HSC Library Resources

The Texas A&M Health Science Center operates or has access to a number of extensive library facilities at various HSC and Texas A&M University locations, which collaborate to provide students and faculty members from each component with a wealth of scholarly and reference material.

The Baylor Health Sciences Library at Baylor College of Dentistry meets the academic and professional information needs of students, faculty and staff by providing ready accessibility to current and comprehensive information sources and services. The library contains approximately 37,000 volumes and 600 current journal titles. In addition, some 2,000 volumes comprise the Sellers Collection of rare books in medicine, religion and art. The library provides access to a variety of electronic resources, including Ovid MEDLINE, HealthSTAR, CINAHL, ABI/Inform, ERIC, Periodical Abstracts and more than 1,500 full-text, online journals.

Also at BCD, the Instructional Computer Laboratory is a PC-based classroom with video projection and multimedia equipment. This facility is operated by the Office of Information Technology Services for use by Baylor College of Dentistry students, faculty and staff. The PCs are networked to allow access to electronic information resources at the college library and on the Internet. The laboratory is designed for hands-on, computer-based instruction to small groups of students. When not in use for classes, workshops and training sessions, ICL is available for self-directed learning using computer-aided instruction and other audiovisual materials. Many of the materials have been developed by BCD faculty to support the instructional program.

The 44,000 square-foot Medical Sciences Library is a professional research library dedicated to meeting the educational and research needs for the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Rural Public Health. Adjacent to the college's College Station facilities in the Joe H. Reynolds Medical Building, the library serves the Health Science Center, the College of Veterinary Medicine and other A&M faculty and students with its specialized collection of biomedical books, journals and electronic resources. MSL's collection includes more than 100,000 volumes of journals and books in print and other media, including electronic formats. The library currently receives 1,803 subscriptions to American and international biomedical journals, as well as more than 1,100 available electronically. A list of Texas A&M System-wide electronic journals and resources is also available. MEDLINE and other biomedical and health sciences databases are accessible online.

Professional staff provides reference services as well as instruction in database searching and managing biomedical information. Librarians participate in teaching programs in both the College of Medicine and the College of Veterinary Medicine, attend rounds in veterinary clinics and offer services to local health institutions and practitioners through outreach programs. MSL also shares resources and provides information services to the College of Medicine's Temple campus.

MSL is open 99 hours each week and has an open-stack arrangement. Its public catalog is available through the campus network and on its web site at chiron.tamu.edu. Books are loaned for four weeks (two weeks for undergraduates); journals circulate for two hours. For more information about the library's services and policies, visit its web site at http://msl.tamu.edu.

The Learning Resources Unit is the primary study facility for medical students on the College Station campus. Occupying 6,100 square feet of the first floor of the Medical Sciences Library Building, LRU provides both a technically advanced, information-rich environment for independent learning and a calm harbor in the midst of the intensity of medical school. Students have access to computers with Internet connections, numerous self-instructional computer programs, binocular microscopes, basic science text and reference books, class materials and instructional audiovisual programs. Nineteen study rooms are available for individual study and group activities. Open more than 100 hours per week, LRU provides an active learning environment for students in the College of Medicine.

The Learning Resources Center is the primary study facility for third- and fourth-year medical students at the College of Medicine's Temple campus. Located in the Education Center building on the Scott & White campus, the LRC provides services that are similar to those of the Learning Resources Unit on the College Station campus. The center has a computer lab and basic medical reference books for the clinical sciences. The center is open to third- and fourth-year medical students 24/7. For additional information, visit its web site at http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/lrc.

Clinical Campus Libraries: The libraries of the Olin E. Teague Veterans Center and the Scott & White Memorial Hospital and Clinic extend library privileges to A&M System HSC medical students. The Teague library consists of a collection of 5,330 books, 600 audiovisuals and 400 current journals. The Scott & White library contains a collection of 8,960 books and more than 980 current journal subscriptions.

Texas A&M University's principal research collections, with more than 2.6 million volumes, 4.7 million microforms and 29,600 serials, are housed in the Sterling C. Evans Library at the center of the Texas A&M University campus. The Evans Library houses approximately 2,300,000 volumes, 4,600,000 microforms and 22,000 serial titles. The Educational Media Services (formerly Learning Resources) Department on the sixth floor provides audiovisual equipment and multimedia resources for student use. The computer lab provides more than 60 IBM and Macintosh computers. The library also has a Special Collection and Archives Department as well as collections of maps, documents and microtext.

The West Campus Library at Texas A&M University also is available for students in College Station. This library primarily serves the Mays Business School and certain departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Its collection is specialized to business and agriculture.