Bio-Med Library Orientation Del Reed Ph.D Bio-Medical Library

Bio-Medical Library Main subject/resource library for Public Health Located in Diehl Hall –Small group and quiet study space available Access library resources through –Bio-Medical Library Website: –MyLibrary tab through the MyU Portal –Library Course Page for PUBH8403

Access to Electronic Resources Electronic Resources –Access to several health-related databases and indexes –Over 3,00 electronic journal subscriptions –Growing e-book collection You can access almost all of our electronic databases and resources from off-campus If we don’t have something (either online or in print), use Interlibrary Loan

Off-Campus Access Your x.500 ( user name and password) is your key to accessing these resources You will be prompted for your x.500 when you try to access one of our licensed resources

PubMed: What is it? PubMed is the publically available interface used to search MEDLINE MEDLINE –Contains over 23 million bibliographic citation records –Covers all specialties of clinical medicine, public health, nursing, veterinary medicine, allied health and some basic biosciences –Coverage from present –Primarily citations from scholarly journals Small percentage from in-scope newspapers, magazines and newsletters –5,200 worldwide journals in 37 languages

PubMed PubMed is the free, web-based interface to MEDLINE database…BUT It is an abstract database – only searches the abstract and not the full text Get to PubMed via library links to see Find It menu to connect to full-text

PubMed Searching Default way PubMed searches is to look for your search term as a keyword Need to be aware of alternate terminology when searching using keywords Searching using MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) uses a controlled vocabulary Can use a combination of keywords and MeSH headings when searching PubMed

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): A Controlled Vocabulary How many names are you known by? –Full Name –First Name –Last Name –Maiden Name –Nickname/shortened name If you were to search for your name on the internet, how many variations would you have to try to make sure you are searching all possible variants of your name?

MeSH: A Controlled Vocabulary MeSH Headings describe biomedical concepts Use of MeSH Headings eliminates need for synonyms and variant spellings –Myocardial infarction or heart attack –Estrogen or oestrogen

Literature Searching: Best Practices Write down your topic as a statement or question “Chunk” out your concepts and search each concept separately Utilize the MeSH Headings when possible

PubMed Demo What do you want to look for?

Google Scholar Advantages –Easy search interface –Searches across disciplines and sources –Searches full text of articles

Google Scholar Disadvantages –Don’t know exactly what it is searching –Searching is by exact word match only –no subject headings to provide context –Only basic limits available – no age groups –Can’t combine sets, save searches, or send more than 1 citation/per time to RefWorks

Google Scholar Great tool – but use it as a supplement to, and not a replacement for subject indexes Search tips –Use the Advanced search feature –Use quotation marks around phrases –Search with alternate terminology, using parenthesis and OR (“high blood pressure” OR hypertension)

Google Scholar: Result Comparison

Combine Terminology

Google Scholar Remember to ALWAYS access through the Bio-Medical Library, or set your preferences in Google Scholar to indicate you are affiliated with the University of Minnesota. This will allow FindIt links and RefWorks export links to appear in your results.

Questions? Ask Your Librarian! Del Reed Librarian to the School of Public Health