the Welch Library has adapted
the software to meet the needs of the JHMI environ-
ment.
BACKGROUND
Development of the core software used in
WELMED began in the early 1980s as part of a
collaborative program between Specialized Informa-
tion Services (SIS) and the Information Technology
Branch of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM's)
Lister Hill Center to improve the management of
SIS's Toxicology Data Bank (TDB). The software
consists of modules to build, edit, and review records
for SIS's factual, toxicological databases as well
as a search and retrieval module that was released
to NLM MEDLARS users as the TOXNET system
in July 1985.2 Although part of the MEDLARS sys-
Moore is senior technical consultant with
Johns Hopkins Health Plan, Baltimore, Md. He
was assistant director for Systems at The William
H. Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, Baltimore, Maryland, when this article was
written.
ISSUE 27 71
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