Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§286b–6 Grants and Contracts for Establishment of Regional Medical Libraries

Title 42 › Chapter 6A— PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › Subchapter III— NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES › Part D— National Library of Medicine › Subpart 2— financial assistance › § 286b–6

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Health, after getting advice from the Board, must give grants and sign contracts with existing public or private nonprofit medical libraries so each can serve as the regional medical library for its area. Money and contracts can be used to buy books and journals; organize, catalog, and bind materials; buy equipment and duplicating machines; hire staff and set up fast delivery systems to send materials to local libraries; and plan regional services. Libraries must agree to grow and share their collections with other libraries in the region and to lend materials for free to qualified users, including providing photocopies or facsimiles that qualified requesters may keep. The Secretary will give priority to libraries best able to serve the region, based on their collections, staff, equipment, and the size and type of population served. Grants for basic resource materials cannot be more than 50% of a library’s annual operating expenses (not counting other federal aid) for the prior year, or for the first grant year, 50% of its average yearly expenses over the past three years (or a Secretary-determined amount if the library is under three years old).

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §286b–6

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary, with the advice of the Board, shall make grants to and enter into contracts with existing public or private nonprofit medical libraries so as to enable each of them to serve as the regional medical library for the geographical area in which it is located.

(b)The uses for which grants and contracts under this section may be employed include the—

(1)acquisition of books, journals, and other similar materials;

(2)cataloging, binding, and other procedures for processing library resource materials for use by those who are served by the library;

(3)acquisition of duplicating devices and other equipment to facilitate the use of the resources of the library by those who are served by it;

(4)acquisition of mechanisms and employment of personnel for the speedy transmission of materials from the regional library to local libraries in the geographic area served by the regional library; and

(5)planning for services and activities under this section.

(c)(1)Grants and contracts under this section shall only be made to or entered into with medical libraries which agree—

(A)to modify and increase their library resources, and to supplement the resources of cooperating libraries in the region, so as to be able to provide adequate supportive services to all libraries in the region as well as to individual users of library services; and

(B)to provide free loan services to qualified users and make available photoduplicated or facsimile copies of biomedical materials which qualified requesters may retain.

(2)The Secretary, in awarding grants and contracts under this section, shall give priority to medical libraries having the greatest potential of fulfilling the needs for regional medical libraries. In determining the priority to be assigned to any medical library, the Secretary shall consider—

(A)the adequacy of the library (in terms of collections, personnel, equipment, and other facilities) as a basis for a regional medical library; and

(B)the size and nature of the population to be served in the region in which the library is located.

(d)Grants and contracts under this section for basic resource materials to a library may not exceed—

(1)50 percent of the library’s annual operating expense (exclusive of Federal financial assistance under this part) for the preceding year; or

(2)in case of the first year in which the library receives a grant under this section for basic resource materials, 50 percent of its average annual operating expenses over the past three years (or if it had been in operation for less than three years, its annual operating expenses determined by the Secretary in accordance with regulations).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 286b–6

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60