Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§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 Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary, with the Board’s advice, must give grants and make contracts to existing public or private nonprofit medical libraries so they can act as the regional medical library for their area. The money can be used to buy books and journals, organize and prepare materials, buy copying and other equipment, pay for staff and systems to send materials quickly to local libraries, and plan services. Libraries getting money must agree to expand and share their collections, help other libraries in the region, lend items free to qualified users, and provide photocopies or facsimiles that requesters may keep. The Secretary will give priority to libraries best able to serve, based on collections, staff, equipment, and the population. Grants for basic materials cannot exceed 50 percent of the library’s annual operating expenses (excluding federal aid) for the previous year, or 50 percent of the average annual expenses over the past three years for first-time recipients (or an amount the Secretary sets if the library has been open less than three years).

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §286b–6

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

(a)Existing public or private nonprofit medical libraries

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)Uses for grants and contracts

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)Conditions

(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)Basic resources materials; limitation on grant or contract

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

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110