Department of Public Health
Departmental Research Guide

This research guide relays some basic information on library and information resources pertaining to the concerns of this department, as provided by University Libraries and/or sites on the World Wide Web.

1. To Shelf-Browse for Books (using main Library of Congress Subject Divisions)

Books on subjects associated with this field are shelved under the call number ranges listed below. Use TOPCAT to search for specific items in the collection, or more narrowly-defined subjects.

• Health Source: Consumer Edition: This database provides health information for the health care consumer (layman). A full-text database available via EBSCOhost.
• Highwire (includes MEDLINE): Provides indexing and abstracting for 342 journals in a variety of disciplines.
• MEDLINEplus: Consumer health information provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Also available in Spanish.
• Academic Search Premier and MasterFILE Premier: These two all-subject WWW-based services (they are part of the EBSCOhost system) feature indexing and abstracting of many journals and magazines WKU Libraries receives in hardcopy, plus a large selection of articles in full-text.
• ArticleFirst: This all-subject FirstSearch-based database indexes almost 13,000 journals and magazines from 1990 onward, including some ninety percent of the ones University Libraries carries in hardcopy.
  

• MEDLINE: This EBSCOhost-based database provides abstracting of the primary research literature.
• PubMed: Another means of access to MEDLINE, and including some additional databases.
• CINAHL: This database is devoted to the fields of nursing and allied health. Indexing only; no articles in the full text. Available via EBSCOhost.
• CAB Direct: An abstracting service covering the literature of applied biology, agriculture, human health & nutrition, community & public health, and infectious diseases & parasitology, with coverage extending back to 1973.
• Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition: This database provides health information for the health care professional. A full-text database available via EBSCOhost.
• Hospital & Health Administration Index: Contained in its entirety within MEDLINE, as are International Nursing Index and the Index to Dental Literature.
• AIDSearch: Updated monthly, AIDSearch is a combination of three database files providing information about HIV/AIDS and related topics from 1980 to present.
• Clinical Pharmacology: Clinical Pharmacology provides 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 and investigational drugs.
• Combined Health Information Database: A bibliographic database produced by health-related agencies of the Federal Government. This database provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources, many of which are not indexed elsewhere. New records are added quarterly and some older records are retained for archival pruposes.
• MDXHealth: A consumer health database. Available via FirstSearch if you are faculty, staff, or a graduate student at WKU. Call the Reference Center at x6125 for Authorization and Password.
• ArticleFirst: As described above.
• MarciveWeb DOCS: WWW-based service that indexes monographic series by the U.S. Government, including those on various health-related subjects.
• Science Citation Index with Abstracts: WKUNET networked CD-ROM, covering 1998-2001.
• Science Citation Index: paper index covering 1961-1997. Located in Reference, Q1 .A1 S3x (ref.per.ind.).
  

Special resource:  TDNet Electronic Journal Finder [use to access Libraries' electronic journals, magazines, and newspapers, as well as some indexes and databases containing full-text articles; includes a comprehensive A-Z listing of titles]

• Handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, etc., available in Helm Reference, mainly in the R through RZ parts of the collection.
• Eighteenth-20th century printed works in the Kentucky Building relating to medicine.

Dept. of Public Health Faculty-Staff: http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Academic/chhs/publichealth/faculty-staff.php

• American Medical Association http://www.ama-assn.org/
• American Public Health Association (APHA) http://www.apha.org/
• National Rural Health Association http://www.nrharural.org/

General Gateways & Portals

• National Health Information Infrastructure [gateway] http://aspe.hhs.gov/sp/nhii/
• National Library of Medicine Gateway http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
• Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce [information sources] http://phpartners.org/
• Public Health Resources on the Internet (UC Berkeley Library) http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/internet.html

• Anthrax: Frequently Asked Questions (AMA) http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6631.html
• Bioterrorism http://www.bt.cdc.gov/
• Bioterrorism: Frequently Asked Questions (AMA) http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6667.html
• The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in 15 Developing Countries http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/slideshows/hiv-aids/TextOnly/index.html
• Global Report on AIDS 2004 http://www.unaids.org/bangkok2004/GAR2004_html/GAR2004_00_en.htm
• AIDS.gov http://aids.gov/
• Smallpox http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/
• West Nile Virus http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm

Miscellaneous Subjects/Institutions (Annual, United Health Foundation)

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov/
• America's Health Rankings (Annual, United Health Foundation) http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr2007/index.html
• Barren River District Health Department http://barrenriverhealth.org/
• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Maps http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/gisbrfss/
• Career Opportunities in Public Health http://www.apha.org/about/careers/careermart/default.htm
• CDC Recommends: The Prevention Guidelines System http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/cdcRecommends/AdvSearchV.asp
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) http://www.cdc.gov/
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (formerly HCFA) http://cms.hhs.gov/
• The Commonwealth Fund: Working to Improve Health Care Coverage and Quality http://www.cmwf.org/
• Council on Education for Public Health [accreditation] http://www.ceph.org/
• Environmental and Occupational Health (APHA) [links] http://www.apha.org/about/Public+Health+Links/LinksenvironmentalandOccupationalHealth.htm
• Environmental Health (CDC) [information] http://www.cdc.gov/node.do?id=0900f3ec8000e044
• Epidemiology (APHA) [links] http://www.apha.org/about/Public+Health+Links/LinksEpidemiology.htm
• FaststatsAtoZ http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/
• Go Ask Alice [health-related questions & answers] http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/
• National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/default.htm
• National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) (CDC) http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases http://www.niaid.nih.gov/
• National Institute on Drug Abuse http://www.nida.nih.gov/
• Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) (U.S. Dept. of Labor) http://www.osha.gov/
• Planned Parenthood http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
• PubMed Tutorial http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pubmed_tutorial/m1001.html
• Rural Healthy People 2010 http://www.srph.tamhsc.edu/centers/rhp2010/default.htm
• United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) http://www.epa.gov/
• United States Medical Licensing Examination http://www.usmle.org/
• World Health Organization http://www.who.int/en/

University Libraries Liaison: Carol Watwood (x3912 / carol.watwood@wku.edu) last updated 4/25/2007
page maintained by Charles H. Smith