Collection Development Manual
Biological Sciences
The Library's collecting emphasis in the biological sciences is on research that probes the underlying mechanisms of human life. Biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics are central to this effort and therefore are of major importance to NLM.
Biological research on higher levels of organization including cellular processes, developmental biology, physiology and biological systems is selected if the emphasis of the work pertains to humans, to organisms related to human disease, or to species used as models for humans or comparative study. NLM also selects works on the origin of life, evolutionary processes and the interaction of humans with other organisms when they make a significant contribution to understanding the broader context of human life, health and illness.
The Library of Congress and the National Agricultural Library assume responsibility for the areas of natural history, systematics and speciation.
