Campus Resources

Campus Safety Services

Location: Health Science Center Campus Parkinson Pavilion Broad and Tioga Streets
Phone: 1-1234 (on campus) 215-204-1234 (non- campus) 215-777-WALK (9255) for walking escort services
Website: www.temple.edu/safety/
Twitter: @TU_Police

The safety and security of our students, faculty and staff are of the utmost importance to all leadership. Security measures on the Health Sciences Campus of the University are reviewed regularly to ensure that everything possible is being done to keep our campus students and employees safe.

Temple University security systems are managed by the Department of Campus Safety Services which uses a multi-faceted approach to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors. Components of the department include a staff of more than 125 uniformed police officers, contracted security services, campus safety specialty services and crime prevention tools. Each police officer has received state-mandated training at an accredited police academy. Seeking to utilize personnel and technology to provide an effective response, Temple has several specialized units, including Hazardous Device teams, the Investigative Division and Honor Guard. Since 2004, Temple University Police officers have taken part in the nationally acclaimed Active Shooter program to ensure all police personnel are trained in responding to this potential situation.

A Communication Center provides support to our University’s police and security personnel and our community at-large, and operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. It monitors and coordinates responses to over 600 surveillance cameras, Code Blue emergency phones, our walking escort program, elevator emergency phones, panic alarms, intrusion alarms, fire alarms and law enforcement activity. Its technology includes the TU Alert notification system and the computer aided dispatching system that interfaces with the Philadelphia Police Department’s 911 Emergency Dispatch Center. Located throughout the campus are strategically placed “code blue” emergency communications kiosks. These highly visible deterrents to would be criminals add to the sense of security for staff, faculty, students and visitors. 

Each officer attends regular in-service training including sensitivity training to sharpen skills needed to work within a diverse socio-economic and cultural community. In addition, the law enforcement staff maintains a strong visual presence traveling by identifiable cruiser, by bicycle and on foot to ensure safety and security of students, faculty, staff and visitors to the institution.

Our Security Division includes Temple and AlliedBarton security officers. Security services consist, in part, of approximately 73 officers stationed at building entrances, strategic on-site locations and building rover rounds throughout the HSC campus. Their role is to monitor and control access to the buildings for students, faculty, staff and visitors. Security officers work closely with police personnel to coordinate personal safety and property protection in University buildings and throughout the community. By providing access control and compliance with University policies and procedures, security officers further ensure safety for the University. In addition, security officers are readily available to provide directions, respond to security concerns and assist in the reduction of loss prevention. All security personnel receive departmental training annually related to topics, such as incident report writing, customer service, and emergency procedures.

In order to enter any Temple building, a University issued ID card must be presented. A Temple ID is issued to each student, faculty and staff member and must be prominently displayed. Each and every individual entering one of the buildings on the Health Sciences Campus must show their ID to the security guard(s) on duty. If you do not have a valid Temple Photo ID, you must register on an electronic visitor registration system, provide a form of photo identification and advise of your business in the building.

In addition to external and internal building security, Campus Safety Services provides dusk to dawn shuttle services and/or walking escort services as requested. Security Bike Officers provide escort services and maintain communication with Temple Police. The Walking Escort Program is available to help get students/employees safely to their destination. Walking escorts, security officers on bicycle, accompany individuals who are walking around or across the HSC. These escorts can be provided by calling 8-WALK from any campus phone or 215-777-WALK (9255) from a cell phone. Walking escorts are available from 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. seven days a week.

