Help

Ask A Librarian

Send an email directly to your AHEC librarian for help with reference or resource questions, for information about navigating the AHEC Digital Library (ADL), and for questions about your ADL membership.

Need an ADL Membership?

There are several different membership categories, please contact your local AHEC or hospital librarian, or request an account to get the process started.

I forgot my password

You can reset your password using your registered email address. If you've forgotten which email you registered with the ADL, please contact us.

Literature Searching Guide

Access this collection of tutorials, guides and fact sheets for help with searching MEDLINE (via OVID and PubMed), CINAHL, and other databases.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the AHEC Digital Library?

The North Carolina AHEC Digital Library (ADL) is an online service of the North Carolina AHEC Program serving North Carolina healthcare professionals with a focus on clinical care and continuing education. The ADL provides access to current medical literature and other quality health information resources through electronic full-text journals, books and databases.

What does ADL stand for?

ADL stands for AHEC Digital Library. Originally called NC ThincNet, the name evolved to reflect its part with the AHEC family.

What resources are included in the ADL?

In general the ADL contains databases for searching for articles, full text journals, and books. There are also evaluated high quality free web sites for specific health specialties or health topics.

Specific resources are unique for each individual depending on their institutional and/or individual affiliations. For a list of the specific resources included in your ADL account, please contact your local AHEC or hospital librarian or Contact ADL Staff

How can I get an ADL membership?

There are several different membership categories, please contact your local AHEC or hospital librarian, or request an account to get the process started.

In addition to the many high quality free resources available in the NC AHEC Digital Library, there are many licensed resources available for an annual membership fee of $190. A limited number of memberships for individual North Carolina health professionals in clinical practice are available for an annual membership fee ($190).

What do I do if I have forgotten my username and/or password?

Our Forgot form is the place to start. But if you need further assistance, contact a librarian.

I'm trying to access my account and get an error message stating that my account in inactive, what should I do?

You can contact your local AHEC or hospital librarian or Contact ADL Staff

I have tried logging into the ADL and get an error message saying that my account can't be found, what should I do?

See answer above, for inactivate account.

How do I know who is my local AHEC or hospital librarian and how can I contact her?

If you are logged into the ADL, you can go to one of the links for Contacting Your Librarian. You can either complete that form and submit it, or you can use the phone number found on that form and call your local library.

If you aren't logged into the ADL, you can still use the Contact Your Librarian form, it will just come to ADL Staff. You can also click on the Libraries button from the main page of the ADL and this will take you to a list of the local AHEC library websites where you should be able to find the contact information for that AHEC library.

How can I find full text articles in the ADL?

The ADL offers several databases you can use in searching for articles, these can be found on the databases page within the ADL. The 2 most frequently used databases for article searching are CINAHL (for Nursing & Allied Health Literature) and Medline (for searching the Medial literture). Your local librarian is an excellent resource for help in locating information.

If you know which journal you'd like to use, please visit the journals page where you will find an alphabetic list of all journals associated with your account.

We also offer an Article Search option. This can be accessed from the top of most pags within the ADL. It is also linked through the Clinical Resources section. This article search will search across most of the databases, journal, and book collections located within the ADL.