Well I was able to finally get into OSTMED.DR and unfortunately I have more questions rather than answers.

1. Where is the content coming from? I can tell that they are loading JAOA full text articles into the database, but where are they getting the other bits of information (book chapters, images, etc.) I am not asking them to divulge their trade secrets, but I would like to know approximately where they are getting their resources. For example are the images and papers not found in journals such as JAOA, are those author submitted?
2. Is this intended to be a full text repository of osteopathic literature? If so does OSTMED.DR work with link resolvers?
3. OSTMED.DR is currently free from July – December 2007, what will be the price for personal or institutional subscribers? Will institutions be given usernames and passwords or will they be allowed to register their IP addresses?
4. When is it updated?! I clicked on recent additions yet when I searched I could find no updates within the last month. When I searched for updates for the year, the last update from what I could determine was made in June 2007. Will it be updated monthly, quarterly, annually?
5. Why go with OSTMED.DR as a separate database? OSTMED is available and has articles already indexed. Wouldn’t it be easier to resume updating OSTMED, add the full text to the articles in the database, and add the other stuff as well?

As for the database itself…
At first glance the searching and browsing is clunky. You discover how aweful it is when you actually use it. You can browse for items by title, creator, subject, and date. There is no way to search for source such as journal title. There is no way to search for a journal article using the simple methods similar to PubMed Citation Matcher or even the Quick Search on JAOA's website.

The database also has some issues with directing you to the wrong citation when you are browsing. I decided to browse by title clicked on the link for "18 – Trisomy syndrome and a review of chromosomal abnormalities in man," but the record I saw was "Radiographic evaluation of intervertebral disk physiology." Click here and look at the URL, you will see that according the URL I am supposed to be getting the 18 Trisomy citation. This is just one example, it happened repeatedly with other citations.

Here are two more examples:
See "Temporal Lesion" gave me "Getting the Most from Mutual Funds."
See "1960 Yearbook and Directory" gave me "Weighing Emergency Room Treatment Options."

This was not just limited to the browsing feature. It also happened while searching. I did a quick search on Asthma and clicked on the link Asthma by Dufur, JI and was directed to the citation, "The Father of Osteopathy and his life work."

The database bills itself as a full text database, but it isn’t. There quite a few citations within the database that are not full text. For example the citation, "Technic for hiccoughs" (which I found my doing a search on manipulation and clicking the "Manipulation of the Acute Shoulder" link) is not full text. I realize it is an old article, from 1941, but if a database is billed as a full text database, there needs to be some better documentation as to what is full text and what isn’t.

The errors within the searching and browsing are maddening. Clicking on the link for one citation and being directed to another drove me batty. I don’t see how anyone can put up with that for long. I don’t understand why creators of OSTMED.DR didn’t just build upon OSTMED, spruce it up, give it a little more flexible search options (for images and other things) and update it. Most of the citations were already there all they had to do was add the full text and update it.

As a librarian at an osteopathic hospital I can tell you it can be very difficult to find osteopathic research and literature. So, it is frustrating and sad to see what could be a potentially wonderful resource in osteopathic research so poorly developed.

I invite those who created or work with OSTMED.DR to respond to any of my questions or critiques. I personally think that if done correctly this resource could be quite wonderful.