TUready is Temple University’s fully integrated, campus-wide, all-hazards emergency management program based on the framework of the four phases of emergency management: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. TUready is intended to be comprehensive, sustainable, and flexible; taking into account the unique mission and characteristics of the University. Temple University's emergency management program is implemented through the Office of Emergency Management. Through Emergency Management's extensive planning, Temple University is capable of handling any situation that may arise. TUready's mission consists of five aspects:

1. Maintain and implement the University's emergency communication system (TUalert)
2. Assess and develop the University's emergency preparedness efforts
3. Enhance mitigation practices to protect the University's people, property and assets
4. Facilitate a process for University continuity planning that includes academics, business, research operations
5. Provide educational resources for emergency procedures, including evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockdown and responses to specific hazards

The TUAlert system is the University-wide system that is used to communicate information regarding an incident that occurs on or near campus and is deemed an emergency requiring immediate action on the part of the campus community. This alert may take the form of an e-mail, a text message to mobile phones, and/or a voice message depending on the user’s preference when registering. 

TUsiren is used only to communicate information regarding an incident that occurs on or around campus that is deemed a catastrophic and life-threatening situation (e.g. severe weather or release of hazardous material). The siren will indicate the need for all to shelter-in-place, unless otherwise directed. In addition to sounding the siren, a TUalert will be sent out and incident updates will be posted to the university web site.

Campus Safety Services (including Temple Police and Security Officers) and Facilities Management serve as the university's officials for emergency procedures and oversight. An evacuation is implemented under conditions when it is no longer safe for students, faculty and staff to remain in a building or a specific area in a building. This requires occupants to move out and away from a building to a designated building area of refuge or out and away from a specific area within a building. 

Shelter-in-place means to seek immediate shelter and remain there during an emergency rather than evacuate the area. Shelter-in-place will only be used when an evacuation is not safe. Certain events, such as hazardous materials contamination or severe weather, may necessitate the initiation of the university’s shelter-in-place protocol. Notification to shelter-in-place may be made using all means of communication available. A Lockdown is a procedure used when there is an immediate threat to the building occupants and there is a need to stop access to all or a portion of the buildings on campus. This allows emergency responders to secure the students and staff in place, address the immediate threat, render first aid if needed, and remove any innocent bystanders from immediate danger to an area of safe refuge. An Active Shooter event necessitates Lockdown, but Lockdown is also used in other scenarios, such as when there is gunfire exchange outside the building as a result of criminal activity. A Lock Out prevents unauthorized personnel from entering a building. All exterior doors are locked and the main entrance is monitored by the Temple Police, Security, and/or administrators. This procedure allows the occupants of a building to continue operations, but curtails disturbance from outside activity. This is used in the event of a large civil disturbance or protest.

An Active Shooter event is one in which one or more persons are actively engaging in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. In most cases, active shooters use firearms, and there is no apparent pattern or method to their selection of victims. These situations are dynamic and evolve rapidly. Police officers are typically deployed immediately to stop the shooting and mitigate harm to victims. The Homeland Security training for an active shooter incident includes three things you can do that make a difference: run, hide, fight. For more information, visit: http://safety.temple.edu/emergency-preparedness/know-what-do/active-shooter-preparedness

In the event of a catastrophic impact which causes an interruption of continued building operations for academic affairs a multi-level approach to relocate activities will be assessed and implemented. The medical school is fortunate to be a part of the University which has multiple opportunities to provide classroom, library and study space. 

Roof mounted lighting floods the Broad Street corridor and strategically located lighting is in place to illuminate common paths of travel to parking areas and public transportation. Closed circuit recorded video monitoring exists to cover many areas of the Health Sciences Campus and specifically, common paths of travel to parking and building entrances and exits.

Students and employees are advised that Temple Police can be reached at any time at 215-204-1234 (1-1234 from a campus phone) or Philadelphia Police at 911. All of the information and details on procedures can be found on the Temple University Campus Safety Services website. In addition, the medical school conducts periodic safety training sessions through the Office of Emergency Management.

For information about campus safety at our affiliate campuses, refer to the Appendix. 

