Student Organizations & Services
Dentistry Library
The mission of the Indiana University School of Dentistry Library is to provide materials and services to support the teaching, research, patient care, and community outreach activities of faculty, staff, and students. In addition, the library provides information services to IU School of Dentistry alumni, Indiana citizens, and dental health professionals around the world.
Established in 1880, the IUSD Library has volumes on dentistry as well as the basic sciences and selected medical specialties. It maintains subscriptions to approximately 450 professional print and 300 online journal titles. Its rich collection of over 14,000 books and tens of thousands of bound journal volumes, which dates to the late-1700s and is international in scope, makes it one of the premier dental libraries in existence. The collection is supplemented by automated interlibrary loan services with libraries throughout the world.
As part of the Indiana University Library System, the dental school library’s collections are included in the systemwide Web-based catalog, IUCAT. IUCAT contains the collections of all of the IU Libraries, including the Indiana University School of Medicine Ruth Lilly Medical Library, the Ruth Lilly Law Library, and University Library, all of which are conveniently located on the IUI campus. These libraries maintain extensive print and electronic resource collections in subjects ranging from anthropology to zoology and in combination with the School of Dentistry Library work cooperatively to meet the information needs of faculty, staff, and students.
In addition to the IUCAT online catalog, faculty, staff, and students have access to a number of subject-specific databases and full-text electronic resources. The National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE® database, which includes worldwide coverage of dental journal literature, is available in three versions. Other available selected databases include the Cochrane Library, Lexicomp Online for Dentistry, LexisNexis Academic, Micromedex®, Journal Citation Reports, Web of Science, Scopus, and WorldCat. Full-text E-book and E-journal resources are available through services such as Journals at Ovid, ScienceDirect, Wiley Online Library, Access Medicine®, Clinical Key, Stat!Ref®, and VisualDx. Wireless as well as wired connections are also available throughout the library for laptop and mobile users. Off-campus access to most databases and electronic resources is available through the IUI Virtual Private Network (VPN), which allows authorized users with computers in remote locations to be recognized as if they were on campus.
The library’s media collection contains interactive CD-ROMs, DVDs, slides, audiocassettes, and videotapes dealing with dentistry. They also lend non-traditional items such as anatomical models and Starsmilez dentistry puppets.
The library also houses a large collection of historic materials, focusing on the history of the Indiana University School of Dentistry and the dentistry, dental hygiene, and dental assisting professions. Digitized, searchable versions of many IUSD historical documents including Alumni Bulletins, Academic Bulletins, newsletters, and yearbooks can be searched and accessed in our eArchive. Notable archival and museum collections include the books and papers of Dr. Howard Raper, The Christen and Pronych Estate Collection and Archives of Painless Parker, DDS, and the Carol Turner Dentistry Figurine Collection.
Additional details are available on the Dental Library website.