SERVICE PROVIDERS AND USERS DISCOVER THE INTERNET

Although the Internet has evolved over more than twenty years, resourc es useful to health information professionals have become available on the Internet only recently. A survey conducted by the Regional Medica l Libraries of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine in the fa ll of 1993 indicates that libraries at academic institutions are much more likely to have access to the Internet (72%) than are libraries in hospital environments (24%). Health information professionals who tak e on the challenge and exploit the Internet's resources find rewards f or themselves and their clients. The basic electronic mail capability of the Internet allows colleagues to collaborate, communicate, and par ticipate in daily continuing education. Internet terminal and file-tra nsfer capabilities provide improved access to traditional resources an d first-time access to new electronic resources. Through the Internet, online catalogs are available worldwide, and document delivery is fas ter, cheaper, and more reliable than ever before. Institutions can mak e organizational, full-text, online, and publication information avail able through Internet tools such as direct file-transfer protocol (FTP ), menu-based Gopher, and hypertext-based Mosaic. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is among organizations finding new ways to provide service through the Internet. NLM now uses electronic mail to communic ate with users, FTP service to distribute publications, and tools such as Gopher and Mosaic to distribute publications and graphics and conn ect users to online services. The Internet allows service providers an d health sciences information professionals to work in a rich, new med ium whose potential is just beginning to be explored. At the same time , its characteristics-including lack of formal organization, standards , quality control, and permanence-pose a challenge.