During his 31-year tenure as director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D. dramatically increased access to knowledge about health issues, medicine, medical care, the health professions, and health literacy. As an enthusiastic visionary with a plan, his aim was to bring about a more efficient transfer and use of information and data. Dr. Lindberg and the NLM helped transform and reshape medicine and the health system in the 20th and 21st centuries. Dr. Lindberg envisioned, encouraged, and supported the development of electronic health records and telemedicine. Coupled with the evolution of the Internet, these technologies made health systems more efficient for research, the delivery of clinical services, the education of health professionals, bioethics, improving the public’s health literacy, and disease prevention strategies. Dr. Lindberg also was committed to enhancing the capacity of underserved and minority populations to make use of NLM’s health information resources. Transforming Biomedical Informatics and Health Information Access is a tribute to Don Lindberg and the NLM. The book is divided into four sections. The first documents the advances in biomedical informatics during Dr. Lindberg’s career, emphasizing the contributions made by teams of talented individuals at the NLM. The second section describes how the NLM’s creation of new methods of access to diverse biomedical databases improved information access for healthcare professionals, biomedical researchers, and the public. The third section explains how NLM’s outreach programs improved access to health information among underrepresented audiences and communities. The more informal fourth section provides brief memoirs about Dr. Lindberg’s life, character, and humanism.

This is a book about the politics and history of the Internet. The Internet has been in existence for over fifty years. The way we live our lives has changed considerably because of this new medium. As the Internet has become increasingly popular, it has been drawn into age-old struggles over censorship and freedom of expression. It has played an increasing role in commerce, and controversies have erupted over privacy, security, consumer rights, intellectual property rights, taxation, and other matters. With the rise of Internet-connected smartphones, the Internet has become part of daily life for billions of people. One major theme explored in this book is the contrast between the dream and the reality of the Internet. Many of the creators of the Internet shared a vision of building a system that would empower individuals anywhere in the world to share their knowledge and creativity. This profoundly democratic dream came out of an age in which many pre-existing power structures were being questioned. This book argues that the Internet has actually resulted in the creation of new centers of power and influence, many of which are anti-democratic.

The Science Subcommittee began its oversight of the implementation of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 by focusing on the establishment of the National Research and Education Network (NREN), which will evolve out of the current internet, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) NSFNET. The policy issues under discussion were: providing a level playing field for network services providers; ensuring that the network is responsive to user needs; providing for effective network management; determining the level of consultation that has occurred between the NSF, the network user, and provider communities during the course of developing the policies for governance and operation of the NSFNET backbone; and moving toward the long-term vision for the NREN, including the appropriate roles of the public and private sectors. Included in the hearing report are statements from Bob Traxler and Jerry F. Costello of the House Subcommittee on Science and testimony from the following witnesses: Eric Hood, Federation of American Research Networks and Northwestnet, Inc.; Douglas E. Van Houweling, Merit Network, Inc. and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Mitchell Kapor, Commercial Internet Exchange Association and Electronic Frontier Foundation; Michael M. Roberts, Educom; William L. Schrader, Performance Systems International, Inc. Also included are a statement by A. Nico Habermann and Stephen S. Wolff, National Science Foundation; the Subcommittee and Full Committee markups of H.R. 5344, Amendment to the NSF Act of 1950; and an additional statement submitted for the record by E. Michael Staman, CICNet. (ALF)