Skip to Main Content

Atrium - Cabarrus Teammates LibGuide: Electronic Searching

Guide for Atrium Cabarrus Staff to assist with researching

Welcome!

Whether studying, researching, or simply looking for a quiet place to read, the Medical Library provides an excellent atmosphere to support your academic experience.  We have academic books and journals that you may utilize.  We have 3 large work tables for group projects and 3 small tables for small group or individual work.  We have 9 computers which have access to a printer.  There are 2 mobile white boards for patron's use.  We provide natural light with one large window facing the courtyard along with some comfy chairs.

The Library is located on the lower level of the main campus building of Atrium Health Cabarrus. When entering the building through the employee entrance, under the blue awning, take the stairwell to the right of the main hallway to the lower level. There is directional signage along the lower corridor indicating the way to the Medical Library / Information Resource Center.

You can access the physical location 24/7 with your badge! The Library is open to all students, faculty, staff and employees of Atrium Health.

Virtual Location:

The Medical Library's NC AHEC Digital Library can be accessed 24/7 at https://library.ncahec.net/

Hours:

The Library is staffed by librarians Monday - Thursday from 8:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays by appointment.  For appointments please email Cassie Dixon.

IRC Collections

The Medical Library maintains several collections of interest to our patrons.  These collections include:

  • Nursing
  • Reserves - this collection supports all of the programs taught at the College
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Pastoral Care
  • Reference
  • Print Journals
  • General Collection - mix of historical and current books

Borrowing Information

The Online Catalog can be accessed from the Library's catalog.  If you wish to borrow a book, please come to the library and use our Self-Checkout Station or contact Cassie Dixon for assistance.

CHS-NE staff, Cabarrus College faculty, staff, and students may borrow as many books as they need from the library, but please remember to be courteous of other patrons. 

Books may be checked out for 2 weeks at a time.  If you need it longer, please contact a librarian to be renew the resource.

College Reserve, Reference, and Textbooks books may not be checked out.  You may make copies of the relevant materials, but please remember to courteous of Copyright Laws and guidelines.

Journals may not be checked out.  You may make copies of the articles, but please remember to be courteous of Copyright Laws and guidelines.

There are NO fines for overdue library materials.  However, you may be charged for replacement cost if the material is not returned or is damaged. 

If you have checked out a book and not returned it, this can put a hold on your record.

College Reserve are books that have been placed on reserved by instructors and may NOT be checked out.  They may be used ONLY in the library. 

If there is a wait for the item, it can only be used for a maximum of two hours at a time. 

Reserves are located in the front of the library facing the windows looking out into the hall. 

If you have any questions, please contact Cassie Dixon or Stephanie Reister.

The Library has many print journals available for research.  These journals are available to use in the Library 24/7.  They ARE NOT available for checkout.  You may use the copier in the office to copy articles that you need. 

We keep the last 5 years of Print Journals.  The current journals are located on the journal shelves near the computers.  Older journals are located on the bookshelves facing the outside windows, next to the long conference table. 

You may access online journals through PubMed or NC AHEC.

If you need any assistance with journals, please feel free to contact  Cassie Dixon or Stephanie Reister.

Call Number:  Located on the spine of the book, the call number is the book's address - it tells a person where the book lives in the library.  The Medical Library uses the National Library of Medicine classification system. There are posters throughout the library showing the NLM Classification system.  

Databases:  Databases are a searchable collection of electronic records. The North Carolina AHEC Digital Library databases includes articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers. To access NC AHEC, you need a username and password which was provided to you. If you need assistance with this, please contact Stephanie Reister or Cassie Dixon. You may also search PubMed which is provided by the National Library of Medicine and is comprised of more than 27 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.

Serials:  Publications that are issued in successive parts. This includes journals.

Stacks:  Shelves of books located in the library. Many of these books may be checked out for 2 weeks.

MedPage Today Nursing

Loading ...

