1. Introducing the British Library
Science, Technology &
Medicine collections
Elizabeth Newbold, Content & Collections
Leader, Science Technology & Medicine

2. The British Library
• National Library of the United Kingdom
created in 1972 by the British Library Act
• Receives one copy of every publication
published in the UK and Ireland under
Legal Deposit
• Collections cover all formats; sound,
images, video, newspapers, maps,
manuscripts, databases, books and
journals, much more
• 3 million items incorporated into the
collections every year
• Over 16,000 people use its collections
every day
• Grows at 12km of shelving per year
www.bl.uk
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3. Role of the British Library in Science and
Technology
• Long history of collecting scientific and technical literature
• Origins of the collections in science as a distinct resource
for scientists date from 1850 and the Patent Office Library.
Medicine became part of the science collections in the early
20th Century.
• Science is an integral part of the British Libraries remit:
• “The British Library Board was established to manage the
Library as a national centre for reference, study, and
bibliographic and other information services, in relation both
to scientific and technological matters and to the
humanities…”
www.bl.uk
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4. Science Reading Rooms
• Two dedicated reading rooms
• Team of reference librarians to
provide support and training
• Up to 10 years of journals and
books on the shelves
• Access to electronic
resources: ebooks, ejournals
and databases
www.bl.uk
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5. Relevance of STM content and collections
to medical charities
• Supports information gathering and
across section of users
• Supports interdisciplinary research
across key topics, helping to find
answers to questions
• Collection covers current
postgraduate clinical and research
material in all the specialisms of
medicine.
• Also cover allied health and nursing.
• Health policy and management
www.bl.uk
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6. What type of content do we have?
• Books
–
–
–
–
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Research monographs
Handbooks
Dictionaries
Directories
Encyclopaedias
• Journals
– Peer reviewed academic/scholarly
journals
– Newsletters and trade journals
• Grey Literature
– Conference proceedings
– Reports
– Theses
www.bl.uk
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7. What type of content are do we have? (cont)
• Electronic resources – including Abstracting and Indexing databases
– Subject specific:
• AMED – Allied Medicine
• British Nursing Index
• CINHAL
• Embase
• Medline
• Midwifery and Infant Care
– General
• Web of Science
• Scopus
• Current Contents
• Newspapers
www.bl.uk
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8. How can using the Library help you?
• Access to quality peer reviewed journals, books and trade
magazines
• Keeping up to date and refreshing your knowledge on key
topics or background research on new subjects
• Access to specialist resources
www.bl.uk
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9. Finding people/experts/organisations
• Specialist or multidisciplinary databases
– Authors of papers
– Organisation affiliation
Some examples:
– Author analysis
– Organisation analysis
www.bl.uk
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10. Scopus – Author analysis
www.bl.uk
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11. Web of Science – Organization analysis
www.bl.uk
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12. Scopus – Author affiliation
www.bl.uk
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13. Web of Science – Funding analysis
www.bl.uk
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14. Keeping up to date
• Specialist or general databases – literature review
• Newspapers – press coverage
• New books
• Academic journals
• Trade journals
• Some examples:
– Specialist databases
www.bl.uk
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15. Keeping up to date – literature reviews
www.bl.uk
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18. Keeping up to date - newspapers
www.bl.uk
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19. Specialist databases - BNI
www.bl.uk
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20. Specialist databases - CINHAL
www.bl.uk
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21. Specialist databases - MWIC
www.bl.uk
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22. Explore – British Library Catalogue
www.bl.uk
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23. Thank you
• Email: science@bl.uk
• British Library web site: www.bl.uk/science
• Follow us on Twitter: ScienceBL or on Facebook:
Science@BL
• Blog : http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/science/
www.bl.uk
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