ABSTRACT
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is one of 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), located just outside Washington, DC in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. The NLM is responsible to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and to the Congress, which annually reviews its programs and appropriates funds for its operation. The institution was and continues to be a leader in applying computer technology to the handling of large databanks of medical information. This entry provides an introduction to the NLM by first discussing some of the library's history and then shifting focus to organizational structure, administration, extramural programs, as well as various other aspects of the library.