Research Information

Define Your Research Need:

  1. Develop a Research Strategy.  What is the question your are trying to identify and have answered?  What are some key concepts of your questions?  PICO method will help greatly with this step.
  2. Identify the Library's resources that you will need to complete your research.  The primary online Library's resources you will use are the NC AHEC Digital LIbrary or PubMed.  The NC AHEC Digital Library is a username/password electronic resource.  PubMed is government website that has free access.  Additional online resources are listed in the "Databases for Research" box below.
  3. Identify any print needs you might have.  You may access the Library's Online Catalog for assistance to determine what print resources are available.

There are several different types of information.  The Library has books, journals and electronic resources.

If you need assistance on identifying quality resources for your research, please refer to Purdue Owl's "How do I know if a Source is Credible?"

Books - You can generally trust books you find in the Library.  Librarians have carefully reviewed the material and selected the books based on their academic merit.  However, you still need to review the book and ask yourself if the books is a credible source for your research paper.  You can link to the Library Online Catalog.   You may also locate electronic books through NC AHEC under Books.

Journals - If you need scholarly, academic, or peer-reviewed articles, you will need to locate journals relevant to your search.  The Library provides access to several databases to be able to search journals for articles relevant to your search.  These databases include  PubMed, NC AHEC, CINAHL(through NC AHEC), and MedlinePlus.

There is a United State Copyright law that governs the fair use of copying materials for research.  Pleases refer to U.S. Copyright website for more information regarding the rules and regulation regarding copyright laws and regulations.

Plagiarism is "an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author" (Dictionary.com).  To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or appropriate indentation.  Direct quotations and paraphrasing must be cited properly according to the accepted formation, such as APA.  Some examples of plagiarism are:

  • Copying word for word (directly quoting) from oral, printed or electronic sources without proper attribution.
  • Paraphrasing without proper attribution (presenting in your own words another person's written words or ideas as if they were your own).
  • Incorporating into your work graphs, drawings, photographs, diagrams, tables, spreadsheets, or other non-textual material from other sources with out proper credit.
  • Reusing portions of work that one previously created without proper citation. (Self-Plagiarism)

This is not an exclusive list! Please be aware of the definition of Plagiarism as you are compiling your research.

For more information about Plagiarism, please refer to the website Plagiarism.org,

Cassie Dixon, Medical Librarian, Library Manager

Profile Photo
Cassie Dixon
Contact:
920 Church St N
Concord, NC 28025
704 403 1798

Comparison of Databases

Website

URL

Description

Special Features

NC AHEC

https://library.ncahec.net/index.php

The NC AHEC Digital Library includes full-text journals and textbooks, OVID databases such as MEDLINE and CINAHL, other comprehensive health information sites, links to drug information and health news, patient education materials, and continuing education opportunities

This Database requires a user ID and password Login.  If you need assistance with this, please contact a Librarian.

CINAHL Complete

(accessed through AHEC)

https://library.ncahec.net/index.php

CINAHL Complete is a nursing database that provides broad coverage including nursing specialties, occupational therapy, speech & language pathology, nutrition, general health, medicine, and more

CINAHL Complete is accessed through NC AHEC.  This Database requires a user ID and Password Login.  After you are logged into NC AHEC, you may choose CINAHL and you will be directed to CINAHL Complete.

 

PubMed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

PubMed comprises more than 23 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.   Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.

Remember to limit your search to "free full text" to retrieve full text articles.  If you need items not full text, you can contact the librarians.  You can also limit your search to journal categories and select nursing to retrieve nursing only articles.

Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention

 

https://www.cdc.gov/

Home page for Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

CDC website is great for statistics for research projects on topics such as health disparities.

Medline Plus

https://medlineplus.gov/

MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health's Web site for patients and their families and friends. It is produced by the National Library of Medicine and brings you information about diseases, conditions, and wellness in languages you can understand.    This site offers reliable, up-to-date information for free.

Medline Plus is a good resource for learning the basics of a disease or finding a patient handout. Some instructors may not allow use of MedlinePlus but use this e-resource to find organizations and agencies that may have quality research on your topic

Google Scholar

http://scholar.google.com/

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.  From a single point, you can search across many disciplines and sources, including articles,

Google Scholar is a good search tool to use for trickier searches, but not all results will yield full-text articles. Also, the results may not be peer-reviewed journal articles.