Fundamentals of the NLM Classification

NLM announces a classification course.

The Cataloging Section of the National Library of Medicine® is pleased to announce the availability of an new e-learning course called Fundamentals of the NLM Classification. It is available as a link from the Cataloging Section homepage, as well as the Distance Education page. The course is a free set of modules and interactive exercises that students may take at their own pace without an instructor.

This course covers the principles and applications of the NLM Classification in the cataloging environment. The course is divided into nine modules:

1. Overview of the NLM Classification
2. Using the Online NLM Classification
3. Components of NLM Call Numbers
4. General Principles
5. Table G (Geographic Notations)
6. Form Numbers
7. Bibliographies and Related Materials
8. Classification of 19th Century Works and Early Printed Books
9. Continuing Resources

Relying on Web Services

Recently we have had two examples of trusted resources being off line for an extended time. A few weeks ago the GPO PURL server was down for several days. This meant that thousands of links in library catalogs around the globe were broken.

Now the NASA Technical Reports Server is down. It went down about a week and a half ago. No word on when it will return. It went down Monday, on Wednesday this notice appeared

The NASA Technical Reports Server is currently unavailable as of September 24, 2009, due to unforeseen but required data maintenance. We apologize for the incovenience [sic]. NASA hopes to make this database available in approximately 1 week.

This affects fewer libraries but in my catalog hundreds of links to the full-text stored at the server are broken.

It seems we have put too much reliance in trusted sites (NASA, GPO). What does this mean for mash-ups? For the Web in general? If we can't trust NASA or the GPO to keep vital services up, who can we trust? Just musing.

Oct. 6 Update: The NTRS Server is still down.