About the NLM
- The National Library of Medicine (NLM),
located on the
southeast corner of the campus of the
U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)
in Bethesda, Maryland,
is the world's largest library dealing with a single
scientific/professional topic.
It cares for over 4.5 million holdings
(including books, journal, reports, manuscripts and audio-visual items).
The NLM offers extensive on-line information services
(dealing with clinical care, toxicology and environmental health,
and basic biomedical research),
has several active research and development components
(including an extramural grants program),
houses an extensive History of Medicine collection,
and provides several programs designed to improve the nation's
medical library system.
- If your computer is able to view mpeg files,
you can see a computer-generated full-motion simulation of a
hummingbird's visit to the NLM building complex:
- You may also wish to view a
gallery of photographic images
associated with the NLM and NIH.
National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM):
The NLM is the hub of a
National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM),
consisting of:
- 4000 "basic unit" libraries (primarily in hospitals),
- 125 Resource Libraries (at medical schools),
- 8 Regional libraries (covering all geographical regions of the U.S.)
Approximately 2 million interlibrary loans are fulfilled annually
through this system.
The library's Medical Literature Analysis and
Retrieval System (MEDLARS),
a pioneering effort in rapid on-line bibliographic retrieval first devised
in the 1960s,
continues to provide an avenue for preparing bibliographic publications
such as Index Medicus,
as well a providing access to on-line bibliographic retrieval.
Statistical Profile of the NLM (as of 30 September 1994):
- Collection (book and non-book): 5,029,000
- Appropriation (FY 1994): $118,019,000
- Staff (full-time equivalents): 614
- Serial titles received: 23,250
- Articles indexed (all databases): 368,600
- Journals indexed (for Index Medicus): 3,127
- Budget for purchase of publications: $4,456,000
- Circulation requests fulfilled: 410,000
- For interlibrary loans: 230,000
- For readers: 180,000
- Computerized searches (databases): 6,866,000
- Grant awards (new and renewal): 129
- Amount obligated for grants: $28,420,000
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