North Carolina AHEC Information and Library System

Our vision is to be your first choice for quality health information.

Overview

The NC AHEC Information & Library System provides a wide range of services to meet the information needs of North Carolina's health professionals. Whether you are a rural family physician in the mountains, a nursing student near the coast or a mental health professional in the piedmont, AHEC libraries will support your clinical, educational or research activities.

The AHEC Libraries provide answers and expertise to:

  • guide clinical decision making
  • enhance quality of care
  • improve health care outcomes
  • ensure cost-effective access to essential tools and resources
  • increase health care provider satisfaction and improve retention
  • train health professionals to find information in support of evidence based practice
  • support community based education for the state's academic health sciences programs
  • support Graduate Medical Education for medical residents located at the AHEC's medical residency programs

For additional information or questions, send an email to a librarian. These questions will be routed to the most appropriate librarian to handle your information needs.

For information about local AHEC libraries, please visit our AHEC Libraries Directory.

About the NC AHEC Information And Library System

Community Based Libraries

North Carolina is divided into nine regions with an Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in each region. Each AHEC includes library and information services to support the clinical, educational, and research activities of regional health professionals and students. These regional AHEC libraries make up the NC AHEC Information & Library System. As a core service of the NC AHEC Program, the libraries have a mission to meet the state's health and health work force needs by providing community-based, customer-driven access to authoritative and current health information.

High Quality Information Services

AHEC Libraries are staffed by masters-level trained librarians and information professionals who have specialized training in providing health sciences information to individual health professionals, hospitals and other institutions. The AHEC Libraries provide an array of services including access to electronic and print information resources; general and customized educational sessions; article and document delivery; and customized searches of the medical literature. The NC AHEC Library & Information System also offers a statewide portal of electronic information resources-the AHEC Digital Library.

Statewide Impact

NC AHEC Librarians impact health care providers in North Carolina in many ways. In 2013-2014 library staff made over 258 outreach visits to hospitals, clinics, and health agencies and delivered 80,634 consultations and reference services. AHEC Librarians provided information support to more than 15,000 preceptors of health sciences students from NC schools. They supported the medical education programs at Carolinas Medical Center, Moses Cone Health System, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, WakeMED Hospitals, Mission Hospitals and several other hospital and non-hospital based medical residency programs. The AHEC Digital Library (ADL) provided consortium purchases and access to electronic journals, textbooks and databases for more than 30 NC hospitals that employ over 60,000 staff members.

Our vision is to be your first choice for quality health information.

Learn more about how AHEC Libraries can help you in this video (You Tube)

Services

The primary mission of the NC AHEC Library & Information System is to meet the state's health and health work force needs by providing community-based, customer-driven access to authoritative and current health information. Primary customers for AHEC library services include faculty, staff, students, medical residents and educators affiliated with AHEC programs. They also include non-AHEC affiliated health professionals such as clinical healthcare providers, health administrators and certain non-clinical members of the health workforce including regional hospital libraries.

Services offered by AHEC Libraries include:

  • access to a current core set of information resources including the AHEC Digital Library
  • reference services in-person, via phone and online including evidence-based clinical search results
  • educational support such as copyright consultation, bibliography preparation, research, and presentation support
  • on and off-site training on searching medical and health literature; searching the Internet for quality health information; utilization of the AHEC Digital Library and other topics
  • technical library or project assistance
  • a welcoming library environment that includes access to computers and other technology resources
  • circulation, interlibrary loan and document delivery

To learn more about AHEC Library services in your region contact your local AHEC Library.

*Certain fees for some services may apply depending on an individual's institutional affiliations.

Find an AHEC Library

North Carolina is divided into nine regions with an Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in each region. Each AHEC includes library and information services to support the clinical, educational, and research activities of regional health professionals and students.

Area L

  • Area L AHEC Library and Information Services
  • PO Drawer 7368
  • Rocky Mount, NC 27804-0368
  • Phone: 252-972-0419
  • FAX: 252-972-0419
  • Counties
    Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash, Northampton, Wilson

Central

  • Health Sciences Library, UNC Chapel Hill
  • CB# 7585
  • Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7585
  • Phone: 919-962-0701
  • FAX: 919-966-1029

Duke University AHEC Program

  • Hock Plaza I
  • DUMC 2722
  • Durham, NC 27710

Eastern

  • Laupus Library, East Carolina University
  • 600 Moye Blvd.
  • Greenville, NC 27834
  • Phone: 252-744-2066
  • FAX: 252-744-2080
  • Counties
    Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell, Washington, Wayne, Hertford, Hyde

Mountain

  • Library and Knowledge Services
  • 121 Hendersonville Road
  • Asheville, NC 28803
  • Phone: 828-257-4444
  • FAX: 828-257-4712
  • Counties
    Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Yancey, Jackson

Northwest

  • Northwest AHEC Information & Library Services
  • Wake Forest University School of Medicine
  • Winston-Salem, NC 27157
  • Phone: 704-210-5069
  • FAX: 704-636-5050
  • Counties
    Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Rowan, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, Iredell

Piedmont (Greensboro)

  • The Moses H. Cone Health System Medical Library
  • 1200 N. Elm Street
  • Greensboro, NC 27401-1020
  • Phone: 336-832-7484
  • FAX: 336-832-7328
  • Counties
    Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Guilford, Montgomery, Orange, Randolph, Rockingham

SEAHEC

  • South Eastl AHEC Health Sciences Library
  • P.O. Box 9025
  • Wilmington, NC 28402-9025
  • Phone: 910-343-2180
  • FAX: 910-762-7600
  • Counties
    Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Pender

South Piedmont (Charlotte)

  • AHEC Library & Information Resource Center
  • PO Box 32861
  • Charlotte, NC 28232-2861
  • Phone: 704-355-3129
  • FAX: 704-355-3116
  • Counties
    Anson, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Stanly, Union

Southern Regional

  • Information Access Center
  • 1601 Owen Drive
  • Fayetteville, NC 28304
  • Phone: 910-678-0103
  • FAX: 910-323-4007
  • Counties
    Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Hoke

UNC Health

  • Health Sciences Library
  • CB #7585
  • Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7585
  • Phone: 919-962-0701
  • FAX: 919-966-1029

Wake

  • Medical Library
  • 3261 Atlantic Avenue, Ste 212
  • Raleigh, NC 27604-1657
  • Phone: 919-350-8529
  • FAX: 919-350-8836
  • Counties
    Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Lee, Person, Vance, Wake, Warren