About the library
Located on the main campus at Georgetown University, the Bioethics Research Library is home to more than 31,000 books and hundreds of journals, archival materials, and digital objects, including the writings by many of the founders of the field of bioethics. Its collections cover a wide range of religious, political and cultural perspectives on bioethical subjects, including health, the environment, and emerging technologies.
Historically, the Ethics Library was established at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (KIE) in 1973 with funding from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation to support research projects at the Institute. In 1985 the library was awarded a competitive five-year grant by the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health to become the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature. The original grant was extended for three years, and eventually converted to an NLM contract that continued through 2009. In 2010 the Center was renamed the Bioethics Research Library.