Spotlight on John Stearne Medical Library

The John Stearne Medical Library (JSML) is located in the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences on the campus of St. James`s Hospital Dublin. Established in 1973, the JSML was relocated to its current location in 1992. In 2006, the library received extensive refurbishment to create additional space to accommodate both readers and the physical collection held here. Up to 100 readers can currently be accommodated comfortably in the reading room. It is a very open and vibrant physical space finished with wood panelling, and the vaulted glass ceiling allows lots of light to enter into the room. There are also three bookable rooms within the JSML to facilitate students who prefer to study collaboratively and work on group projects.

In term-time, the JSML is open Monday-Friday from 9am-10pm, and on Saturdays from 9.30am-1pm. It is intended to serve as the primary reading room for medical students in the latter years of their training, along with occupational, physical and radiation therapy students at all levels, and nursing students. However, all registered students and staff of Trinity College Dublin are entitled to use the Library facilities. It is also used by postgraduate students, researchers and staff of both the Trinity Centre and St. James`s Hospital throughout the year.

The clinical portion of Trinity College’s medical collection are housed at the JSML. This collection includes textbooks and journals relating to the clinical disciplines. In addition, other periodicals and textbooks in fields allied to medicine and surgery – primarily physical, occupational and radiation therapy – are also housed here. The physical collection is divided into two categories. Undergraduate students are entitled to borrow from the SJ collection, while staff and research postgraduates can borrow material from the SJR collection. Patrons can also submit requests to have materials held in offsite storage to be delivered to the library, along with inter-library loan requests.

The reading room is enabled for wireless internet connection and has a number of live points which allow access to the College Network. There are currently 6 PCs available in the reading room, 1 PC in each group study room, and 1 guest PC to allow students, hospital staff and visiting researcher’s access to the online resources available through Trinity College. The Library subscribes to a wide variety of electronic journals and databases including EMBASE.com, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, PubMed, AMED, CINAHL, BIOSIS and PsycINFO. Furthermore, the library provides access to an assistive technology computer/scanner in group study room 2. This computer is wheelchair accessible and equipped with the latest assistive technology software, including; Zoomtext™, Duxbury™, JAWS™, Kurzweil 1000™/Kurzweil 3000™, Hal™, Lunar™ and Supernova™.

Regarding future developments, we are currently making space in a section of the library by relocating some of the infrequently used or outdated items in the collection to offsite storage. When this section is emptied and the shelving has been removed completely, (subject to funding and permission) we hope to use the space to create additional group study rooms or to house more PC`s.

About the author

Jesse Waters is a 2015 graduate of the MLIS at University College Dublin, and also holds an MA in History from Mary Immaculate College. He is currently working as a library-assistant in the John Stearne Medical Library (Trinity College Dublin) on the campus of St. James`s Hospital. Previous to this role, he worked as a library-assistant at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, the James Joyce Library (University College Dublin), and volunteered in the library at Limerick School of Art and Design and the Glucksman Library (University of Limerick).