Texas Medical Center Library
The Texas Medical Center Library (TMC Library) serves as the accredited library for several Texas Medical Center institutions and is the primary library for UTHealth Houston faculty and students. The Library is also home to the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center, consisting of rare books ranging from the 1500s to the early 20th century, and collections on the history of the TMC, foundations of medicine, rheumatology, public health, psychiatry, and the effects of radiation. The mission of the library is to bring together resources, information, and professional expertise to provide innovative support for the acquisition, management, and delivery of biomedical knowledge to the institutions of the Texas Medical Center.
Currently, the library subscribes to over 300 electronic databases, over 77,000 electronic journals, and over 1 million e-books, which are available through the library’s website through a single sign on process using UTHealth Houston electronic credentials. Major subscription databases include Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports, Clinical Key, Psychiatry Online, Access Medicine, CINAHL, and VisualDX. The library also provides extensive access to curated content by subject area in its Research LibGuides. The TMC Library also provides the online institutional repository service Digital Commons@TMC to share, publish, and preserve scholarly work, including locally managed open access journals and theses and dissertations. Library resources and services are available to all UTHealth Houston students, other trainees, faculty, and staff.
The library occupies nearly 40,000 square feet of renovated space in the Jesse Jones Library Building, adjacent to McGovern Medical School and within close proximity to the other UTHealth schools. The library is open seven days, 89 hours per week. The library facilities include group and individual study spaces, the One Button Recording studio for presentation practice and high-quality recording creation, and a Reflection Space for private meditation, prayer, or sensory breaks. Library laptops may be borrowed for on-site use and are equipped with Microsoft Office applications, and Wi-Fi access is available throughout the library.
Liaison librarians are available to answer library-related questions, provide instruction regarding access to library resources, assist with literature search strategies, and teach classes on database and literature searching, citation management, evidence-based practice, and systematic reviews. Liaison Librarians are available through the virtual Ask Us – Ask A Librarian page, also host office hours scheduled in collaboration with the UTHealth Houston schools, and have developed a series of tutorials on basic and advanced PubMed, Getting to Full Text, Introduction to RefWorks, and Searching the Literature in Embase. To see all tutorials available, visit the library’s YouTube channel here.
The TMC Library offers Librarian Consultations by appointment, one-on-one or in a small group, to help students with their research topics, including systematic review projects, and individualized assistance with TMC Library resources. To request a consultation with a Librarian, complete the request form located here.
Research LibGuides are online webpages created by the TMC Library to help students choose the best library resources to do their research. The library has 42 Research LibGuides on different subjects such as resources for McGovern Medical School and the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, Medical Humanities, RefWorks, Systematic Reviews, eBooks at the TMC Library, and many more.
For a complete list of topics, visit LibGuides here.
Additional Student Services are listed on the TMC Library website.