Nursing & Human Sciences Subject Page
Hi, my name is Amanda and I am the Subject Librarian for Nursing & Human Sciences at DCU. I have put together the following information that I hope will be of help to you in finding your way around the library and finding quality information for your assignments. There is general information on the left side of this screen but for nursing specific information and resources just click on the tabs below. Please feel free to contact me if you need any assistance.
Contact me at 700 5923
Email: amanda.halpin@dcu.ie
Books are shelved in the library according to two things – the loan type and the subject matter. The loan type determines in which part of the library books are located. For example, if a book is an essential text for a whole class then it might be put into the short loan collection on the ground floor so that more people can access it. Short loan items can be borrowed for either 3 hrs or 48 hrs. Other copies of the book might be put into the main lending collection, which is on 1st and 2nd floors and can be borrowed for either 1 week or 3 weeks.
The subject matter of the book is described by assigning a specific subject number (Dewey no.).
The Dewey number determines how the books are arranged on the shelves. The main Dewey numbers for
nursing related topics are as follows:
This is a part of a typical book record that you would get when you look up the library catalogue. The Shelfmark contains the information you need to know to be able to locate this book. So from this record you can see that there are some copies of this book in 48 hour loan (short loan, ground floor) and other copies in Main Lending, both 1 week and 3 weeks. Then it gives the Dewey number and finally the first three letters of the author’s surname. It also shows you how many copies are in each loan type and whether or not they are currently on loan or are available to borrow.
Reference Books are a good starting point for getting definitions and broad overviews of a topic. Reference books are located on the ground floor of the library to the left of the turnstiles as you enter. They may not be taken out of the library.
Selected Reference books:
E-books
The library currently provides access to thousands of e-books. When you search the library catalogue you can refine your search by choosing "E-Books" on the left hand side of the screen. When you click on the link to view the book you may be asked to verify yourself as a registered student by logging in with your computer username and password (Novel login).
E-book collections:
Apart from individual titles accessible via the catalogue, we also have searchable
collections of e-books within specific subject areas available via the
A-Z of Databases e.g. PsycBooks is a collection of books in the area of psychology.
Journals
We currently hold approximately 30,000 full text journals across all subjects. Most of these are in electronic format and others are in either print only or print and electronic format. All of them are accessible via the A-Z of Journals list.
When you have a journal reference, for example from a reading list, you can check the A-Z of Journals list to see can you get the full text of the article. Just enter the journal title (not the article title) to see do we subscribe to it and, if so, what dates do we hold. We often have the same journal available from several sources and for different date ranges. From there you can either get the journal from the shelves if it’s in print format or click on the links provided to get the electronic version. Just make sure to check the date coverage before deciding which link to click on.
Key Research Databases for Nursing
The following is a list of the most important databases for Nursing and related areas. A full list of all our databases is available from the A to Z of databases.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text
Indexing for approximately 3,000 journals from the fields of nursing and allied health. In
addition, this database offers access to health care books, nursing
dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of
practice, educational software, audiovisuals and book chapters. Full
text of approx 750 journals, plus legal cases, clinical innovations,
critical paths, drug records, research instruments and clinical
trials.
MEDLINE
Provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary
medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and
much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE
uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree, tree
hierarchy, subheadings and explosion capabilities to search
citations from over 4,800 current biomedical journals.
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MEDLINE via OVID
Help Guide
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MEDLINE via EBSCO
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PubMed: freely available version of Medline.
Tutorial
PsycINFO
The definitive psychology abstracts database
providing systematic coverage of the psychological literature from
the 1800s to the present. More than 2,450 journal titles
covered. Other indexed
material includes books, book chapters and dissertations
Guide
Cochrane Library
The prime source of evidence-based healthcare. Contains Systematic Reviews, Controlled Trials Register and
more. This database is freely available to anyone on the island of Ireland.
E-Books Databases for Nursing
Oxford Scholarship Online Psychology Collection
Tutorial
Oxford Scholarship Online provides access to 80 full text e-books
in the areas of cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience,
and cognitive development. It features all titles from the renowned Oxford Psychology Series
Full title list here.
Oxford Scholarship Online Public Health Epidemiology Collection
Tutorial
Oxford Scholarship Online provides access to 102 full text e-books in the area of public
health & epidemiology which discuss the development and assessment of public health issues that
affect a diverse range of populations world wide. Full title list
here.
PsycBooks
PsycBooks is the APA's full text e-book collection in the area of psychology.
It provides access to 778 books published by APA, including 100 out-of-print books from 1950–2002, 1,027 classic
resources in psychology and exclusive electronic release of the APA/Oxford University Press Encyclopedia of Psychology.
PsycBooks is indexed in and links directly from PsycINFO.
Other relevant Databases
American Medical Association (AMA)
Full-text access to JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association)
plus 9 speciality journals. AMA Journals are among the most
widely circulated family of peer-reviewed medical journals in the
world. Each journal ranks among the top clinical journals in its
respective field in terms of citations.
Annual Reviews
Authoratitive, analytic reviews in 30 disciplines within the
Biomedical, Physical, and Social Sciences. Annual Reviews saves you
time by synthesisingthe vast amount of primary research literature and identifying the
principal contributions in your field. Annual Reviews publications
are among the highest cited publications by impact factor according
to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).