Emergency Closing or Delayed Opening

Should it be necessary to close the medical school because of extremely severe weather or other emergencies, the following procedure will be utilized:

1. The medical school follows university policy regarding emergency closings or delayed openings. LKSOM status updates will be sent via email and will be posted on the website.
2. Text alerts are sent from the university through the TU Alert system. Sign up information can be found here: https://safety.temple.edu/emergency-preparedness/tualert/register-tualerts
3. LKSOM closure will apply to all student education programs, with the exception of fourth year sub-internships. Sub-interns should check with their individual clinical sites to determine if they need to report. Students at campuses outside of Philadelphia should check with their individual sites regarding the necessity for closing/delayed opening, since weather at those sites may significantly vary from that in Philadelphia.
4. Announcement of the closure will be made over public radio utilizing the following code number: 101

For clinical and regional campus Emergency Closing or Delayed Opening information, please refer to Appendix B.

Student Faculty Center

The Student Faculty Center (SFC) is located on the southwest corner of N. Broad and Ontario Streets on the Health Sciences Center (HSC) campus of Temple University. Operating hours are 6:30 am – 10 pm Monday through Thursday and 6:30 am – 8 pm Friday. 

A recreation center, conference rooms, pool table, ping pong, foosball, quad-air hockey station, bookstore, Tech Center, Student Health Services and Student Financial Services are among the many services offered. The SFC sponsors monthly events on campus and around the city at discounted prices year round.

Recreation Center

For information on hours and services, please visit:  https://studentcenter.temple.edu/sfc/hsc-recreation-center

A valid Temple University ID and recreation center membership is necessary to access and use any of the recreation center offerings. 

Bookstore

Location: Student Faculty Center, 1st Floor
Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday - Friday
Phone: 215-707-3157

The Student Bookstore is operated by Barnes and Noble College Booksellers. The bookstore stocks all required books and supplies as well as Temple clothing, souvenirs and giftware. A limited assortment of jewelry, greeting cards, snack items and health-aids are also available. The bookstore is also your source for specialized clothing for fraternities, sororities, student organizations, and fundraising items.

SFC Activities and Operations Office

Temple HSC campus offers many different events for its students over the course of the school year. Whether it be free coffee & bagels the first Wednesday of every month, a Taste of all the vendors around Philly, or discounted tickets to the Flyers, Phillies, and Sixers games, ski trips, or Eastern State Penitentiary, we've got you covered!

If you have any suggestions on events or programming you would like to see at HSC, please contact the Program Coordinator at 215-707-4919 or email [click-for-email] or visit our website: https://studentcenter.temple.edu/sfc/health-sciences-center-campus-activities for additional information.

The SFC Activities and Operations Office also sponsors over 83 different HSC campus student organizations for the Medical, Dental, Pharmacy, Podiatry, and Public Health Schools. Each year these organizations receive allocations to program events on and off campus. Please visit: https://studentcenter.temple.edu/sfc/hsc-student-organizations for more information.

Library Services

THE SIMMY AND HARRY GINSBURG HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARY

• Over 100 public workstations
• Seating for nearly 1,000 patrons throughout the library
• Two classrooms to meet the library’s instructional needs, one of which can be converted into a conference room
• Over 30 group study rooms
• Wireless access throughout the entire library space
• Ten collaborative learning rooms

Hours of Operation

Regular Hours:

Monday – Thursday:    open 24 hours
Friday:    library closes at 10:00 pm
Saturday:    9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday:    10:00 am – 1:00 am

Hours vary during summer and holidays. Please visit http://library.temple.edu/hsl for more information.

Contact Information

Ginsburg Health Sciences Library 3500 North Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19140

Circulation: 215-707-BOOK (2665), [click-for-email] Reference: 215-707-4033, hscref@temple.edu

For more information, including hours of operation, visit: https://library.temple.edu/hsl

A Guide to the Ginsburg Heath Science Library

The Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library supports education, patient care and research at Temple University. It serves the information needs of the schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, the College of Health Professions and Social Work and Temple University Hospital.

• Located in the state of the art Medical Education and Research Building, the Ginsburg Library provides access to a variety of online and print materials and offers space for individual study, collaborative learning and information instruction.
• The School of Podiatric Medicine is served by the Charles E. Krausz Library of Podiatric Medicine, located on its campus at 8th and Race streets in downtown Philadelphia. Together, the Krausz Library and the Ginsburg Library comprise the Health Sciences Libraries system.

