Get Help

Research Services

Research philosophy

As School of Medicine Library (SOML) faculty, we share the university’s and Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV’s goals and contribute to the fulfillment of their mission in the areas of instruction, research, and service. We undertake research and produce scholarship in our areas of expertise and are partners in the scholarly enterprise of the school of medicine. 

We define research as the creation of knowledge through curiosity, discovery, and synthesis to generate new concepts and methodologies that further our understanding of others and the world around us.

We encourage research that values reflection, critical inquiry, and the understanding that other ways of knowing and being are valid and important.

Research services

SOML faculty can assist and partner with members of the school of medicine in various research and scholarship endeavors. Accepting project partnerships  is up to the discretion of the library faculty member.

SOML faculty and staff do not create and conduct searches or retrieve and deliver articles on behalf of individuals or research groups. We are happy to trouble-shoot hard-to-find articles and educate on how to build and conduct searches using our resources.

Please note that the School of Medicine Library does not have a systematic review service. When it comes to systematic reviews or other evidence synthesis projects, librarians can provide guidance on best-practices and resources or tools to get you started.

Library consultations

Library consultations are an opportunity to engage in conversation with library faculty on topics related to research, scholarship, or partnering with the library. These meetings provide an opportunity to ask multiple questions and gain in-depth, advanced help as you learn about library resources, best practices, and methodologies to support your projects.

At UNLV, Library faculty are considered educators and are not designated to complete research tasks or assignments on behalf of faculty, staff, students, residents or fellows.

Consultation guidelines

The guidelines below are provided to help prepare faculty, staff, students, residents and fellows for having a productive experience during their consultations. 

  • Be prepared for your consultation. Library faculty may request information to effectively help you with your project. As non-subject matter experts, we need to know in advance your topic, proposed research question, and studies you may have found related to your research interest. 
  • Be on time to your consultation. We understand that things may come up and ask that you communicate any delays with library faculty.
  • Exhibit positive interprofessional conduct. Professionalism is a critical part of academic health. Working interprofessionally is important in both the academic and health care setting.
Reasons for cancellations:
  • Consultee does not show after 15 minutes from the start of the meeting.
  • Consultee has not provided librarian requested information at least 3 business days prior to the start of the session for research consultations. 
  • Library faculty observe repeated cancellations and "no shows".
  • Library faculty observe poor interprofessional conduct, this may include but is not limited to repeated disregard of library faculty guidance and expertise, repeated requests to prepare prior to the consultation, exhibiting abusive language/communication or conduct, etc.
  • Consultation privileges may be revoked if repeated infractions occur.
Request instruction:
  • If your consultation includes 3 people or more, or is not focused on one specific project, please contact us by email to discuss requesting an instruction session.

Evidence synthesis consultations

Evidence synthesis consultations are for seeking guidance on systematic, scoping, or related synthesis reviews. Due to the technical and time-intensive nature of evidence synthesis projects, librarian faculty have more specific goals and guidelines for these types of consults.

  • The librarians’  goal is to help project teams complete a protocol
  • We limit to 4 hours of consultation time per project 
  • Librarians will ask for more information and likely ask you to complete tasks between consults to ensure effective meetings with continued progress.

We highly encourage meeting with a librarian before starting the search formation process.

Schedule a consultation with a library faculty member

For all other inquiries, we provide general library assistance during regular business hours, Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. We can be reached by:

Research guides

Research guides are created and managed by library employees to bring together related resources for a particular topic or group of people. They are created to help supplement curriculum content, gather tools for student learning and success, and highlight important topics of interest. Each guide is unique but all contain a mix of links to databases, books, websites, and other sources of information.