National Library of Medicine (U.S.). Office of the Director, Donald A.B. Lindberg Papers

Subject files, reports, correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, speeches and presentations, published and draft writings, research files, electronic, and audiovisual and photographic materials largely document Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg's professional career as Director of the National Library of Medicine.

Dr. Lindberg's personal life is lightly documented in Series 1, which contains several of Dr. Lindberg's curriculum vitae, some personal correspondence, awards and honors, photographs, and materials pertaining to his nomination and retirement as Director of the National Library of Medicine.

The bulk of the collection pertains to Dr. Lindberg's tenure as Director of the National Library of Medicine and comprises Series 2, with the Chronological Files and the General Files subseries making up the core of the series. The Chronological Files subseries consists primarily of incoming correspondence and some copies of outgoing correspondence. The General Files subseries consists of incoming correspondence, reports, publications, and other related materials pertaining to the organization or subject of each file. General files are organized alphabetically, sometimes by full title and sometimes by acronym, so in some cases multiple files pertaining to a single organization or subject are filed separately according to the different naming conventions. The Staff Action Files subseries consists primarily of incoming correspondence which Dr. Lindberg delegated to various other staff members to resolve; it is organized alphabetically by the surname of the staff member assigned. The Special Projects subseries contains correspondence, reports, publications, and related material pertaining to initiatives within and without the National Library of Medicine in which Dr. Lindberg took special interest or held a leadership role. Notably, the Special Project series contains the bulk of records related to NLM's Clinical Trials website, the establishment of the NCBI, and the NIH Roadmap strategic planning process. The NLM Programs and Activities subseries consists primarily of Dr. Lindberg's files related to a variety of NLM-led initiatives such as AIDS information, biotechnology, exhibits, long-range strategic planning, MEDLARS and MEDLINE, and outreach. The Presentations, Talks, Speeches, and Interviews subseries consists primarily of transcripts of Dr. Lindberg's talks and presentations with accompanying reference material, slides, and a small amount of audio recordings.

A relatively small set of records pertaining to Dr. Lindberg's tenure and research as Professor of Information Science and Professor of Pathology at the University of Missouri-Columbia comprises Series 3. The series notably contains reports and research out of the Health Services Research Center/Health Care Technology Center (HSRC/HCTC), of which Dr. Lindberg served as director. Dr. Lindberg's collection of pathology slides as well as slides accompanying his research and talks are also contained in this series. The series also contains Dr. Lindberg's personal collection of published information science literature dating between the 1960s and 1980s.

Most of the records relating to Dr. Lindberg's research in artificial intelligence in medicine can be found in Series 4. Notable among these are records relating to the AI/Rheum, a knowledge-based computer consultant system that Dr. Lindberg helped develop during the 1980s which used artificial intelligence techniques to assist with rheumatology diagnoses.

Dr. Lindberg's writings are found in Series 5. The majority are reprints of Dr. Lindberg's published articles. One subseries contains manuscripts and drafts and other material related to the books that Dr. Lindberg authored. Records relating to the various other professional organizations that Dr. Lindberg participated in outside of his official titles, notably the American Medical Informatics Association and the G-7 Global Healthcare Applications Project, comprises Series 6.