OLDMEDLINE (1950-1965) contains citations from Index Medicus (the print index from which MEDLINE was developed). OLDMEDLINE citations were created using standards that were in use when the citation was originally included in the print index. These standards are different from those currently in use for MEDLINE citations. Here is a summary of the main differences between OLDMEDLINE and MEDLINE:
- There are no abstracts in OLDMEDLINE (and some articles do not even have titles).
- The subject headings assigned to articles in OLDMEDLINE are those that were used when the article was originally indexed. These subject headings are not the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) that are used in MEDLINE.
- There is no way to use search limits when searching OLDMEDLINE.
OLDMEDLINE can be accessed through PubMed. See links below.
Because OLDMEDLINE does not use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), it is not searchable using a thesaurus (this means that in OLDMEDLINE, focusing, expanding, and subheadings are not available). To do a topic search, therefore, enter the search term or phrase in the Search for field. Remember to take synonyms, singluar/plural variations, and spelling variations into account.
Assessing an Information Need [PDF]
OLDMEDLINE - from NLM
Go to the Mulford Library's Web page and click on the PubMed@UT link. Citations in OLDMEDLINE can be found by searching for the subset medline [sb] in PubMed .
Contact Mulford Reference Assistance at (419) 383-4218 or MulfordReference@utoledo.edu. Chat and IM reference is also available.
