Medical Library

It is with regret that we announce that the State Medical Library, established in 1919 as part of the State Library of Iowa, was closed in March of 2010 through the state government reorganization legislation. The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa will provide to Iowans and Iowa libraries most of the services offered by the State Medical Library. The Hardin Library has an excellent staff and a large collection of medical books and journals, and the State Library very much appreciates their partnership during this transition.

State employees should continue to use the State Library’s reference services for ALL of their information requests. Click here to contact us.

The popular Web site, HealthInfoIowa, which contains links to many general and Iowa specific health information Web sites, will continue to be maintained by members of the Polk County Biomedical Consortium in cooperation with the State Library. Iowa-related materials from the State Medical Library such as the Journal of the Iowa Medical Society, the Directory of the Iowa Osteopathic Society, and materials with information about the history of medicine in Iowa will remain at the State Library.

Medical professionals, legal professionals, and other Iowans who are not state employees may contact the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences for help with medical reference questions. You may request copies of medical journal articles through interlibrary loan at your local public library, or the Hardin Library will supply copies of articles that they own for a fee. For articles that the Hardin Library does not own, contact a commercial delivery service.

Pam Rees, long-time medical librarian at the State Library, now answers questions at the general reference desk and also works on the Iowa Heritage Digital Collections digital initiative.

For more information, contact Pam Rees.