Using the LIRN Databases Deb Cogan, MLS Library Director dcogan@schnursing.com

What is LIRN? LIRN stands for: Library & Information Resources Network Current SCH students can access 35 electronic databases on a wide variety of topics to obtain articles, electronic books, videos, images, and sound recordings. Remote access is available 24/7.

Click on LIRN Login

You will need to obtain a 5-digit code from your instructor or from the librarian to access LIRN.

LIRN Guidelines Please do not post the LIRN password online LIRN is only for use by current Suncoast College of Health students, faculty, and staff.

LIRN Home Page

Health Related Databases Health & Wellness Resource Center Health Reference Center Academic Nursing & Allied Health Collection Psychology Collection ProQuest Psychology Journals Proquest Health & Medical Complete Proquest Nursing & Allied Health

Health & Wellness Research Center & Alternative Health Module Consumer health focus Articles from over 1,000 top medical journals & 2,200 general interest publications 75% Full-text Includes FT Reference works Gale encyclopedia of alternative medicine Gale encyclopedia of surgery & medical tests Gale encyclopedia of genetic disorders Gale encyclopedia of cancer

Health Reference Center Academic Nursing & Allied health journals Consumer health magazines, newsletters, pamphlets, newspaper articles Topical overviews Reference books Many Full-text

Nursing & Allied Health Collection Articles from over 1,000 journals Many Full-text titles cited in CINAHL Over 6 million articles For researchers at all levels of nursing & related fields

Professional Collection: ProQuest Health & Medical Complete Full text coverage for almost 1300 publications and, with 900 that include MEDLINE indexing. Journals cover all major clinical and healthcare disciplines, including medical sciences, immunology, pharmacy and pharmacology, nursing, physical fitness and hygiene, surgery, and often include charts, diagrams, graphs, tables, photos, and other graphical elements.

Professional Collection: ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Reliable healthcare information covering nursing, allied health, alternative and complementary medicine, and more. The database provides abstracting and indexing for more than 850 titles with more than 715 in full text. It also contains more than 12,000 full text dissertations, and many training videos.

Psychology Databases Psychology Collection Articles from 300 journals in all fields of psychology. Many are full-text ProQuest Psychology Journals over 640 titles from 540 journals – Full-text clinical and social psychology, genetics, communication, criminology, addiction, neurology, social welfare.

Different Ways to Search You can scroll through the list of databases by subject and find one to open and search. If you are searching for a general topic a good place to start is Gale Virtual Reference Library or Academic One File. Or you can perform an advanced search on one or more database collections that will allow you to combine terms for a more specific search.

Searching a Specific Database (Subject View) 1. Select a subject area

Health & Medical Database Collection Select an individual database

Gale Virtual Reference Center

Enter a search term or phrase in the search window.

Result list for: child development

Individual Article Display

Using Tools within Databases All databases within LIRN will offer similar types of tools. Tools will allow you to print, download, or email articles. Some tools will show you the citation for the article in APA format that you can download or copy & paste into your research paper. Some databases also let you listen to the article.

Typical Database Tools Print Email – full-text and citation (we use APA) Listen or save MP3 file Download Highlight and make notes Citation – APA style (can cut & paste) Translate (this may take a few minutes) Options vary depending on the database

Advanced Searching in LIRN Click: Advanced Search

Click: Select Sources

Searching Selected Sources Be sure to scroll down to find Health & Medical You can also include Psychology and/or General & Interdisciplinary for more general topics then click the “close window” button

Advanced Searching keyword, author, title, subject, description using AND, OR, NOT to combine terms

Advanced Searching Tips Combining terms with AND will give you very specific results (I want articles about both cats AND dogs – results must have both terms). Combining terms with OR – gives the broadest results (articles must have at least one of the terms but not necessarily both of them). Combining terms with NOT will exclude one of the terms (be careful with this one as you could eliminate valuable articles).

Examples Rheumatoid arthritis AND vegetarian – articles will contain both terms. Rheumatoid arthritis OR vegetarian – articles could be about RA only or only about vegetarianism. Rheumatoid arthritis NOT vegetarian – articles will just be about RA in general and not necessarily about vegetarianism as it relates to RA.

Results: Rheumatoid arthritis AND vegetarian 309 items found

Results: Rheumatoid arthritis AND vegetarian NOT elderly = 29 items found Results should focus on RA and a vegetarian diet in younger individuals (not elderly)

Sorting Results by Date Select DATE from Sort menu (click on tiny arrows next to “Date”) Descending (up arrow)– newer articles display first Ascending (down arrow) –older articles display first

Using Limiting for Effective Searching Limiting your search results allows you to shrink a large result list to a manageable size. A result list of several hundred or several thousand articles is impossible to read through. An effective search should yield less than 100 articles. Please see your instructor or the librarian for further assistance in creating more effective searches.

Limiting Results Select Search Limits from the Search Sources Menu

Limiting Options: Date, Language, Material Type, Peer Reviewed, Full-text (then click on “Close Window”)

General Library Information The library is located in Suite 103 next to the Records office. Library Hours: Tuesdays : 10:30 – 4:00 Wednesdays : 9-2 Fridays: 9-3 Email: Deb Cogan, Library Director dcogan@schnursing.com