Digital libraries and medicine

The theme of the 2001 Yearbook of Medical Informatics is Digital Libraries and Medicine. This is an especially appropriate topic for the 10th issue of the Yearbook, in that it focuses on one of the most critical current concerns of medical informatics. The explosive growth of web-based medical literature, databases, and web-pages and documents addressing an ever widening array of health related information presents our field with a key challenge: how to help both health professionals and consumers efficiently find wellfocused, quality material to answer their queries in a way that will improve their understanding and decision-making, and advance their health care goals. Approximately 10,000 copies of the Yearbook are distributed worldwide.