Frequently Asked Questions

The library is situated in the building of 'Onderwijs en Navorsing 1' on the Campus of the University Hospitals of Louvain (Gasthuisberg), at the outside of the Leuven ringway More info.

There are parking facilities at the main entrance of the University Hospital of Gasthuisberg

Please consult the page with the opening hours.

The library is freely accessible to everyone, without registration and is free of charge.

No, but in exchange of a deposit fee of one euro, you receive the key of one of the lockers in the cloak-room.

Copy cards can be bought at the information desk on the fourth floor. You can consult the price list.

There are three copiers in the first reading room on the fourth floor (one copier with automatic feeder is situated next to the information desk.

The lavatories are outside the library. In the main entrance hall (Onderwijs en Navorsing 1) you will find the necessary signposts (passage Pentalfa Auditorium). Sanitary facilities for disabled persons are also situated outside the library (same floor), in the Building 'Centraal Dienstengebouw' (CDG), at about 80 meters from the library entrance. More information can be obtained at the information desk.

The library organises information sessions.Please contact the information desk for appointments (Tel. 016/34.61.05 or email mgas@bib.kuleuven.be).

When finding a document via Limo, you can see the address of the library by clicking on the icon next to the name (if you are on the document level). You can also look up the addresses of the different libraries on the home page of the University Library.

You can surf wireless at most locations in the reading rooms (third and fourth floor). Portable computers or other wireless appliances need a 802.11b or 802.11g compatible network card. When you start the webbrowser, you usually will get automatically the login-page (with normal settings of the network card).
If not, you will have to enter the address manually: https://netlogin.kuleuven.be. Staff members and students of the Catholic University of Louvain have to use their Central KU Leuven Login; other persons can order a Password for one day at the information desk.

Articles which are present at the Campus Library of Biomedical Sciences can always be searched, copied (scanned) and sent. Staff members with full authorization of their department can use the electronic request form.
Private individuals and commercial firms who wish to order an article have to address their requests to mgas@bib.kuleuven.be (with mention of references, postal address, invoice-address and - if applicable - a VAT-number) and the document will be sent to them at the current rate of national interlibrary lending cost prices (by post: 9 euro per article up to 30 pages - express delivery/fax: 15 euro per article up to 30 pages). The invoice will be sent afterwards.

Staff members who appear on the authorization list of their department can use the electronic request form for document delivery (at the bottom of the document, you can mark the checkboxes if you wish the article to be ordered elsewhere).
All other library users can order documents at the information desk. Advance payment of 10 euro is charged ). The complete price list is available at the information desk. All other forms of requesting documents (via fax, letter or e-mail) are no longer accepted.

Consult Limo.. If the book is available, you will see 'KULeuven Biomedische Bib' mentioned in the Locations. Click on the link and you will see the call number of the book.

The dissertations can be searched for via Limo. Note down the call number. The dissertations are placed on the shelves in the book section (3th floor). They can be consulted but not borrowed.

If you want to obtain full information on the availability of a biomedical journal (availability of the hardcopy, online access), you should preferably Limo.
In PubMed and other bibliographical databases the LibriLinks button - -will appear when choosing the AbstractPlus-format. They will guide you to the online access or to the availability of the hardcopy on the shelves.

The PubMed database can be consulted from 1950/1951 onwards. The library owns also volumes of the (Cumulative) Index Medicus in a closed depot. You can consult this hardcopy publication from 1927 onwards. Please ask for more information at the information desk.
You may also look in internet search engines as Google Scholar, Scirus or even in some online archives like PubMed Central.

Consult the thematic overview of the databases by discipline.

PubMed is a collection of databases, of which MEDLINE is the most important component containing approximately 5000 journals. MEDLINE records can be distinguished in PubMed because these records all have MeSH-terms (keywords). In other words, if you search in PubMed via MeSH you are searching in fact only in MEDLINE. More info.

You will find the most practical and concise overview in the MeSH-database of PubMed. A complete overview with FAQ-sheets and a MeSH-browser can be found on the website of the US National Library of Medicine.

The Web of Knowledge (WoK) is the platform on which a number of important databases of the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) are presented : Web of Science, Biosis, Journal Citation Reports (impact factors) and Inspec.

If you are interested only in the electronic version of an article from a biomedical journal you should preferably consult the E-journals database.

Yes, we try to offer access to the fulltext as often as possible. When using the correct internet address of PubMed the LibriLinks button - - will appear when choosing the AbstractPlus-format. They will guide you to the online access or to the availability of the hardcopy on the shelves.

Most e-journals are offered via site licence. This means that access is limited to the personal computers connected to the KULeuven network (Campusnet, University Hospitals and KULeuven Proxy Server included). A minor part of the journals can be accessed with a login. Usernames and passwords are not made public. You can consult these passwords using LibriLinks.

Please signal the problem directly to mgas@bib.kuleuven.be.

The most comprehensive list is available on a website of the Mulford library. Most journals also have an information page on their home page.

The database with impact factors is officially called 'Journal Citation Reports (JCR)' and can be found via the Web of Knowledge website.

Many of the electronic journals and databases available on the libraries web site are restricted because of publisher requirements: you may only view them if you are connecting from a KULeuven internet address.
A service (proxy server) is provided that allows KULeuven students, staff and faculty with external internet connections to use these restricted resources. The proxy server is a piece of software that sits between your web browser and the library server. Its main purpose is to control user access to specific websites; the server will allow only authorized users to access licensed library electronic resources located at certain websites. More information can be found on this page of ICTS.

The service is restricted to KULeuven students, staff and faculty from KU Leuven and the University Hospitals..

The remote access with the Proxy Server is a service of ICTS. Y ou can signal problems to their Service desk. The Campus Library of Biomedical Sciences and the University Library only are the partners in offering the electronic sources, like e-journals, e-books and databases.