Welcome New Faculty to the Medical Research Library of Brooklyn: Using the Library

The Library has created several tutorials to assist you in finding and accessing some of our resources. It's a good idea to always start looking for resources starting from the Library's homepage. You can get to the Library homepage from the Downstate site by choosing the "Education and Training" dropdown menu at the top of the page and selecting "The Medical Research Library of Brooklyn" in the bottom-left of the dropdown menu. 

You can find a collected list of our electronic resources on our Information Resources page.

Primo, our online catalog and discovery system is where you can search for specific electronic textbooks, journals and more. This is a shared resource with SUNY, so it will also show you other libraries in the SUNY system that may have what you are looking for (and we can request from them if we don't have it).

Looking for something that the Library doesn't have? Use our Interlibrary Loan service to request the item. This service is free-of-charge for Downstate users. Requests typically take 5-7 business days.

To use Library resources from off-campus, you must have a valid Downstate email address. If you do not have a Downstate email address, please contact your department head or chair and request that they have one created for you. 

A selection of tutorials to get you started: 

• Register to use the Library 
• Interlibrary Loan - To use interlibrary loan(ILL), you must first create a user account in the ILL system. This guide will walk you through it.
• Searching PubMed
• Searching CINAHL
• Searching Web of Science
• Using EndNote - EndNote is freely provided to all Downstate users. 
• Finding Electronic books through PRIMO
• Finding Electronic Journals through Primo

As a New York state employee, you are also eligible to access resources from the New York State Library, including BioOne, JSTOR, and PsycInfo.

To access these resources, you must first register with the state library to gain remote access. Only faculty, as state employees, are elgible for database access. Students may register for state library access, but will not be able to use their databases.
Instructions for applying for access (PDF)

We have also created some subject specific resource collections for some Downstate programs:

• Evidence-based Resources
• Finding Evidence-based Information
• Research Resources
• Statistics Resources
• Clinical Resources
• Genetics Resources

Looking for information on identifying predatory journals or finding the right journal to publish in? We've got info.

• Scholarly Publishing - Open Access, Predatory journals, find the right journal to publish your work.
• SOAR - SUNY Open Access Repository
• Data Repositories - Finding datasets and places to post your datasets.
• Finding Measurement Tools 
• Creative Commons - What is creative commons licensing and how does it work?

Need help finding or using Downstate Library resources?
We're here to help!

Email us: reference@downstate.edu or use our online form.

Librarians are available

Mon-Fri from 9am to 5pm