Ask Us
The information desk staff at the Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library can help you with:
- Locating books, articles, and other TMU Library resources
- Questions about what’s available through the library and how to access it
- Borrowing items from other libraries
- Scanning and wireless printing
- Booking a group study room
- Connecting with the on-call Reference Assistance team member (Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
- Borrowing, renewing, and returning items
- Supplies or equipment borrowing
Reference & Research Assistance
Support is available in the following ways:
In-Person Reference Assistance
Stop by the Medical Library Monday to Friday between 10 and 4 pm to ask questions about accessing or using medical information resources and the reference team member on call that day will assist you. They can also get you started on a preliminary search in an academic database (such as PubMed) or help you start a general literature search in an academic database or help you find resources.
Email Reference Assistance
Email medlibrary@torontomu.ca for assistance with accessing or using medical information resources. A member of the Medical Library team will respond to your inquiry.
Research Help Appointments
Book a one-on-one appointment with a medical librarian for support with:
- Developing and refining research questions
- Searching academic databases (e.g., PubMed)
- Using controlled vocabulary (e.g., MeSH) and advanced search techniques
- Evaluating sources for credibility, relevance, and bias
- Managing citations and using tools like Zotero
- Advising on publishing, journal selection, and open access
- Documenting search strategies
- Supporting equity-informed research and inclusive resource use
- And more!
Appointments are available during scheduled office hours. You can also email a librarian with your availability to coordinate a meeting at an alternative time.
Victoria James is available at victoria.james@torontomu.ca and offers bookable office hours.
Melissa Helwig is available at melissah@torontomu.ca and offers bookable office hours.
Subject Research Guides
The Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library provides research guides to support the School of Medicine’s curriculum and research activities. Developed by library staff, these guides offer a jumping-off point for accessing relevant databases, journals, clinical tools, and publicly available resources. Guides are updated regularly, and new topics are added as needed. They are intended to support learners, faculty, and staff in their academic and research work.
To request a guide or suggest a topic, contact the Medical Library team at medlibrary@torontomu.ca
Instruction
The Bikram S. Dhillon and Family Medical Library provides instructional sessions on medical research as well as research as it applies to specific areas of medicine as requested by faculty and instructors. We also contribute to general instruction sessions provided through TMU Libraries and can be found in the TMU Libraries Events Calendar. To view Medical Library specific events, please use this link.