Dr. Donald Lindberg was a pioneer in using computer technology to improve health care. Beginning his career in 1960 at the University of Missouri as a professor of information science and pathology, he was named Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in 1984 and served until 2015.
During his tenure at the NLM, he spearheaded digitizing the library’s vast holdings to make them accessible to researchers around the world. For the first time clinical trials, environmental data, and genomic information were available to users. In addition to this work, he helped establish the National Center for Biotechnology Information, which provides access to the results of the human genome project and to current as well as historical full-text biomedical and life sciences journals . To learn more about Dr. Lindberg’s life please read the New York Times write up about him as well as the piece by the National Institutes of Health.
Recently, Rob Logan. PhD, gifted a digital copy of Improving Usability, Safety, and Patient Outcomes with Health Information Technology in memory of Dr. Lindberg.
The University Libraries Honor with Books program lets patrons honor someone special with a book purchase. Every $100 increment funds the acquisition of one new book selected by the Health Sciences Library’s subject specialists.