1. Using the LIRN Databases
Deb Cogan, MLS
Library Director

2. 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.

3. Click on LIRN Login

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

5. 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.

6. LIRN Home Page

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

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

16. Health & Medical Database Collection Select an individual database

17. Gale Virtual Reference Center

18. Enter a search term or phrase in the search window.

19. Result list for: child development

20. Individual Article Display

21. Using Tools within Databases
All databases within LIRN will offer similar types of tools.
Tools will allow you to print, download, or 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.

22. Typical Database Tools
Print
– 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

23. Advanced Searching in LIRN Click: Advanced Search

24. Click: Select Sources

25. 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

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

27. 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).

28. 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.

29. Results: Rheumatoid arthritis AND vegetarian 309 items found

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

31. 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

32. 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.

33. Limiting Results Select Search Limits from the Search Sources Menu

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

35. 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
Deb Cogan, Library Director