Acceso a MEDLINE y LILACS mediante el MeSH y el DeCS

Since 1997, the National Medical Library allows public health workers to operate MEDLINE and LILACS database by themselves together with the traditional bibliographic search service provided by this entity. This significant step determines the necessary training of user in those bibliographic information retrieval systems, and, above all, the learning and use of MeSH and DeCS thesauri. This article is aimed at explaining the characteristics of thesauri used for indexing such database and analyzing their structure and components as well as their relationship with the principles applied to indexing, particularly specificity and exhaustiveness. Some key concepts of indexing, information search and retrieval are outlined. Likewise, a general view on the available retrieval techniques in Find, Index, Thesaurus software commands and F2 key as a way of guiding users to establish their search strategies is presented