NLM strives to assemble a comprehensive collection of the proceedings of significant national and international biomedical and public health conferences, congresses and symposia.

Conference programs containing abstracts may also be collected if the abstracts do not appear in the journal literature or if publication of complete conference proceedings is not anticipated.

Conference programs are collected only if they are of historical interest, or if they document important research not otherwise represented in the traditional scholarly literature.

NLM collects the proceedings of other meetings, such as local and regional workshops, as well as single lectures not issued as part of proceedings, when they are likely to be of widespread contemporary interest to scholars and health professionals, provide a unique cultural perspective, and/or are likely to have historical importance.