The National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRCBL) is an extensive, specialized collection of materials concerned with issues in biomedical and professional ethics. It is housed at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. This collection serves as a reference library and research resource for the public and for scholars interested in biomedicine and ethics.
The NRCBL Web site provides access to many of the library’s resources and collections, including specific information about the physical collection, hours, staff, the library’s classification scheme and a special collection of materials on Jewish ethics. Other information includes links to similar Web sites, to bioethics organizations, and to information on education opportunities in bioethics. In addition, there is a Syllabus Exchange Project, which is a collection of syllabuses submitted by faculty and medical professionals who teach bioethics‐related courses. A catalog of the syllabuses is available for browsing online, and the syllabuses themselves are available for purchase through the Center. A very limited number of these syllabuses are available online. In addition, faculty or teachers can submit their own syllabuses to the project.
The NRCBL has also compiled and made available several specialized bibliographies on assisted suicide and cloning in addition to the Scope Note Series, designed to present overviews of key issues related to bioethics topics. The bibliographies and a list of the scope notes are available on the Web site. A few of the scope notes are available for free online, but most need to be purchased directly from the Center.
In addition, the NRCBL Web site also includes access to, and information on, two services or information resources with which it is affiliated: the National Information Resource on Ethics & Human Genetics and BIOETHICSLINE. The National Information Resource on Ethics & Human Genetics provides specialized services through the NRCBL and maintains the Ethics & Human Genetics Database, an index to ethics and human genetics material. BIOETHICSLINE is a database available for free via the National Library of Medicine’s Internet Grateful Med. This database is produced by the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and indexes a wide range of materials on bioethics, biomedicine, genetics and similar subjects. These two databases provide comprehensive coverage of materials in biomedicine and ethics.
Altogether, the site has a simple layout and design with very few images. It loads quickly and is easily accessible through a wide‐range of browsers, including text‐based browsers. Navigation is relatively easy as well; simply click on links to move around the site. It was somewhat confusing, however, to distinguish between the different organizations and resources, such as the NRCBL versus BIOETHICSLINE versus the National Information Resource on Ethics & Human Genetics. All of these resources are affiliated with, or created by, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, but they seem to all be individual entities. It was difficult separating them from each other, especially on the NRCBL Web site, because links jump from one entity to another. For example, on the main NRCBL page, clicking on “Ethics and Human Genetics” goes directly to the National Information Resource on Ethics & Human Genetics site. This could be disorienting to a user who is trying to locate materials and needs to determine where to start looking.
Overall, however, the NRCBL Web site is a helpful resource. It provides relatively easy access to a large collection of materials in bioethics and ethics literature, especially when used with the two databases accessible through the site, BIOETHICSLINE and the Ethics & Human Genetics database. In addition, the other services, such as the syllabus collection, the specialized bibliographies, and the scope notes, are unique and valuable resources for researchers, educators and students. Because of all these unique services and its large, specialized collection, the NRCBL Web site is quite distinctive. There are no other Web‐based or commercial resources that match, or significantly overlap, the materials available through the NRCBL. This alone makes it a very useful site for any user interested in bioethics. Highly recommended for all academic libraries.