Serving the 21st Century Health Sciences Center

Over the past 20 years, health sciences libraries have transformed from print-oriented collections of journals and books into electronic information centers. As a result, the Ginsburg Library collections -- journals, medical and health-related texts, and other resources are primarily online. Students and clinicians can access important patient care information whenever and wherever they need it. 

Learn more by calling the circulation desk: 215-707-2665 or reference desk: 215-707-4033

Selected Resources

Below is just a sample of the exemplary resources offered to Temple’s health sciences students, scholars, practitioners and researchers by the Simmy and Harry Ginsburg Health Sciences Library:

• Ovid Databases: A collection of health sciences databases, e-books, and full-text journals.
• Dynamed Plus: A clinical decision support tool that provides concise summaries of disease and condition states with evidence-based recommendations.
• ACCESS Medicine, ACCESS Surgery and ACCESS Pharmacy: The ACCESS collections offer several major medical text titles including: Harrison’s Online, Schwartz’s Surgery Online, Katzung and Goodman & Gillman’s Pharmacology. Other materials include question databanks, videos and drug-information tools.
• Web of Science: Covers literature in the sciences, social sciences and humanities with subject and citation searching.
• Medical Humanities Collection: This collection of books found at the Ginsburg Library holds interdisciplinary works that explore medical education and practice through perspectives from the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Services

Librarians and staff are always on hand to help the health sciences community at Temple find the essential information they need. Our services include:

• Information Services: 215-707-4033, [click-for-email]. Reference librarians offer assistance in online searching, answer factual questions and provide support for in-depth research through training sessions and consultations.
• Research Guides: http://guides.temple.edu. Web-based guides contain information on relevant subject-specific materials, both in print and online.
• Credentialing Services: Experienced staff provides comprehensive credentialing searches for faculty tenure, promotion and appointment.
• Circulation: 215-707-BOOK (2665), [click-for-email]. The Circulation Department manages the reserve collection, including the laptop loaner program, AV items and the checking in and out of materials.
• Document Delivery Service: The document delivery department can obtain materials not owned by the Ginsburg Library. Most articles are received and delivered electronically. For patient-care emergencies, the library provides rush services, which often provide articles within 24 hours.
• The Freeman Biomedical Information Center: A virtual and physical learning destination that is integrated into the reference area of HSL’s service desk and its print reference collection. The center also offers electronic access to select reference materials.

For a list of library policies, including the Library's visitor policy, see: https://library.temple.edu/categories/temple-libraries-locations

For HSC library privileges, please see: https://library.temple.edu/policies/health-sciences-libraries-privileges

For information about Library Services at St. Luke’s Regional Campus, refer to the Appendix.

CHARLES E. KRAUSZ LIBRARY: SCHOOL OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE

Location/Contact Information

8th and Race Streets, 6th floor

215-629-0300 Press “0” and ask for the library. https://library.temple.edu/libraries/podiatry

The libraries are open to students, faculty, and staff of Temple University. Always bring Temple I.D. For questions regarding library facilities (or service) call 215-707-BOOK (215-707-2665).

CHARLES LIBRARY (MAIN CAMPUS)

Location/Contact Information

1900 N. 13th St.

Phone: 215-204-8212

Email: [click-for-email]

For more information, including hours, visit: https://library.temple.edu/categories/explore-charles

AMBLER CAMPUS LIBRARY

Library Building, 580 Meetinghouse Road, Ambler Phone: 267-468-8646

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY CENTER CITY (TUCC) LIBRARY

1515 Market Street

Phone: 215-204-6950

TECH CENTER

Bell Building, 12th and Montgomery Ave. Phone: 215-204-8000

The TECH Center is a technology and education center at Main Campus with over 600 computer workstations, breakout rooms, specialized labs and spaces to socialize.

More information can be found here: https://its.temple.edu/lab/tech-center

Return to the Student Affairs page of the Medical Student Handbook