Federal Library of Medicine
| Federal Library of Medicine | |
 The main building of the BFM in Vida Science Park. | |
| Type | National medical library |
|---|---|
| Scope | Medicine and the related sciences |
| Established | 1692 AN |
| Location | Vida Science Park, Cárdenas |
| Country/region | Nouvelle Alexandrie |
| Branch of | National Health Institute |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Books, journals, technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, photographs, images |
| Size | Over 8 million documents |
| Access and use | |
| Access requirements | Free, open access online |
The Federal Library of Medicine (Alexandrian: Bibliothèque Fédérale de Médecine; Martino: Biblioteca Federal de Medicina, BFM) is the national medical library of Nouvelle Alexandrie, located in the federal capital, Cárdenas. It is operated by the National Health Institute (NHI) alongside the institute's fifteen Centers of Expertise, and holds collections of books, journals, technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, photographs, and images covering medicine and the related sciences.
Although it is physically located in Vida Science Park, most use of the BFM comes through its free, open-access website and public databanks.
History
The BFM was established in 1692 AN through the unification of the Aldurian National Medical Library and the Wechua Library of Medicine, consolidating their separate collections into a single facility in Vida Science Park. It has since accumulated over 8 million documents on medicine and the related sciences.
In 1708 AN, the BFM launched BibSalud, a free, open-access database of references and abstracts on the life sciences and biomedical topics. It has expanded the database and its software over the following decades, adding comprehensive search functions in 1720 AN, the free registration service MiBibSalud in 1722 AN, the BibVista commenting feature in 1728 AN, and the AI research tool SalAI in 1746 AN.
In 1718 AN, the BFM opened the Federal Biotechnology Library (BFB), a database covering biotechnology and biomedicine, in conjunction with the National Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. Its major databases cover nucleotides, proteins, genes, and genomes, though the National Human Genome Database is held at the Federal Center for the Human Genome. In 1730 AN, the BFB introduced the Bioinformatic Search Tool for comparing primary biological sequence information, which has since supported research in proteomics and genetics.
In 1736 AN, the BFM established the Toxicology Data Network in conjunction with the Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and Toxicology, a database consolidating toxicological research and literature dating as far back as 1650 AN. It supports the cataloguing and identification of hazardous substances for human exposure, industrial safety, and environmental protection.
In 1738 AN, the Frontera Program allocated about NAX€150 million to the BFM to modernise and upgrade its facilities. The funding created new data clusters to improve redundancy and supported a digitalisation program that reduced the library's reliance on physical media.
Informational sources
From its founding in 1692 AN, the BFM published the monthly Medical Index, a guide to medical articles. It was replaced by the digital BibSalud in 1708 AN, though the more than ten million article references and abstracts from the Index remain freely available through BibSalud.
BibSalud
BibSalud (a portmanteau of 'Biblioteca de Salud') is the main database of the BFM, offering free, open-access material from academic journals, books, and manuscripts covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care. It also covers much of the literature in biology and biochemistry. At first it drew only on post-Proclamation sources; in 1738 AN it added Aldurian and Wechua material, along with Alexandrian and Caputian sources dating as far back as 1500 AN.
MiBibSalud is a free-registration service that lets researchers and academics link and share full-text local journal holdings. It also provides tools for search and reference saving, search filtering, automatic e-mail updates, and public profiles for professionals.
BibVista (a portmanteau of 'Biblio Vistas') is a limited-access commenting service that lets authors update and expand their work with new data, related references, or alternative interpretations, and issue notices of corrections and retractions.
SalAI (a portmanteau of 'Salud AI') is an AI research tool offering search, literature analysis, and automated summarisation. It was introduced in 1746 AN in collaboration with the National Center for High-Performance Computing, and has since helped researchers and authors produce research overviews and summaries of key findings for academic reference.
Federal Biotechnology Library
The BFB is a national database of free, open-access material from academic journals, books, and manuscripts covering biotechnology, biomedicine, and bioinformatics. It offers four dedicated databases:
- Nucleotide Database
- Protein Database
- Genome Database
- Gene Database
It also includes the Sequencing Database, a public repository for DNA data generated by high-throughput sequencing.
The BFB uses a search tool called HBI, which applies heuristic algorithms to compare nucleotide and protein sequences against the BFB databases. It has four modes:
- HBIn, which compares nucleotide sequences.
- HBIp, which compares protein sequences.
- HBIx, which compares translated nucleotide sequences against protein sequences.
- HBIt, which compares protein sequences against translated nucleotide sequences.
Toxicology Data Network
The Toxicology Data Network (RDT) is a database focused on potentially hazardous chemicals, covering human exposure, industrial hygiene, emergency handling, environmental impact, regulatory requirements, and related areas. It draws on data spanning chemicals and drugs, environmental and occupational health and safety, poisoning, risk assessment and regulation, and toxicology, and comprises:
- Hazardous Substances Databank, with toxicology data for over 5,000 hazardous chemicals.
- BibTox (a portmanteau of 'Biblioteca de Toxicología'), holding references on the biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, and toxicological effects of medicines and other chemicals.
- IDQuím (a portmanteau of 'ID Química'), a reference index of over 400,000 chemicals, including names, synonyms, and structures.
- MAPATOX (a portmanteau of 'Mapa Toxicológico'), a geographic information system for visualising toxicological data and remediation efforts across Nouvelle Alexandrie.
- Comparative Toxicogenomics Databank, curating data on the relationships between chemicals, medicines, genes and proteins, diseases, taxa, and phenotypes.
Research
Alongside compiling and curating medical literature, the BFM provides extramural grants for research in medical information science and for the use of information and telecommunications technology in medical institutions; in 1740 AN this funding stood at NAX€45 million a year. Its intramural research budget, about NAX€140 million a year, supports curating public databases, conducting research in computational biology, developing software tools for analysing molecular and genomic data, and disseminating biomedical information.
Organisation
The BFM is overseen by the National Health Institute. It is led by a Director, appointed by the NHI and approved by the Department of Social Security and National Solidarity. The library is organised into two service departments and five library divisions:
- Director
- Deputy Director for Policy and Public Affairs
- Office of Administration
- Administrative Management Branch
- Financial Management Branch
- Office of Administration
- Deputy Director for Operations and Innovation
- Office of Systems
- Applications Branch
- Medical Language Branch
- Systems Technology Branch
- Office of Strategic Planning
- Office of Systems
- Scientific Director
- Intramural Research Division
- Computational Health Research Branch
- Computational Biology Branch
- Extramural Programs Division
- Grants Management Office
- Program Office
- User Services Division
- Health Research Information Branch
- Curation Branch
- Public Engagement Branch
- Health Data Standards Branch
- Federal Biotechnology Library
- Information Engineering Branch
- Information Resources Branch
- Biomedical Communications Branch
- Applied Clinical Informatics Branch
- Scientific Computing Branch
- Intramural Research Division
- Deputy Director for Policy and Public Affairs
The BFM also has two advisory bodies made up of national and international experts:
- Scientific Advisory Council
- Ethics & Information Technology Council
