National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world�s largest medical library. The Library collects materials in all areas of biomedicine and health care as well as works on biomedical aspects on technology, the humanities, and the physical, life, and social sciences. The Library�s collections currently contain approximately five million books, journals, technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, photographs, and images. The NLM is a national resource for all U.S. health science libraries through a National Network of Libraries of Medicine. The Library is also engaged in a variety of additional programs and services and maintains a wide range of medical databases. The NLM�s National Center for Biotechnology Information, created by Congress in 1988, is engaged in storing and making accessible all data about the human genome resulting from genetic research at the NIH and laboratories around the nation. MEDLINE (MEDlars onLINE) is the NLM�s premier bibliographic database, containing more than nine million citations (e.g., authors, title, and journal reference) and author abstracts from over 3,800 biomedical journals published in the United States and approximately 70 countries. MEDLINE is now accessible free of charge to the public at the NLM’s web site through “PubMed.” The NLM�s search service also maintains links to participating online journals and other related databases. Health consumers are encouraged to discuss any search results with their health care providers. The National Library of Medicine�s web site is located at .