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Welcome to NLM!

Join us as we introduce you to the center of biomedical informatics and computational biology at NIH and the world’s largest biomedical library!

Welcome to the fascinating world of the National Library of Medicine (NLM)! NLM is not your typical library; we curate the world’s richest collections of historical material from the 11th century to the most cutting-edge data of the 21st century. The oldest item in the collection—an Arabic manuscript on digestive diseases—dates back to 1094.

NLM pioneers open science and data science initiatives to collect, organize, and disseminate the world’s health information. We serve researchers, publishers, librarians, educators/trainers, healthcare professionals, and members of the public.

NLM has both an Intramural Research Program (IRP) and Extramural Programs (EP). IRP develops and applies computational approaches to a broad range of problems in biomedicine, molecular biology, and health. It also provides training and research opportunities for future computational health and bioinformatics leaders. EP offers grants for research projects and research training in biomedical informatics and data science.

NLM’s open science tools and resources enable clinical testing labs, researchers, and citizen science to engage communities in addressing societal needs and accelerating biomedical science, technology, and innovation.

Enjoy exploring some of what the library has to offer. Meet our researchers, get familiar with our outreach programs, and revisit some of our most memorable exhibitions. Explore our popular tools like ClinicalTrials.gov which lists more than 375,000 research studies from all 50 states and 220 countries and PubMed with more than 36 million citations for biomedical literature which are accessed 15 million times every day.

Questions for NLM? Contact us at NLMCommunications@nlm.nih.gov.

NLM Offerings and Resources

NLM Intramural Research Program

The NLM Intramural Research Program directs its efforts toward two broad areas of computational biomedical sciences: 1) computational biology, using biological data to advance algorithms and models to better comprehend biological systems and to connect relationships between any level of biological organization – chemical, molecular, cellular, organ, individual, or population; and 2) computational health sciences, focusing on clinical information processing, including new computational methods for clinical data and health data standards. NLM’s research is driven by Principal Investigators in the Computational Biology Branch of the NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information and in the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, under the leadership of NLM’s Scientific Director.

Visit NLM's YouTube channel and explore the Library's exciting research!

ClinicalTrials.gov

ClinicalTrials.gov is a database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world.

Extramural Programs

The Extramural Programs (EP) Division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers grants for research projects and research training in biomedical informatics and data science.

History of Medicine Division

NLM's History of Medicine Division collects, preserves, makes available, and interprets for diverse audiences one of the world's richest collections of historical material related to human health and disease.

Stay up to date on History of Medicine Division news and updates by reading the Circulating Now blog.

NLM exhibitions feature stories about history, society, and medicine drawn from the world-renowned collections of the NLM. Topics include history of lead poisoning in America, the yellow fever epidemic in 1793 in Philadelphia, African American surgeons, the history of women physicians, among others. Discover something new about the past!

Take time to view HMD's fascinating playlists on the NLM YouTube channel. Please note that some digitized films made available by the NLM may contain material that some viewers may find to be challenging, disturbing or offensive. Viewer discretion is advised.

MedlinePlus

MedlinePlus is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Our mission is to present high-quality, relevant health and wellness information that is trusted, easy to understand, and free of advertising, in both English and Spanish. Anywhere, anytime, on any device—for free.

MedlinePlus Connect

MedlinePlus Connect is a free service from NLM. This service allows health organizations and health IT providers to link patient portals and electronic health record (EHR) systems to MedlinePlus.

NIH MedlinePlus Magazine

The NIH MedlinePlus Magazine is a quarterly publication that is produced in collaboration with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Magazine highlights the scientific research of NIH intramural and extramural investigators, bringing knowledge of NIH and this vital information to the attention of the global public.

NLM Outreach

NLM conducts much of its outreach in partnership with other libraries and community organizations across the nation. NLM supports many of its health information outreach projects through the Network of the National Library of Medicine.

Explore the NLM YouTube channel and this Outreach playlist to learn about NLM-funded outreach programs!

PubMed

PubMed is a free database supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature. It is the most heavily used biomedical literature database in the world.