Medicine: Home
Books
Books for medicine can be found in both the Main Library and the JF Allen Library. We've tried to split core reading texts between both sites but most other books will be at the Main Library.
If you find that we need more copies of books please email me or morebooks and I'll endeavour to get more copies as soon as possible.
Not in the Library?
Can't find what you are looking for in the Library? There are a number of options available:
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Inter Library LoansIf we don't have a book or journal in stock we can get it for you.
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MorebooksAre there not enough copies of a book in stock? Would you like the Library to buy a book for your disseration? Email morebooks@st-andrews.ac.uk and we will do what we can.
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SCONUL Accessallows you to use a limited number of services at University Libraries in the UK. Complete the online form from http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access.
JF Allen Library
The JF Allen Library is the University's main science library. Most textbooks for the sciences are held here although for research in some subjects or to consult older works you may have to use the Main Library.
It is located on the first floor of the Physics building on North Haugh. During the day it is open to all students.
For more information please see the JF Allen page on the Library website.
Useful Search & Reference Resources
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CREDO Referenceis a collection of serveral hundred major reference books including dictionaries, encyclopaedias and thesauri including a number of scientific and language resources.
Useful Links
New Books in the Library
Search the Library
Finding journals
There are three main ways of getting hold of a journal article.
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Search the NHS Knowledge network - best for clinical journals. (NHS Athens authentication)
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Search the University of St Andrews (St Andrews authentication - your email login and password.)
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If those two steps fail, then you will have to apply for an interlibrary loan.
Please note that there isn't usually any other way of getting hold of an article. You can try Googling it, but you will nearly always find that it will at some point ask for a password. Often you will see 'The University of St Andrews' at the top of a page or an ATHENS login link but this DOES NOT mean that you will have access, the only way to check is to consult the catalogues of the University or NHS as described in steps 1 or 2 above.
Key Databases for Medicine
NHS Knowledge Network Databases (requires an NHS Athens account.)
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Ovid Medline"Ovid MEDLINE® covers the international literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. Information is indexed from approximately 5,400 journals published world-wide."
Contains largely the same articles as PubMed but the search interface is more sophisticated. (Requires NHS Athens login.) -
OVID Embase"3,500 international journals in the following fields: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, toxicology, clinical and experimental human medicine, health policy and management, public health, occupational health, environmental health, drug dependence and abuse, psychiatry, forensic medicine, and biomedical engineering/instrumentation." (Requires NHS Athens login.)
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Cochrane Library"The Cochrane Library is a collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, and a seventh database that provides information about groups in The Cochrane Collaboration." (No login required in the UK.)
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Full list of NHS Knowledge Network DatabasesIf your topic is in a specialist area it is sometimes worth checking to see if there is an appropriate database. (Requires NHS Athens login)
University Resources (use normal University login and password).
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Web of ScienceA multidisciplinary citation database with coverage of over 10,000 high-impact journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Useful for finding out the most important papers in a particular field. (Requires University login off campus - choose UK Federation from the drop down menu and then St Andrews.)
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Library searchA single access point to many of the Library's e-resources - databases, e-journals, e-books and print books. Allows you to search them simultaneously and limit to those available electronically.
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ERICproduced by the US Department of Education. Provides access to education-related articles, conferences, meetings, government documents, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, books and monographs. 1966 to date
Other Resources
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Google ScholarEasy to search but can produce an overwhelming number of results and doesn't tell you whether we have access to the full text version. (No password required.)
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PubMedfree version of Medline
Subject Guide
Using NHS resources on Campus
If you are on campus (ie in University) and if you want to use any Ebsco resources, please login in here - select the ATHENS login and then login with your NHS Athens password BEFORE you start doing your search. IGNORE the resulting page that comes up and return to this page! This will help prevent a conflict between the University and Ebsco accounts. It is not necessary to do this if you accessing material from home.
About this guide
The information in this guide is aimed at undergraduate students in the Faculty of Medicine who should all be members of the NHS Knowledge Network. Students from other schools do not have access to this resource but will be able to access the University resources mentioned on this page.
Referencing styles
The School of Medicine uses Harvard or Vancouver referencing styles. You can find information about both these styles using the links below:
Make sure you are using the right Style in Word Online to ensure your references are formatted correctly. For Vancouver, just chose Vancouver from the list. For Harvard, select Harvard St Andrews.
If you want to use the Harvard St Andrews on your own PC you can download it from the link below. Once you've downloaded it open the file up and it should open up in EndNote. If it doesn't automatically appear in Word, then open the downloaded file up again and choose File and then Save As and give it a slightly different name and it should appear in your list of styles in Word the next time you try.