Help Documentation
- Overview of Digital Collections from the National Library of Medicine
- Featured Resources Wall
- Browsing the Resources
- Searching
- Resource Records
- Book Viewer
- Video Player
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Web Service
Overview of Digital Collections from the National Library of Medicine
Digital Collections is the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) free online archive of historical biomedical resources. The resources in Digital Collections are accessed via the primary user interface. From the Digital Collections Home page you may browse the collections in Print Materials and Films and Videos , search the full-text, and explore featured items on the wall. Books and videos may be viewed using the Book Viewer and Video Player, which are accessible via the Resource page.
Additional information about the current collections is available at:
Featured Resources Wall
The Digital Collections Home page includes a wall of featured resources with 20 pre-selected resources from the Print Materials and Films and Videos collections. The wall allows you to navigate through the featured resources, view individual resources in the wall or open a resource in the Book Viewer or Video Player.
You must download and install the latest version of the Adobe® Flash Player to view the featured resources wall in your browser.
Navigating the Wall
To navigate through the grid of 20 items, click the arrows on the left or right side of the wall. The wall may be moved to the left or right using the blue scroll bar at the bottom of the wall or click and drag your mouse ("click and drag to begin") in the desired direction. The double arrow icon in the lower right corner will open the wall in "Full Screen" mode. The resource's title appears when you mouse over a thumbnail.
Viewing Resources in the Wall
The wall allows you to identify resources that may be explored in the Book Viewer or Video Player. Click one of the thumbnail images to enlarge the image in the wall. The resource's title appears when you mouse over the image (Figure 1A and 1B). A short segment of the video will automatically begin to play. Use the video controls to pause the video or change the volume (Figure 1A).
Figure 1: Featured Video and Book Resources. Mouse over the resource to view the video's title and controls (B) or the book's title (B).
You may scroll to the next or the previous featured item by clicking the arrows below the image (Figure 2A). Click the pop-up window symbol (Figure 2B) to view a resource in the "Book Viewer" or "Video Player." Or, click the "X" to return to the wall (Figure 2B).
Figure 2: View Featured Resources. Click left or right arrows (A) to view the next or previous item. Click the X to return to the wall of featured resources or click the pop-up window symbol to open the resource in the "Book Viewer" or "Video Player" (B).
Browsing the Resources
You may browse the digital resources by Collections, Titles, Subjects, Authors, and Years.
By Collections
"Collections" is the default display for the "Browse" tab. The collections are organized by Print Materials and Films and Videos. Click on one of the format types to view the collections including Cholera Online and The Public Health Film Goes to War! The collection resources are listed alphabetically by title. Titles with quotations appear first.
By Titles
Select "Browse" then "Titles" to view all resources by title. The titles are displayed alphabetically. Titles with quotations appear first. The A-Z list displays titles beginning with the selected letter.
By Subjects
Select "Browse" then "Subjects" to view an alphabetical list of all subjects. The A-Z list displays subjects beginning with the selected letter.
By Authors
Select "Browse" and "Authors" to view an alphabetical list of all authors by last name or organization name. The A-Z list displays authors beginning with the selected letter.
By Years
Select "Browse" and "Years" to view resources by year. The resources are displayed alphabetically by title. Select one of the date range links (e.g. 1940-1949) above the results to retrieve resources published within the specified decade.
Searching
Full-text Search
The full-text search box appears in the header of all pages except the Book Viewer and Video Player. Enter a term or phrase and click the magnifying glass button to retrieve the search results. The search is executed against the full-text and metadata fields of every resource in the repository. A complete list of metadata fields is available from Resource Records. See Search Inside This Book and Searching Video Transcripts on how to search within an individual resource.
Figure 3: Search Box.
Advanced Search
The "Advanced Search" page allows you to search one or more metadata fields. The Boolean operators "AND" and "OR" may be used to construct search queries. You may enter terms in one or more of the seven metadata fields; title, author, description, format, language, subject, and publication date.
Search Results Display
The search results display includes a list of facets for filtering the results (Figure 4A), the total number of results (Figure 4B), the display options for results per page (Figure 4C), and the list of results sorted by relevancy (Figure 4D). Each result includes a thumbnail of the cover page as well as the resource's title, author(s), date, and subject(s). You may click the title link or the thumbnail to view the resource's record page.
Figure 4: Search Results Display for the phrase "Asiatic cholera." The filters are displayed in the left column (A), the search results statement includes the total number of results (B), display options for the number of results per page is automatically set to 10 (C), and the search results (D).
Refining Search Results
You may select one or more of the facets to filter your search results by authors, subjects, and/or titles (Figure 5). If the facet includes more than three items, select "more" to view all of the filters and "less" to hide them. The filters may be removed by selecting "remove" for individual filters or "Remove all" to return to your original search results.
Figure 5: Search results for "Asiatic cholera" filtered by the Authors filter. The selected author filter (Chapman, John) appears in the gray box (A) and there are five results displayed for John Chapman (B).
Resource Records
The "Resource Record" page includes the resource's metadata information and a link to the Book Viewer or the Video Player (Figure 6). The resource metadata fields include; titles, authors, publication date, publication information, languages, format, subjects, rights, identifiers, and description.
The resources may be opened by selecting the "View Book" or "View Video" links to view the resource in the Book Viewer or the Video Player. Click the linked metadata fields to search for other resources with similar metadata. Select the "See catalog record…" link in the "Identifier" field to view the resource's bibliographic record in LocatorPlus, NLM's online catalog.
The "Additional Files" section below the metadata information includes the list of all files associated with the resource including XML, OCR, PDF, Image, Movie, transcript and caption files and the Dublin Core metadata files (Figure 7). You may download these files for your own use. Information about copyright and fair use of the content in Digital Collections is available at Are the resources copyrighted?
Figure 6: Resource Record including Metadata Fields and View Book link.
Figure 7: Additional Files include the list of files (A) and the file's mime type (B). Files may be downloaded by selecting the link under the File column (A). Select Show Other Files (C) to view additional files.