Bioethics Research Library: Bioethics Resources

Bioethics Research Library (BRL)

Founded in 1974, the Bioethics Research Library provides students and scholars with the world’s largest and most diverse collection of materials on the ethics of health, the environment, and emerging technologies. In addition to books and journals, the BRL holds a number of collections that represent areas of special interest. 

  BRL Special Collections

• Max M. and Marjorie B. Kampelman Collection of Jewish Ethics

• Bioethics Film Collection

• Bioethics Audio Visual Collection

• Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Collection on Women, Infants and Children

• Shigeo Morioka Asian Bioethics Collection

• Shriver Collection of Christian Ethics

• Islamic Scientific and Medical Ethics

Launch your Research

Use the BRL reference request form below to start a conversation with our reference team. The Bioethics Research Library will respond to reference requests in the order they are received. We look forward to working with you!

The BRL Archives are open for use by all Georgetown students, faculty and staff as well as independent researchers who are unaffiliated with Georgetown. All researchers will need to register for a user account in the Aeon Request Management System and will be expected to follow the use policies set forth by the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. Our collections are accessible by appointment at the Booth Center on the 5th floor of Georgetown's Lauinger Library.

In addition to in-person access to our physical collections, some digital materials from our collections are available online via DigitalGeorgetown.

Bioethics Literature and Resources

Publications and Materials of the Bioethics Research Library

Archive and Special Collections (including US Bioethics Commissions)

Collected Works of Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino

Researchers interested in BRL Archives holdings are encouraged to contact us at the outset of their project to ensure all relevant materials are identified. Additionally, we have produced guides to our collections (also known as “finding aids”) to assist researchers in identifying relevant materials. 

These finding aids include summary information on collections, including date coverage, physical extent, and references to people or subjects that are the primary focus of the collection. Many guides also include inventories to collections at the folder or box-level. 

Once you locate an item, please make note of its box and folder number so that you may request the item through Aeon, our online request system.  All researchers will also need to register through Aeon to utilize our reading room.

In addition to our collection guides, born-digital and digitized materials, such as reports and oral histories, are accessible via DigitalGeorgetown.

For more information about how to access archival resources see: Bioethics Research Library Archives