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Date:         Wed, 30 Dec 1992 11:55:30 +0800
From:         wais server operator <waisguy@SOLOMON.TECHNET.SG>
Subject:      Re: hospitals using Internet
              Dec 29, 92 01:32:04 pm

I am a Biocomputing Co-ordinator for our university's Biocomputing Interest
Group and I work in the Medical Faculty (Biochem Dept).

Kathy Miller writes:
>
> Hospital libraries in our area are interested in NREN/Internet, but uncertain
> what use can be made of it...other than E-mail.

We have gotten INTERNET access for more than a year now, and we have
created menu systems to help our users access the wide range of network
information and other resources.
Besides email, these include (mostly free!)

Newsreaders - for reading USENET network newsgroups - more than 1000
eg. rn nn     covering nearly anything you can think of (although
   elm pine   I would like to see more medically/professionally oriented
              bulletin boards/discussion groups.)
HYTELNET - access to nearly all US, Canada, Pacific, Europe
           on-line library catalogs
WAIS - wide area information servers
       (hundreds of databases and thousands of documents indexed for
        rapid retrieval over the network.)
        Of interest to doctors and nurses in particular might be
        Victor McKusick's online mendelian inheritance in man OMIM database.
        Other biological/medical type of databases include mainly
        molecular biology/biochemical databases.
        Clients and servers are now available to virtually all common
        platforms - Mac PC most unix flavours, vms, etc.

GOPHER- network information file retrieval system
        which is now compatible with WAIS, thus providing a very
        user-friendly interface.  Again clients and servers are available
        to many platforms.
        The range of information available is incredible.

Kathy also writes...
>
> We are looking for practical uses...databases accessed, full-text available,
> whatever...for hospital libraries or other healthcare libraries.  Since most
 of
> our institutions are small (the one-person library type), applications of
> Internet use that relate to that environment would be most useful.

We are currently working on integrating as many of these databases etc
on one menu system.  Where databases are not available on the network,
we will set up the WAIS and GOPHER servers for these databases.
We have permission from the National Library of Medicine
to set up (1000 a month) medline entries on WAIS on an experimental basis.
We hope we will be able to demonstrate sufficient usefulness for
a larger range of medline entries, but in this case, I doubt if
it will become a free service.

So the possibilities for being an information user and an information
provider are legion if you get onto INTERNET.  Do it! and do it soon
or be swept aside by the waves of technological progress :-)

Tin-Wee TAN.

--
   WAIS operator  waisguy@solomon.technet.sg
   Dr Tan Tin Wee, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine.
   National University of Singapore.
   Tel 772-3678   Fax 7791453   INTERNET bchtantw@nuscc.nus.sg
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU