A question often heard by the Library Staff since last summer when we transferred our system for searching MEDLINE and CINAHL to the new World Wide Web (WWW) based product is "What does OVID stand for?"
Actually OVID is not an acronym. The system is named for the Roman poet and author of Metamorphoses, as the company's publicity explains:
| So why the name, Ovid? According to company founder and president Mark Nelson, the names Ovid Technologies and Ovid software are symbolic of the company's affinity to growth and change, insofar as they reference their Roman namesake, the poet Ovid (43 BC--AD 17), whose magnum opus, Metamorphoses, celebrates change. |
| "The name occurred to me in 1992 when we were developing an extremely enhanced version of CD Plus software," said Nelson. "I remembered a line in Metamorphoses - |
| Partimque figuras retullit antiquas, partim nova monstra creavit |
| - which means, |
| We took part of the old and built something new and wondrous. |
| And in my opinion, this short Latin phrase represents our software perfectly, as well as our commitment to innovation in an industry that changes so frequently." |
The Library chose OVID because of its quality, its WWW interface, and because it would provide the widest possible access. New features include enhanced use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) consisting of automatic "mapping" and suggestion of subject headings and subheadings in addition to the keywords the user has entered. Simplified ability to limit searches by commonly occurring attributes such as language of article, age group, publication types, and human or animal subjects is another enhancement. Output methods simplify printing through your browser and saving citations to a diskette and enable e-mailing of citations or the full text of articles.
Besides a more powerful and easier to use interface, we have been able to offer more years of MEDLINE coverage. Previously we had only the current year and the last four years of this important database. With OVID we offer MEDLINE from 1966 to the present and monthly updates supplemented by 15 full-text medical journals. OVID continues to offer CINAHL, as did our previous system.
With OVID we can offer a wider variety of databases including: BioethicsLine, HealthSTAR (health services technology, administration and research), CancerLit, PsycINFO (also known as PsycLIT), and ERIC (education).
One feature we lost is the ability to link to the Library's holdings within a MEDLINE search and determine whether or not the LSUMC Library owns the journal containing the retrieved article. We are working with OVID to re-establish this link, but in the meantime it is very simple to switch to our new catalog, INNOPAC, and check to see if a journal is owned.
The name INNOPAC comes from the company producing the software, Innovative Interfaces, Inc., combined with OPAC, which stands for online public access catalog. The catalog allows you to determine if the Library has a certain book or if we subscribe to a particular journal. It replaced the old mainframe-based NOTIS system, which replaced the printed card catalog.
Books may be searched in INNOPAC by title, authors, Medical Subject Heading, by combining the author's name with title words, and by keywords which allows the user to combine words from the titles, series, subjects, and notes. If the item you need is in our collection, the record will show the call number and location. If the book or journal is checked out, the due date will display. It is still necessary for you to call us if you wish to be notified when a book or journal is returned.
You may determine if we own a certain journal by selecting the "List of Journals" option on the menu screen. Not only will the catalog tell you if we have a current subscription, but it will indicate whether we received the journal at one time but no longer do. New features include information on the latest issue received for a journal owned by the Library as well as, information on the date due if a journal is checked out. For journals that have been sent to the bindery, the date they are due back in the Library is available in INNOPAC also. The Library adds links to full-text when we know these exist and are available to the Library free of charge.
All of these search functions are available because the catalog is part of a larger "integrated" system wherein all of the functions of the Library are coordinated. From the time a book is ordered until it reaches the shelf, it can be tracked through INNOPAC. The system also generates notices for overdue items, and it allows us to easily count the number of times a book or journal is used within the library without being checked out.
You may have noticed that we no longer require you to sign two cards when you check out an item. Last summer we began attaching barcodes to faculty, student, and staff identification cards. The process is simple; you just fill out a registration form, and we put a barcode sticker on your ID. We encourage everyone to register with the Library to make using your Library privileges quicker and easier. If you have any questions about this process, please call the Circulation Desk at 568-6100.
We think that OVID and INNOPAC offer our faculty, students, and staff access to the majority of the information sources that they need. To help fill the inevitable gap, from our Homepage we provide access to an assortment of other databases and information sources. Articles in future issues of the newsletter will discuss these databases.
Both OVID and INNOPAC can be accessed through the Library's Homepage (to access, see link at the bottom of the "Contents" frame).
-- Mary L. Marix
mmarix@lsumc.edu link removed