A Review of the OvidSP Platform

ABSTRACT

As part of its mission to advance the technological capabilities of its products, Ovid introduced a redesign of its database platform in fall 2007. The platform redesign brought new features and enhancements to an already robust system. The transition between Ovid Gateway and the OvidSP platform was orchestrated seamlessly. With the OvidSP platform came innovative changes such as the incorporation of Natural Language Processing associated with the new Basic Search mode. Discussed are OvidSP features, advantages and disadvantages of the new platform, customizable settings, and future direction.

KEYWORDS:

• Bibliographic databases
• information storage and retrieval
• librarians
• medical libraries
• MEDLINE
• natural language processing
• Ovid
• OvidSP

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marie FitzSimmons

Marie FitzSimmons, MS, AHIP ([email protected]) is Public Services and Outreach Reference Librarian, at The George T. Harrell Library, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University, P.O. Box 850, Hershey, PA 17033-0850.

Valerie A. Gross

Valerie Gross, MLS, MSIT, AHIP ([email protected]) is Librarian for Instruction; at The George T. Harrell Library, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University, P.O. Box 850, Hershey, PA 17033-0850.