MeSH is the U.S. National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles for MEDLINE/PubMed. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information that may use different terminology for the same concepts. MeSH subject headings are used in the OhioLINK Book Catalog and in the PubMed and Medline article databases. 

 If you do not know a specific heading to search, you may find it more helpful to start with a Keyword search, or use the NLM MeSH Browser to explore available headings.

What's the Difference Between MEDLINE^®, PubMed^® and PubMed Central?

• PubMed is the freely accessible online database of biomedical journal citations and abstracts created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM®).  
• PubMed Central is an archive of the full-text biomedical journal papers available online without a fee.   
• MEDLINE is one part of PubMed. Approximately 5,400 journals published in the United States and more than 80 other countries have been selected and are currently indexed for MEDLINE. A distinctive feature of MEDLINE is that the records are indexed with NLM's controlled vocabulary, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®).

In addition to MEDLINE citations, PubMed also contains:

Sometimes there are difficulties with accessing databases from off-campus.

No worries! There is a fast and easy workaround.  Simply log in through OhioLINK, rather than Ashland. Once you have logged in, you can move from database to database.   Use either the basic OhioLINK login or use the second link for OhioLINK nursing databases.

There is an app for some of the EBSCO databases, including CINAHL.

Subject Search or Keyword Search

We offer free interlibrary loan service  for articles that are not available through our databases.  Interlibrary loan articles will be emailed to you or mailed to your home. Please allow at least 2 weeks for delivery.

 What is a library database?

·         Library databases are the BEST way to find quality, scholarly articles from journals. Libraries subscribe to article databases so that you don't need to pay for articles as you would for articles you might discover with a Google search.

·         A library database is an online resource that the library subscribes to that indexes articles from print sources such as magazines and journals.  Each separate database includes different articles from a different set of journals, although there may be some overlap of articles included in some databases. In order to do a comprehensive search on a topic, you will most likely need to perform searches in several databases.

·         In a library article database you can search through thousands of different journals, magazines, and newspapers to find articles on a particular topic.

·         Even though a database is online, it is not considered an internet source. 

·         Library databases are searchable by keyword or by subject terms (precise terms determined by the database).

·         Some of the database articles are available in Full Text, while others only include an abastract (summary).  When you search for a topic in a database, the resulting list of article citations will show if each article is available full-text in either HTML or PDF format. 

·         Don't forget to click on Find It indicates if the print journal is available in the AU library and it may provide a highlighted link that leads you to the full text of the article in a different database. Find It also provides assistance in reformatting the citation APA or MLA style.

·         EBSCO is NOT the name of a database. It is the name of one of our many database service providers.  AU Library subscribes to 62 EBSCO brand databases, including the nursing databases CINAHL and Health Source Nursing.