About the Library Collections
- Archives
- Audiovisuals
- Electronic Indexes and Knowledge Databases
- Newspapers
- Print Indexes
- Software Packages
- Web Collections
The circulating books are located on the 13th floor of the library. Included in these collections are approximately 20,000 textbooks on a variety of health care topics, dating from the 1960's to the present time. Circulating books are shelved in two locations, depending on their size: "oversized" and "regular".
The "oversized" books are physically larger, and are shelved just to the right of the stairwell on the 13th floor. They are designated as "Medical Oversize" in the Library Catalog, and have orange tape on their spines. The "regular" collections are located just past the oversized books, and are designated as "Medical" in the Library Catalog.
All of these books can be checked out of the library for 28 days with an option to renew. Faculty, staff and students of the Boston University, the Boston Medical Center, and members of the Boston Library Consortium are eligible to check out books from the library. Click here for more information on the library's circulation services or to search the Library Catalog.
Available electronic textbooks include Scientific American Medicine online and STAT!-Ref, a collection of 30 current, clinical texts.
Electronic textbooks can be accessed remotely via the Web, or searched from computers located on the 12th floor of the library and the 11th floor Learning Resources Center.
Free-of-charge Internet access is also available to a variety of directories, dictionaries and encyclopedias. Use the library's Web Collections to identify online reference tools.
The History of Medicine collection is located on the 13th floor of the library. This collection is comprised of older, historically relevant texts as well as current texts on the history of medicine and healthcare. Many of the textbooks in the History of Medicine collection circulate outside the library. These are designated as "Medical History" in the Library Catalog. Those texts that are extremely fragile or valuable are part of the archival collection.
[See Archives, above]Reference books are housed on the 12th floor of the library. They are identified by the "Medical Reference" designation in the Library Catalog, and by the green tape on the spine of each book. The reference area consists primarily of directories, indexes, encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, and other resources used frequently by library staff. Reference books do not normally circulate outside the library, but patrons are welcome to use them in-house.
Reserve books are located behind the Circulation desk in the Reserve area. Reserve books are designated as "Medical Reserve" in the Library Catalog, and do not normally circulate outside the library. The reserve collections include the most popular, current editions of clincial biomedical textbooks such as Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Scientific American Medicine, and others. Because reserve texts are so popular, use is limited to 2 hours per person.
The library subscribes to more than 1500 electronic journal titles. Electronic journals are available via two methods: 1.) electronic subscription on the Web, or 2.) as part of the BUMC MEDLINE Plus system.
Use this link for a complete list of available electronic journals.
[Patrons should note that electronic journal subscriptions are often restricted to faculty, staff and students of Boston University and the Boston University Medical Center. Please contact a reference librarian for information on subscription restrictions.]
Approximately 1300 current journal subscriptions are housed on the 11th, 12th and 13th floors of the library. All journals are shelved alphabetically by title, and can be identified in the Library Catalog by doing a "title" search for the journal title. They are identified by the "Medical Library Journal" designation in the Library Catalog. Journal collections include professional, health-related titles only. Popular journal titles such as Time or Newsweek are not held at the Alumni Medical Library. Journals do not normally circulate outside the library, although patrons can make special arrangements to take out journal volumes if they need to have slides made.
Included in the archival collection are rare, valuable or fragile historical texts; and memorabilia such as photographs, graduation records, school catalogs, department newsletters, annual reports, medical instrumentation, and other materials representative of the Boston University Medical Center's activities and achievements. Archives are located in a secured area, and are available to the public by appointment only. Contact Emily Beattie at (617) 638-4236 or ebeattie@bu.edu for more information about archival materials.
A collection of approximately 300 audiovisuals are housed in Room 1302 in the library, and at the library Reserve Desk. Included in the collection are audiotapes, videotapes, and slides on a variety of subject areas including histology, pathology, and physiology. All audiovisuals can be identified by using the Library Catalog to search for the author, title, or subject. [Patrons should note that the library does not actively collect audiovisuals unless a specific AV program is requested by faculty of the schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, or Public Health.]
Room 1302 has three small, private viewing rooms which are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Equipment includes 1/2" (VHS) videoplayers and monitors, 3/4" (beta) videoplayers and monitors, slide projectors, audiotape players, and microfiche readers. Patrons are welcome to use this equipment to view library audiovisuals or their own personal AVs. Equipment is available on a first-come-first-serve basis, and should not be removed from Room 1302.
The BUMC MEDLINE Plus/OVID system provides access to several biomedical databases: MEDLINE, CINAHL (nursing & allied health), and Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) databases. In addition, literature searches from hundreds of bibliographic databases are available through the library's mediated literature search service. Free-of-charge Web access to a variety of databases such as BIOSIS, ERIC, PSYCLIT, SOCIOFILE, Web of Science, and many others is available to eligible users. Use this link for a complete list of available Electronic Indexes and Knowledge Databases.
Weekday editions of the Boston Globe, New York Times and Wall Street Journal are housed on the 12th floor of the library. Weekend editions are not collected. All newspapers are discarded at the end of each week. For information about back editions of popular newspapers check the following news sources.
The library owns a number of print indexes including Index Medicus and others. Indexes are located on the 12th floor of the library, and can be identified in the Library Catalog.
[See Electronic Indexes and Knowledge Databases, above, for information about electronic indexes.]The Learning Resources Center computing lab provides access to many software programs including Adobe Pagemaker, CA Cricket Graph III, Canvas, ChemDraw, Cricket Graph, ERAS, FileMaker Pro, MacDraw Pro, MCAT, Micro, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Word, Roadmap, WordPerfect, and a variety of computer-assisted instruction software. The lab also provides full Internet capabilities.
The Boston University Office of Information Technology ACS system provides access to a variety of application software packages and computer languages:
- Elm and UNIX mail -- electronic mail programs;
- Netscape, Mosaic, and Lynx -- web browsers;
- C, FORTRAN, LISP, and Pascal -- programming languages;
- SAS, SPSS, Minitab, IMSL, and NAG -- statistical packages and subroutine libraries used in research and instruction;
- Interleaf, FrameMaker, and IslandWrite -- text processors appropriate for any project from a paper to a technical dissertation;
- IslandDraw and IslandPaint -- graphics packages used for the creation of diagrams and illustrations;
- MATLAB and Mathematica -- packages for performing symbolic and numerical calculations and graphically presenting the results; and
- Wingz -- a spreadsheet package.