BUSM Library Resources

The Alumni Medical Library is located on the 11th, 12th, and 13th floors of the Instructional Building and serves the Boston University Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Public Health, the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences, and Boston Medical Center.

Medical Library holdings include extensive electronic collections comprised of 7,382 e-journals, 8,296 e-books, 346 databases, and 123 web-based Subject Guides. Print holdings include 108,996 print volumes, of which 23,407 are monographs. Additionally, medical campus library users have access to the University Libraries’ collections of more than 2.4 million physical volumes, 45,000 current unique serials titles, and 77,000 media titles located at the Mugar (main University), Science/Engineering, and other BU libraries.

Electronic full-text journal collections include Elsevier ScienceDirect, Wiley InterScience, Springer, and Nature Publishing packages. E-books include McGraw-Hill AccessMedicine, McGraw-Hill AccessSurgery, STAT!Ref, and Springer Medicine, Biomedical & Life Sciences collections. Databases include MEDLINE, Web of Science, BIOSIS, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, Natural Standard and PsycINFO.  Evidence-based resources include ACP Journal Club, ACP PIER, BMJ Clinical Evidence, Cochrane Library, DynaMed, and JAMA Evidence.

Materials not owned by the Alumni Medical Library may be obtained through the Interlibrary Loan Service network, which links Boston University to the National Library of Medicine and to academic and medical libraries around the country. The library also participates in a cooperative agreement with 17 local university and academic medical center libraries as part of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC). BU WorldCat Local allows current BU students, faculty, and staff to borrow books directly from the BLC free of charge. Boston University School of Medicine students and faculty also have access to the Harvard Countway Library through its dual role as the Boston Medical Library.

BUMC librarians provide a broad range of educational programming, including BUSM I and II Integrated Problems, and Family Medicine Clerkship curriculum-integrated information retrieval, evaluation, and management skills classes. Librarians also provide a 2-credit GMS Introduction to Biomedical Information course, and workshops for students, faculty, and staff. The library’s Education program emphasizes lifelong learning, information literacy, and skills specific to searching, critically evaluating, and managing information.

The Alumni Medical Library’s information infrastructure includes 366 power connections, 124 ethernet connections, and wireless access for laptops throughout the Library and computing labs and classrooms. The Library provides 105 student computers in five computer classrooms and 84 computers in three public computing areas. Classroom resources include SynchronEyes, Sympodium, Smartboards, and other peripheral equipment. Public computers contain Microsoft Office 2010 for PCs or Microsoft Office 2011 for iMacs, bibliographic and knowledge bases, e-journal and e-book collections, the BU Libraries Search catalog, Internet, and evidence-based and other information resources. Laser printers, scanners and photocopiers are provided in multiple library locations. Printing is also available in the L-basement.

Library computing staff support courses requiring technology integration, and also provide student laptop software and hardware support services.  Student laptop support includes software installation, wireless printing, VPN client configuration, Windows updates, virus scanning software updates, and removal of viruses and spyware.