Report from the MeSH Special Interest Group Meeting, 14th EAHIL Conference.11.-13. June 2014, Rome.

The Special Interest Group (SIG) on MeSH translation met on June 11 and gathered a section of the 14th EAHIL Conference participants from Belgium, the Dutch Caribbean, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and of course Italy. The idea of meeting for SIGs during the Conference and not on the day/days before, when CE courses are usually held, was very successful and we gathered over twenty people interested in MeSH translation. After a brief welcome introduction, participants were encouraged to introduce themselves and to raise issues or questions. Sigrun Espelien Aasen talked of her experience, as a research librarian, at the Norwegian Electronic Health Library of the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, Oslo. They have translated most of MeSH and are planning to make them freely available for all in September 2014. They have also translated «Health topics» used in MedlinePlus to be used in combination with MeSH in Norwegian health portals. She underlined the importance ofhigh quality in MeSH translation, but also the need for money to support this effort. This terminology is so technical and specific that translation should be done by professional experts/translators in the field. The cost for translation is high, money does not come easily and that is the main challenge. She stressed the value and importance of NLM’s Open Access policy, support and expertise. Now they are working to make MeSH available as linked data. Mesh is recommended to be used in ISO 13199 Health Informatics-Clinical Knowledge Resourses-Metadata 23s 2012.