BioMed Central
BioMed Central is an independent publishing house committed to providing immediate free access to
peer-reviewed biomedical research. Browse or search the
research articles of 175 journals. Students and researchers of
DCU can publish an unlimited number of articles in Biomed Central
journals at no cost.
BMJ Journals Online
Full-text access to the British Medical Journal plus 18 other leading medical journals.
Cell Press
Full text access to the following titles: Cancer Cell; Cell; Cell Metabolism; Chemistry & Biology;
Current Biology; Developmental Cell; Immunity; Molecular Cell; Neuron and Structure.
Current Protocols Access full-text of 13 CP titles from Wiley Interscience in the following areas: Bioinformatics, Cell Biology, Cytometry, Human Genetics, Immunology, Magnetic Resonance imaging, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Nucleic Acids Chemistry, Pharmacology, Protein Science and Toxicology.
Health Source Nursing - Academic Edition
Guide to basic features (pdf)
This resource provides more than 550 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines.
Coverage of nursing and allied health is
particularly strong. In addition, this database includes the Clinical Pharmacology
database, providing access to up-to-date, concise and clinically relevant drug
monographs for all U.S. prescription drugs, hard-to-find herbal and nutritional supplements,
over-the-counter products and new drugs.
Hindawi
Hindawi is a fast
growing academic publisher with 40+ journals in the fields of
Biology & Medicine, Chemistry, Engineering, Materials Science,
and Mathematics. Hindawi is the only "Open Access" publisher
with fully Open Access journals spanning a wide range of
subjects in Science, Technology, and Medicine.
InformaWorld
Now
Taylor & Francis Online
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkinson journals
Full-text access to 25 Lippincott Williams & Wilkinson titles in the field of Biomedicine.
LWW is a leading publisher of professional health information for physicians, nurses, specialised
clinicians and students.
National Documentation Centre on Drug Misuse
A unique information resource providing Irish researchers with access to the Electronic
Library of Irish drug-related research and policy documents. Part of the Health Research Board.
Oxford Journals Online
Consists of 169 online journals from arts, social science, scientific, technical,
medical, professional and humanities disciplines. Includes access to JNCI Cancer Spectrum.
PsycArticles
Guide to basic features (pdf)
PsycArticles is a definitive source of searchable full text articles on current issues in
psychology. It covers general psychology and specialized, basic, applied, clinical and
theoretical research in psychology. The database contains more than 140,000 searchable full text articles
from 60 journals published by the APA and allied organizations. It contains all journal articles,
letters to the editor and errata from each of the 60 journals. You can also
access the fulltext of this database via linked abstracts in PsycINFO database.
Science Direct
Database Guide (pdf)
(now incorporating Academic Press and Harcourt Health Sciences)
Full-text access to approx 1,200 Elsevier titles plus journals from Academic Press and Harcourt Health Sciences.
Allows simultaneous searching of MEDLINE.
Social Services Abstracts
Social Services Abstracts provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work,
human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social
policy, and community development.
Sociological Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related
disciplines in the social and behavioural sciences.
SpringerLink (incorporating Kluwer titles)
Full-text access to more than 1100+ peer reviewed science, technology, humanities,
law and medicine journals.
Taylor & Francis Online
Previously Informaworld.
Access to 1000+ peer reviewed journal titles published by Taylor
and Francis, and a selection of journals published by Routledge
and Psychology Press, covering arts & humanities, social
sciences, sport, physics, mathematics, and chemistry.
Database
tutorials
Web of Science
Database Guide (pdf)
Web of Science is a multi-disciplinary citation database providing access to 9,760
of the most prestigious high impact research journals in the world. It consists of the following databases:
- Science Citation Index Expanded (1945-present)
- Social Sciences Citation Index (1956-present)
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present)
Non-Subject Specific Databases
Dissertation Abstracts
Dissertations Abstracts is the largest single source of information about doctoral dissertations
and master’s theses available. It contains over 2 million entries,
ranging from the first U.S. dissertation accepted in 1861 to those accepted just this semester
Index to Theses
This database provides summaries of theses accepted for
higher degrees by the Universities of Great Britain and Ireland.
Irish theses can also be searched separately -
earch Irish material only
Coverage: 1716 - to date
Journal Citation Reports (Science and Social Science Editions)
Journal Citation Reports is a
comprehensive and unique resource tool that allows you to evaluate
and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 7,000
scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in
over 60 countries. It is the only source of citation data on
journals. Find information such as:most frequently cited
journals; highest impact journals; hottest journals; leading
journals; and most published articles in a field.
RefWorks
A web based bibliographic manager that
allows you to create a personalised database of resources by
importing references from text files or online databases. Use these
references to create a bibliography for your thesis, assignment or
journal article in seconds. Online tutorial available from 'Help'.
Recommended Websites for Nursing
Teaching
Developing Your Student's Information Literacy Skills
Linking to e-resources via Moodle or the web
Research
DORAS: DCU's Online Research Access Service
Impact Factors: keep track of who is citing you
IReL: Access to thousands of peer reviewed journals
RefWorks: online citation manager software
Research Commons: dedicated research suite
Using Other Libraries
ALCID Scheme: access collections of 18 Irish libraries
SCONUL Access: access and borrow from 157 UK and Irish libraries
