The Clark State Library subscribes to the following journals which are of particular interest to Physical Therapist Assistant students:

• Journal of Allied Health
• Journal of Athletic Training
• Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy
• Journal of Rehabilitation and Development
• Orthopaedic Nursing
• PT--The magazine of Physical Therapy
• Physical Therapy
• Sports'n'Spokes

You may wish to browse in the above magazines to become familiar with the kinds of articles they carry. We also subscribe a selection of nursing and medical journals in hard copy. Our serials holding list has details on the paper copies we have available.

Online Access to PT Journals

In addition, there are many medical and nursing and allied health journals available online in full text, including:

• Journal of Rehabilitation
• Physical Therapy
• Physician and Sports Medicine (also available in the Medical News database of Lexis-Nexis)

These are available full text in Periodical Abstracts, which can be accessed from the OhioLINK home page under "Explore OhioLINK Databases."

Locating Articles Using Periodical Indexes

There are several periodical indexes for citation databases you can use in order to locate articles on physical therapy subjects. From the OhioLINK home page, choose "Explore OhioLINK databases by subject" and then select "Health and Medicine."

You can also "Explore OhioLINK Databases by name." Use this option to find:

• CINAHL (the Cumulative index to Nursing and Allied Health Sciences)
• MEDLINE (you have several options as to dates of coverage)
• Lexis-Nexis (It's possible to find health topics in this source, and the articles are online in full text, except in the Medical Abstracts Database) Use both the News and medical databases. The PathFinder about Lexis-Nexis has more information about how to use this resource. (Don't forget to read the onscreen search tips!)

More about using Periodical indexes

Virtually all of the above databases contain abstracts. Sometimes abstracts can be very useful, and in some cases you can get statistics and facts without reading the whole article. This is not generally recommended, but once in a while it will work when used judiciously.

Your major problem will be in getting the whole article, in whatever database you're using. Choose carefully, trying to use journals that are reasonably available in full text. This knowledge comes with experience. Periodical Abstracts will sometimes offer you the full text, and will tell you which libraries have the publication you are looking for. Be sure to check holdings.

Availability Elsewhere

If you are using CINAHL or MEDLINE or the Medical Abstracts in Lexis-Nexis, you will have to check the OhioLINK Central Catalog to find out if any OhioLINK libraries receive the journal you're looking for. Sometimes this is tricky, and you may want to consult a member of the library staff. For example, you may not be able to tell where the journal Spine is located because there are too many titles that are just the word 'spine.' Again, the librarians can help!

Our Union List of Serialsi s located at the Reference Desk and will tell you about journal availability in hospital libraries. Ask a librarian to help you use this. Remember to check the holding statements carefully to make sure the library you're planning to visit has the issue you need. Don't make a trip to an out of town library only to find out that they stopped getting that journal a couple of years ago. It's wise to call ahead.

We can get some articles in Interlibrary loan, but the copyright law prevents us from getting articles in quantity. We will do our best for you, but sometimes you will want to go to another library to get what you need. Calling ahead is always wise. In general, Interlibrary Loan can be slow, and doesn't always work. Students are generally limited to five ILLs per project. The copyright law puts limits on the number of photocopies of articles we can request.

Be sure to take your Clark State validated and barcoded id with you when you go to other libraries.

And be sure to check out the APTA's website. You can search tables of contents, abstracts, and some full text in the APTA journals Physical Therapy and PT.

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