Health Sciences Library

The Health Sciences Library supports the patient care, education and research needs of Lurie Children's medical and hospital staff by providing an up-to-date, authoritative collection of books, periodicals, audiovisual materials and electronic resources. The library staff is dedicated to serving the hospital's medical and hospital staff with professional expertise and personal assistance.

Electronic Journals:

Who Can Use the Library

All hospital employees, house staff and attending physicians have full library privileges. A current Lurie Children's or Northwestern University ID is necessary for library registration. Medical school and allied health students and non-hospital residents on rotation at Lurie Children's must have the appropriate department director or division head approve borrowing privileges.

Library Collection

The library's collection of over 30,000 items comprised of books, journals, audiovisual materials and online journals emphasizes pediatrics and pediatric subspecialties that are offered at the hospital. Materials support the hospital staff in clinical decision-making, education, research, management and child advocacy. The online public access catalog for the library is included in the catalog of all Northwestern University libraries, NUCat.

Access to selection of electronic resources and journals and the Health Smart Library can be found at Galter Library. Expanded and off-campus access is available only to attending physicians, residents and fellows who are registered for the proxy server.

Databases

Access to the electronic databases listed below is accessible through any hospital-network computer and through the Galter Library. Expanded and off-campus online access to Galter Health Sciences Library is restricted to medical school faculty, residents, and fellows.

  • Medline: via PubMed or OVID Medline - extensive coverage of medical journal literature, 1950 - present
  • Clinical Evidence:Full-text book on best evidence
  • CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, 1982 to present
  • Health & Psychosocial Instruments: Information on measurements instruments, scales, tests etc.
  • PsycINFO: Psychological Abstracts, journal articles, books and these, 1806 – present
  • Clineguide: Clinical-decision support
  • Mental Measurements Yearbook: Reviews and ordering information for standardized tests
  • Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and three other EBM databases
  • AMED: Allied & Complementary Medicine – journal articles and books
  • MD Consult: Full-text access to medical books, journals, a drug database, practice guidelines, patient education in English and in Spanish, medical news, drug updates and CME.
  • Nursing Consult: Books, journals, EBN, drugs, patient education, guidelines, clinical updates
  • Proquest Database: Journal database, some full-text, includes full-text of selected theses

Borrowing Policy

Books and audiovisual material circulate for two weeks and bound journals overnight. Unbound periodicals do not circulate.

Reserve and reference materials do not circulate.

Services

Overdue Charges & Fines

The date that an item is due is stamped on a card found inside the back cover of that item. A 25-cents-per-day fine is charged for overdue materials. If overdue material is returned and the fine is left outstanding, all library privileges will be suspended until the fine is paid. When the material is returned and the fine paid, it must be placed on the shelf for 24 hours before being checked out again by the same patron.

Notification of Overdue Materials

A first notice will be sent to you two days after the material is due. A second notice will be sent two weeks after the material is due. It will inform the patron of the loss of library privileges (including circulation, interlibrary loan, and literature searches) until the material is returned and all fines are paid. The third and final notice will be sent four weeks after the material is due. A copy of this notice is sent to the patron's administrative head/chairperson

Lost or Destroyed Materials

Borrowers must pay the replacement costs for lost or destroyed material. The borrower will be charged the cost of the material plus a $10 processing charge. Fines on lost or destroyed material must also be paid in full.