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What should I know about phrasing my searches?

How can I filter my search results?

How do I request materials?

Click on the Get It button at right, to be connected to the LocatorPlus Catalog, where you can create an account and sign in to request boxes for delivery to the Reading Room.
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Collection Get It view example in LocatorPlus:
get it example
For more information about LocatorPlus, please consult LocatorPlus Catalog Help.

For items that are not available for immediate circulation, please contact the onsite reference librarian or the NLM Support Center for status information or other options.

unavailable request

Collections stored offsite require 30 days prior notice for retrieval. Retrievals are made the last Friday of the month. Contact the NLM Support Center for scheduling.

Does this website include all the materials in the archives?

This website does not include all the materials held in the P&P, HAV, or AMMP collecting areas. Some collections are unprocessed, and therefore no online finding aid is available. Brief records for most AMMP unprocessed collections are available here.

See the AMMP, P&P, and HAV websites for more information, or search LocatorPlus.

Glossary of terms and symbols

Archives are materials created or received by a person or organization in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value of the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator.

Collections are groups of materials assembled by a person, family, organization, or repository. They can be divided hierarchically into series, groupings, and files.

Digital records are born-digital and digitized materials that are available online.

Finding aids allow users to discover, understand, and access the materials. Finding aids describe the creation, arrangement, content, and context of collections. Most finding aids on this website contain descriptions on collection-level (also known as fonds-level). These descriptions give you the most general overview of the collection or archive. You can find this in the Collection Overview. Click Expand all to see the whole collection overview. Some finding aids on this website will also contain a hierarchical structure with item-level descriptions. Click Finding Aid View to scroll through the items.

Name records are the people, families, and organizations that create collections. On this website, users can view name records to see all of the materials created by a person, family, or organization.

Subject records are topics, places, and genres used to describe the context and content of the materials. On this website, users can view a subject record to see all of the collections relating to that topic, place, or genre.


Request icon
Use the Get It button to place a request for the selected material. For more information about requesting material, see the requesting materials section above.


Preferred citation
Use the Citation button to generate a formatted citation for the material you are viewing. Citations can be generated at all levels of a finding aid, including at the folder or item level. Consult the citation style for your academic discipline.


Download PDF icon
Use the Print button to access a fully formatted PDF of a finding aid.

What if I have questions? Where should I go for help?

Please connect with NLM via the NLM Support Center.