written by Rebecca Budde, SIU School of Medicine
A bug bites your arm. You check the internet to find out what kind of bug bit you and the best remedy for the itchy, red welt. Congratulations! You’ve conducted one of the 12.5 million daily internet searches about a health-related topic. And while the World Wide Web is full of useful information, only about 30% of medical literature is freely available online. This is where medical libraries (and librarians) come in handy.
SIU School of Medicine houses a medical library on the fourth floor of its main building at 801 N. Rutledge in Springfield. The library serves as a resource and outreach library within the Midwest, providing more than 4,000 documents to other institutions each year from its collection. Here are some other fun facts about SIU’s medical library:
– It houses 157,700 physical volumes
– The oldest volume is a French medical text from 1525
– The library is open 88 hours per week
The library is currently under renovation, which is expected to be complete by January 2015. The new and improved library will have more user space, including group study rooms and collaborative and event spaces. To learn more about SIU School of Medicine’s Medical Library visit their website: http://www.siumed.edu/lib/
copyright © SIU School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois.