Classifying and identifying servers for biomedical information retrieval

Useful retrieval of biomedical information from network information sources requires methods for organized access to those information sources. This access must be organized in terms of the information content of information sources and in terms of the discovery of the network location of those information sources. We have developed an approach to providing organized access to information sources based on a scheme of hierarchical classifiers and identifiers of the servers providing access to those information sources. This approach uses MeSH tree numbers as both classifiers and identifiers of servers. MeSH tree numbers are used to indicate the information content of servers, and also as OSF/DCE server identifiers. This allows the identity and location of a server providing access to a given information source to be determined from the information classification of that information source.