Searching IndexCat for Older Medical Literature

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Searching IndexCatfor Older Medical Literature
http//indexcat.nlm.nih.gov

• Jonathon Erlen, MSLS, PhD
• Ammon Ripple, MLS

March 18, 2005
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Overview

• IndexCat is the database version of the
  Index-Catalogue of the Library of the
  Surgeon-Generals Office, 1880-1961.
• which is a book-style catalog (as opposed to a
  card catalog) that includes 3.7 million
  references to books, chapters, articles,
  dissertations, government publications,
  obituaries and portraits that were part of the
  librarys collections.

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The Printed Index-Catalogue
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Overview

• IndexCat was published in 5 series comprised
  of 61 volumes published from 1880-1961. Each
  series was organized alphabetically in a combined
  author/subject heading list. Dates shown are
  dates of publication of each series, not the
  dates of coverage.
• Series 1 - A-Z in 16 volumes from 1880-1895
• Series 2 - A-Z in 21 volumes from 1896-1916
• Series 3 - A-Z in 10 volumes from 1918-1932
• Series 4 - A-Z in 11 volumes from 1936-1955
• Series 5 - A-Z in 3 volumes from 1959-1961
• Series 5 only includes pre-1950 monographs
  that were in the backlog no analytics
  (articles chapters) are included.

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Nota Bene

• IndexCat includes only some of the pre-1950
  medical literature perhaps about 40
• Coverage is less comprehensive the further back
  in time you go.
• Some literature was simply never indexed.
• IndexCat is not as comprehensive or as thorough
  as todays MEDLINE is, but it and the older
  printed Index Medicus (1879-2004) are the two
  primary tools for finding medical literature from
  this time period.

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Index Medicus

• Index Medicus began as a journal article index
  in 1879. It includes more comprehensive coverage
  of articles than IndexCat, which was very
  selective about which articles to include, often
  based on subjective criteria.
• The database version is known as MEDLINE,
  which began in 1966. Until recently, that was as
  far back as one could search. Now older records
  are being added retrospectively in OLDMEDLINE
  which goes back to 1950. For a comprehensive
  search, the print Index Medicus still needs to be
  consulted to find pre-1950 articles that are not
  also in IndexCat.

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Sample Index-Catalogue Records
Records listed under author headings for 3
authors with the surname Angot
4 Records listed under Anhalonium subject
heading. (Anhalonium is a cactus with
hallucinogenic effects.)
Note small print how citations are crammed
together because of space concerns.
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Sample IndexCat Record
In the database version, the record for each
document is broken into fields to facilitate
searching. The heading(s) under which the records
were listed in the print volumes are included in
the Subject or Author fields.
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Browsing(if you want to)
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Browsing
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Browsing
These are the same 4 references under the
Anhalonium heading in the printed
Index-Catalogue (Series 2).
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Searching v. Browsing
A keyword search within Series 2 turns up 13
references not all were grouped under the
Anhalonium subject heading in the printed
volume. Keyword searching capability creates new
possibilities for retrieval and research!
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Searching v. Browsing
Expanding the search to include all 5 series
retrieves 85 hits with only one search using
the print volumes would require looking up the
subject heading in 5 separate volumes and would
only retrieve 65 results
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Getting Started
Remember to check the database you want to
search. (LocatorPlus is the current National
Library of Medicine catalog.)
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Limitations

• No language limiters data is not included in
  each record
• No abstracts or links to full text
• Changing/varied terminology even subject
  headings change from series to series
• Some medical literature is not included may
  still need to consult the print Index Medicus or
  trace citations from papers you do find
• Materials may not be available. You may have to
  get them through interlibrary loan or travel to
  use them in special collections at the National
  Library of Medicine or other libraries.

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Simple 1-Concept Search
Search
Note system will not retrieve more than 1000
results from each series
Results
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Using Truncation
Search
Adding the ? as a wild card retrieves records
with any word beginning with that word stem (e.g.
transplant, transplants, transplantation) -
increases the number of results.
Results
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Simple 2-Concept Search
Search
All of These requires both terms to be present
in retrieved records most searches have at
least 2 concepts.
Results
114 results
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Using Synonyms, Related Terms Foreign Language
Equivalents
Search
Often, alternative terms are identified when
looking through the results of your preliminary
search.
Results
146 results-32 more
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Account for British spellings
Search
Including lymphoedema retrieves 8 more results
than lymphedema by itself
Results
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Phrase Searching Problem
Search
Default option of Any of These retrieves ALL
records with dementia and ALL records with
praecox, even if both are not present.
Results
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Phrase Searching Solution
Search
Retrieves records only when dementia praecox
appears as a phrase.
Results
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Changing Terminology
Search
Dementia praecox later became known as
schizophrenia
Results
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Date Search By Century
Search
Results
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Date Search By Decade
Search
Results
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Date Search Specific Years
Search
Need to allow for Any of These specified years
to be present the date field.
Results
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Search by Author
Search
-Authors of monographs (books, theses reports)
listed with full name-Authors of analytics
(articles chapters) listed with initials-Can
use browse option to identify official author
headings.
Results
Initials
Full name
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Search by Journal Title
Search
Must use abbreviations (which are only listed in
the print volumes for now and which can change
from series to series) NLM plans to post
abbreviations online in the future.
Results
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Search History
Can not combine or edit searches, but this
feature can save time if you need to re-run a
search.
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A Typical Search
I want to find older medical literature on the
occurrence of typhoid fever in Pittsburgh and the
surrounding region in the late 1800s. Concepts
and possible terms 1) Typhoid fever (typhoid
fever) 2) Pittsburgh region (Pittsburgh
Allegheny Pennsylvania) 3) Late 1800s (may not
need to include in search)
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A Typical Search
Pittsburg? Pennsylvania? Allegh?
Pittsburgh was spelled Pittsburg from 1890-1911.
Allegh? should pick up Allegheny County and
also Alleghany alternate spelling seen in some
results.Pennsylvania? may be too broad, but
could pick up references to Western
Pennsylvania.
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44 results use Show All to merge them
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Now all 44 results appear in one list
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Note that the official subject term is Fever
(Typhoid, History and statistics of), by
localities. The phrase is inverted in the
subject heading. Our exact phrase typhoid fever
will only retrieve references with that phrase in
the title not this subject heading.
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You can loosen your search by just entering
typhoid.
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Now you get 66 results 22 more than before. It
is usually helpful to learn from your results and
refine your search.
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Practice Questions

• I want to find information about the use of
  anesthesia for surgery from 1700-1850.
• I am putting in for an NIH grant to continue my
  work on cancer therapies and need to be sure I
  include pre-1950 literature. I need information
  about the use of selenium in cancer therapies.
• I want to see how tuberculosis was treated prior
  to the discovery of the triple drug cocktail in
  the early 1950's.
• I want to trace the issues that emerged in the
  early use of insulin to treat diabetes in the
  1921-1945 period.

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• Jonathon Erlen, MSLS, PhD
• 412-648-8927
• erlen_at_pitt.edu
• Ammon Ripple, MLS
• 412-648-1251
• ammon2_at_pitt.edu

March 18, 2005