Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia Table of Contents - Preface/Acknowledgements - Abbreviations Lists of Entries: District of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia

Georgetown University
Kennedy Institute of Ethics, National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature

Access Policies

Hours beyond Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., are offered only during the academic year. Please call to confirm hours. Document delivery items must be prepaid; please call for prices in advance.

Reference Policy:

Telephone and mail inquiries are accepted

Borrowing Privileges:

Not a lending institution.

Networks/Consortia:

OCLC, CAPCON. The Center developed and maintains BIOETHICSLINE under contract with the National Library of Medicine.

Background Note:

The Library was founded in 1973 with support from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation. Currently the Library operates with contract support from the National Library of Medicine, grant support from the National Center for Human Genome Research, NIH, and other private and federal support.

Description of Collections

Books and monographs:

Over 2,000 books in this collection have religious content. Publications date primarily from 1973 to the present. Subject emphases include bioethics, medical ethics, genetics, human experimentation, and death and dying. The Center collects material on the ethical, legal, social, and religious aspects of these topics. Two collections of special note are the Kampelman Collection of Jewish Ethics and the Shriver Collection of Christian Ethics. The Kampelman Collection is wide-ranging and is not limited to Jewish bioethics.

The collection of books and articles is almost completely covered by the computer catalog (1988 to present). The card catalog covers books from 1973-1991.

Videos and Sound Recordings:

Seven videotapes released 1983 to present. This collection is covered by the Film database.

Vertical files:

3,000 documents, primarily from 1973 to the present covering the religious aspects of bioethics.

Databases, CD-ROMS, and other machine-readable sources:

BIOETHICSLINE on CD-ROM (Silver Platter, Ovid) contains information on religious aspects of bioethics.

Subject Headings

Bibliography

Walters, L. Bibliography of Bioethics. Imprint varies: Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1975-1980; New York, NY: Free Press, 1981-1983, Washington, DC: Kennedy Institute of Ethics, 1984-.

Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. Scope Note Series. Washington, DC: The Institute, 1982-.