The Birmingham Medical Institute is one of the oldest medical societies in the country and one of three remaining within its own premises. Nestling in a series of historic buildings that forms part of the Calthorpe Estates in the Birmingham suburb of Edgbaston, it offers both premium quality conference and meeting facilities as well as expanding education, training and continuing professional development (CPD) programmes, that meet the needs of the medical profession and professions allied to medicine. The BMI also provides social activities, including dinners and lunches, usually with a guest speaker.
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Originally founded as a medical library in 1875, the Institute rapidly evolved into an independent headquarters for medical practitioners in the West Midlands, a place to relax, meet fellow professionals and discuss the medical and other issues of the day. In its early years, the library was built up by doctors donating their personal book collections. Later it acquired a more conventional form, acquiring books by purchase, as well as by donation, taking standard text books and periodicals, nearly all of which were bound. It was also used as a repository for various archive materials such as hospital staff committee minute books. In recent years, the BMI has had the benefit of a generous donation from the Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund, and some of this money has been used for the purchase of books. The collection can usefully be considered to comprise seven sections.
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The Birmingham Medical Institute |
Today, the BMI continues to build on these historic roots but has evolved to embrace the needs of twenty-first century users, marrying the best of the old with the new within its walls. Here members of the BMI, now four hundred strong, can enjoy state-of-the-art digital audio-visual technology and a lecture theatre that seats up to one hundred and twenty. |
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