MIDIRS

What is MIDIRS?

Maternity and Infant Care is produced by MIDIRS. The database contains over 120,000 references with abstracts to journal articles from over 550 international journals, books, and grey literature relating to the midwifery profession, pregnancy, labour, birth, postnatal care, and neonatal care and the first year of an infants life. Database coverage is from 1971 onwards. You will need an Athens username and password. External members and mentors are not entitled to an Athens password.

How do I log in?

Do not use Internet Explorer to search MIDIRS. It has a fault which makes it difficult to display the full text of articles. Use Firefox or Google Chrome. Go to http://ovidsp.ovid.com/athens/redirect.cgi Enter your Athens username and password and click Login. You can also go to MIDIRS using our Databases then click MIDIRS. Enter your Athens username and password and click Login>>. Select Maternity and Infant Care from the list by clicking on the blue heading (not the information icon - this gives information about the database). 

How do I search?

Make sure that you are using the Advanced Ovid Search screen. This type of search will help you choose the best index terms for a more accurate search. Type a subject in the box and click the grey search button. A list of index terms appears, choose one or more from the list by clicking in the box beside it. A tick appears in the box. If there is no matching index term, you can still search for your subject by choosing the keyword search option at the bottom of the list. Run your search by clicking the grey search button. You can run as many searches as you want. It is easier to search for subjects separately, then combine them.
You can also search for Author's name by typing the surname a space and an initial (if you know it). Other options are title or journal title.
If you want to search for different forms of a word, use the truncation and wildcard symbols when typing in your search term. The truncation symbol ($) will search for alternative endings of a word - teen$ will find teen, teenager, or teens
The wildcard symbol (*) will search for alternative characters - labo*r will find labour and labor

How do I combine searches?

There is a blue box labelled Search history near the top of the screen above the list of search results. This tells you how many searches you have run. To display a list, click (Click to expand). You can select searches from this list by clicking the box beside them and combine them by clicking and or or. Remember, and narrows a search as the computer finds articles containing both subjects. Or widens a search as the computer finds articles on either subject.

How do I add extra limits?

Click the grey Advanced Ovid Search tab. A short list of options is displayed, you can use it to limit results by year of publication (usually worth limiting results to items published within the last five years). For a full list of options, click the Additional limits button near the foot of the green box.

Still no luck?

If you have not managed to find any results, you can try a natural language search. Click the Basic search tab and type in a question. The more detailed the question, the more focused your search will be. For example "relaxation therapy in pregnancy" is a much wider search than "what types of relaxation therapies are used in pregnancy". The search results are displayed ranked by relevance. You can sort them further by publication date using the drop-down menu at the top of the results list. Be careful when using this type of search, as the results you get will vary widely depanding on how you phrase the question and the order in which you type the words!

How do I get full text articles?

If we have access to the full text of an article you will see a blue GCU full text icon at the right of the reference. Click the icon to link to the article. You may need to turn off your popup blocker for the article to display properly. Most articles are available in PDF format, use the icons on the Acrobat toolbar to print, save or email. When you are finished close the popup window and return to the results list by clicking <<Previous page at the top of the screen. If the item is not available, click the Inter Library loans link to check out your inter library loan options. If you are a distance learner based outside the UK, please enter your address as Midwifery Department, GCU when registering online.

How do I display results?

If the results are not already on screen, click display in the search history window. The records will appear. Scroll through them using the up/down arrows or scroll bar. To mark an item for downloading, click on the button beside the record number. A tick will appear in the box. To de-select, click again. To look at the results of any previous searches, click the display button beside its entry in the Search History window. The search results will then be displayed.

How do I save results?

Insert a USB pen drive. Move to the left of the display screen to the results manager. Click save. Choose the file format (best left at the default option) and click continue Now choose the directory and filename where you want to store your references and click Save. If you are on campus, you can store results on the student workspace. Click Results display to resturn to the list.

How do I email results?

You can also email your search results to yourself. Using the results manager, click the email button Type in your email address and a subject heading such as Database search and click Send email>> . The search results will then be sent to you. Click <<Previous page to return to the list.

How do I save to RefWorks?

Mark the records you want to save and move down to the Result format option in the results manager. Click the radio button beside Direct export, then move back up the screen and click Export. Check that Export to RefWorks is selected and click Continue. The RefWorks window will pop up (you may need to turn off your popup blocker). Click the blue Athens users link to log in. Your records will then be imported into RefWorks - for more information on RefWorks look at our handy hints or workthrough guide. Log out of RefWorks and close the window. Return to the main screen by clicking Main search page at the top of the screen.

How do I keep up to date with new research?

If you are working on a long-term research project, or just want to keep up with new research in your subject area, it is easy using RSS (really simple syndication) feeds to your browser or email. You can choose to use a saved search or to receive contents pages of new editions of selected journals from Ovid. To use this feature, you need to register for a personal account with Ovid. Click Personal account at the top right of the screen, then the blue Create a new personal account link. To keep things simple, you could use your Athens username and password, but you can use any username ad password that you like.
To receive table of contents information, click Journals at the top left of the search screen, then select the option to clear your searches and proceed. Click Manage eTOC subscriptions at the top right of the page and a new window will pop up. First enter your email address and click OK. Now select the journal titles from the lower window by scrolling up and down. Highlight the journal titile by clicking it, to select more than one, hold down the control key and click the journal title, then click the Add text (for text only emails) or Add HTML button (for HTML emails). You will now get content information for this journal by email. You can cancel or alter your subscription using this page, select the journal title in the upper window, then click Remove and Update. You can also add more titles using the procedures above.
It is very easy to get table of content information using RSS feeds. Click the Journals link at the top left of the screen. Move through the list of titles till you come to the one you want to select. Click the RSS icon. Click Subscribe to this feed in the popup window. This bookmarks the feed into your browser. To see the information, click the favourites icon then select the Feeds tab. Click the journal title and the contents will be displayed. To view the full article, click on the right arrow under the article title. Follow the links to see the full article (if we have a subscription!).

You can only use the eTOC service for titles which are available on the Journals@Ovid service, a wider selection is available from the zeTOC service (see the A-Z database list). For RSS feeds to work well with your browser, it needs to be a newer version. If you are having difficulty, you may need to upgrade.

How do I change database?

Click Change database at the top of the screen and select a new database from the list. The system will then ask you whether you wish to run the same search on the new file. Click your choice and then continue

How do I log off?

Click Log off at the top of the screen.

Where can I get help?

You can get online help by clicking Help at the top of the screen. You can also teach youself by using the online tutorial. If you have any questions which cannot be answered by this guide please contact your librarian or make an appointment at The Base.