Searching for resources
When studying at Cambridge, your starting points for finding the material you need will be Heritage (Girton Library’s catalogue) and iDiscover (the University-wide catalogue). For more information on how to get the most out of these tools, see our Library skills guides.
The libraries you are most likely to use regularly are Girton Library and the various Biological Sciences libraries. These include the Biochemistry Library, the Genetics Library, the PDN Library and the Psychology Library. Within Girton Library you will find our Medicine resources in the Lower Library, by the glazed link to the IT area. If you need something for your studies that we don’t have, please feel free to recommend it for purchase.
You may also find it helpful to visit and use the dedicated Medical Library or the Moore Library. There may be other libraries within Cambridge that stock useful resources: for a full list, see the libraries directory, where you can also check each library for access guidelines. Search Spacefinder to find places to study outside of College.
Subject LibGuides
Subject-specific resources
The LibGuides above contain many links to subject-related information and assistance, and the Biological Sciences library team have a guide to referencing on their website, along with many other useful resources. You can also find and search for databases that might help you on the Databases A-Z LibGuide (please note that you will need to be logged in to your University account to access many of these). Some helpful online resources for your subject include:
- Annual Reviews. Review articles collected by subject, including on various different areas of medicine, summarising new research. They contain bibliographies which can be helpful for further reading, along with links to full text.
- BioCyc. Collection of over twenty thousand Pathway/Genome Databases (PGDBs) for humans, eukaryotes and microbes, along with software tools for exploring them.
- bioRxiv. Online archive of unpublished preprints. Authors in the life sciences can use this to make their findings available ahead of publication.
- BNF (British National Formulary). Provides guidance on drug dosage and drug interactions from a wide range of sources. Also includes articles and webinars about topics with pharmacology and drug research.
- Embase. Resource which gives you access to up-to-date information on medical and drug-related subjects.
- PubMed. Database of over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals. Includes links to full text articles and related resources.
- Scopus. A database of abstracts and citations, covering all areas of scientific, technical and medical literature. Contains links to full-text articles and other library resources.
- Springer Nature: Biomedicine & Life Sciences eBook collection. Over two thousand books on a wide range of topics across the life sciences, written by authors working around the world. Can be searched or filtered by discipline.
- Web of Science. A multidisciplinary database of abstracts, covering journals across the sciences, social sciences and arts. Can be searched for articles that cite a known author or work.
Resources to support lab work
- Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. Community-ed journal published monthly, aiming to be a definitive source for laboratory methods and protocols. Searchable by keyword and subject and formatted consistently throughout.
- Essential Laboratory Techniques. Part of the Wiley Current Protocols (below), this series aims to collate specific techniques that will be of particular use to undergraduate students.
- JoVE Unlimited: Journal of Visual Experiments. Website that provides videos on scientific concepts and laboratory methods, in many cases organised by subject. It also has videos on research.
- Springer Nature Experiments. Collection of protocols and methods in the life sciences, which can be filtered by publication year as well as by subject.
- Wiley Current Protocols. Collection of over 25,000 up-to-date methods and overviews of all areas of medicine. Can be searched by subject or technique.
Help within college
Library staff can provide support and assistance. You can book an appointment with us or ask a question via library@girton.cam.ac.uk.
Page last updated: October 2026.