At a glance
- Numerous programs and organizations help state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments and CDC assignees gain access to libraries' resources and scholarly journals.
- Access the resources by following these links.
Resources for state, tribal, local, and territorial public health agencies
Staff at state, tribal, local and territorial (STLT) public health agencies have several options for obtaining library resources. Most of the options listed below are available at no cost.
CDC Library access for CDC assignees
CDC assignees working at STLT public health agencies can access resources from the CDC Library. CDC login credentials can be used to log into the CDC intranet. This includes CDC assignees such as Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, Public Health Associate Program fellows, and Career Epidemiology Field Officers.
DART Pilot Project
The Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library has collaborated with the CDC Foundation, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials to pilot the project, Delivering Access to Resources Today (DART).
DART is designed to provide free peer-reviewed publications for local and state health departments that are having difficulty in obtaining necessary material for local public health prevention activities.
Sign up today!
Digital resources
NLM Public Health Digital Library
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Public Health Digital Library (PHDL) provides access to e-journals, e-books, and databases on an annual fee basis. State and local health departments are eligible to participate. They must have a partner library that provides articles to users when the article is not part of the PHDL collection.
Public access to government-funded research
U.S. government agencies have online resources for scientific articles and reports. That complies with the requirements to increase public access to government-funded research. Here is a selection of a few such sources:
- CDC Stacks
- National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine (NLM), PubMed Central
- Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library
- Department of Defense, Defense Technical Information Center
- Department of Education, Education Resources Information Center
- Department of Transportation, National Transportation Library (NTL) Repository and Open Science Access Portal (ROSA P)
- Environmental Protection Agency, Science Inventory
State and academic libraries
Many states have libraries that serve state agency employees. Access to public health literature will vary across states, and turnaround time will vary. Here are a few examples of state libraries offering access to state employees:
- Georgia
- Georgia Public Library Services
- Georgia residents can access for free even if they aren't affiliated with a school or public library that has access.
- Users must apply for a PINES card & set up a password.
- Georgia residents can access for free even if they aren't affiliated with a school or public library that has access.
- Galileo: Georgia's Virtual Library
- Georgia Public Library Services
- Louisiana
- Ohio
- Vermont
In addition, STLT public health agency staff who serve as faculty can access library resources at their academic libraries.
Emergency access to resources
Information resources usually have a fee; however, many resources are generally available for researchers during emergencies.
- NLM's Emergency Access Initiative can be activated following a disaster to offer information resources to individuals in areas affected by the disaster.
- The Public Health Emergency COVID-19 Initiative made articles freely available via PubMed Central.
- Relief Central offers resources, including the CDC Yellow Book.