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I am retired Army. May I request an Athens account?
No, only current Army Medicine staff (military, civilian, and contractor) and volunteers at Army MTFs are eligible to use the resources in Athens.
Do the Air Force and Navy have online medical libraries?
How do I search for articles on my topic?
To find articles on a topic, you should start your search in the databases PubMed and/or Ovid. PubMed is the National Library of Medicine’s free interface to access MEDLINE, the premier biomedical literature database containing over 27 million references from 5,200 biomedical journals, dating from 1966 to present. Ovid is an interface to search across multiple databases including MEDLINE.
Perform you keyword search in PubMed. You will retrieve a results list of articles on your topic. Click on the record of the article that interests you. The record will usually include the article citation and abstract. To get to the full text of the article, click on the burgundy 
icon. The icon will ink you to the full text of the article if it is available elsewhere in the AVL. If the article is not available in the AVL, the icon will link you to an interlibrary loan request form where you can request a copy of the article be emailed usarmy.jbsa.medcom.mbx.amedd-v-library@health.mil to you.
Perform your keyword search in Ovid. You will retrieve a results list of articles on your topic. Ovid is a full-text database, which means the full text for many articles - but not all articles – is available in the database. If the article is available in Ovid, you will see a PDF link to the article on the results page. Sometimes an article will be available in HTML format but not in PDF format. In that case, you will see a link for Ovid Full Text. If an article is not available in Ovid, you will see the burgundy icon. Click on the icon to take you to the full text article if it is available elsewhere in the AVL. If it is not available in the AVL, the icon will link you to an interlibrary loan request form.
Specialty Databases: Behavioral Sciences, Dentistry, & Nursing
In addition to PubMed and Ovid, there are article databases that focus on a specific medical area. If your topic is in the behavioral sciences, you should search the databases PsycINFO and PsychiatryOnline in addition to PubMed. If you topic is in nursing, you should search CINAHL Complete and ClinicalKey for Nursing in addition to PubMed. If you topic is in dentistry, you should search Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source in addition to PubMed. If the full text of an article is not available in those databases, you will see the burgundy icon. Click on the icon to take you to the full text article if it is available elsewhere in the AVL. If it is not available in the AVL, the icon will link you to an interlibrary loan request form.
I have an article citation. How can I retrieve the article?
There are many ways to retrieve an article if you already have the citation. Two ways are described below.
Go to PubMed. Search for your particular article. Open the PubMed record. Click on the burgundy icon. The icon will ink you to the full text of the article if it is available in the AVL. If the article is not available in the AVL, the icon will link you to an interlibrary loan request form where you can request a copy of the article be emailed to you.
Another way to retrieve an article if you already have the citation is to search for the journal in the eJournals & eBooks A-Z list. If you cannot find the journal in the A-Z list, we do not have a copy of the article. You will have to request the article through interlibrary loan by sending an email to the library. If you do find the journal listed in the A-Z list, look at the years the AVL has available for the journal. If there is a journal link that includes the year of your citation, click on the link to get to the journal website. Then find the volume, issue, and page number from your citation to retrieve the article. If there is no journal link that includes the year of your citation, the article is not available in the AVL. You will have to request the article through interlibrary loan by sending an email to the library.
How do I get a copy of a journal article or a book that is not available in the AVL?
You can request an article the library does not have through the interlibrary loan (ILL) process. ILL is a system by which one library acquires an article or book from another library. If a library patron needs an article that is not available in the library, he or she can submit an ILL request, and the library will attempt to get a copy from another library. AVL staff offers ILL service to staff at small MTFs that do not have a library. If an MTF is required by MEDCOM regulation to support a local library, AVL staff will only honor an ILL request if the request is for care of a current patient. The AVL cannot provide books through ILL.
An ILL request can easily be submitted directly from the database you are searching. If the full text of an article is not available in the database, click on the burgundy icon. The icon will either link you directly to the full text of the article available elsewhere in the AVL, or it will open a “Document Delivery” request form. Submit that form to request an ILL. Alternatively, email usarmy.jbsa.medcom.mbx.amedd-v-library@health.mil your request to the AVL.
What do I do if a resource in the AVL asks me to login or to pay?
Resources in the AVL should not ask you to login or to pay. The journal and database publishers have the IP ranges for the MTFs. If you access a resource from one of those IP ranges, you will be granted access to the resource. If a resources in the AVL asks you to login or to pay, the publisher probably does not have the IP addresses for your MTF.
To work around the IP issue, you can log into your AVL Athens Remote Access platform. Athens is designed to provide remote access to the AVL resources (i.e. when you are not on the network or VPN); but you can also use Athens to access resources when you have access issues.
Click register for an AVL Athens Remote Access platform account. Once you create an account, log into Athens at my.openathens.net. my.openathens.net.
Can the AVL perform a literature search for me?
Unfortunately, AVL does not have the staff to perform literature searches or most other library services for you. AVL staff primarily maintains the website and ensures access to library resources. AVL does offer interlibrary loan service to small MTFs only; but library services such as literature searching and database instruction are performed by the MTF librarians. If you are not at an MTF with a librarian, literature searching is not available to you.
How do I get remote access to resources?
All of the resources in the AVL can be accessed remotely through the AVL Athens Remote Access Platform. Click here to register for an AVL Athens account. Once you have an account, go to my.openathens.net to log into your account.
How do I find eBooks in the AVL?
Click the eJournals & eBooks A-Z link under the "All Resources" heading to find the eBooks available in the AVL. The default is to search for both eJournals and eBooks, but you can limit the search to just eBooks by selecting the radio "Books Only" button. You can search for an eBook by title keyword or ISBN number. PLEASE NOTE: The keyword search does not search the eBook content; it searches for the keywords in the book titles.
Are the AMEDD Virtual Library (AVL) and the AVL Athens Remote Access Platform (Athens) the same thing?
No, the AVL and Athens are two separate things. AVL is the name for the AMEDD online medical library. The actual website is a public site; the resources available on the site are mostly subscription online journals and databases paid for by the Army/DHA. Army medical personnel accessing the resources from an Army MTF IP range should not have to log in to access the resources; the journal and database publishers should automatically grant users from those IPs access to resources. If you are not able to access resources directly while on your MTF network, the publishers most likely do not have your MTF’s IP ranges. Contact AVL usarmy.jbsa.medcom.mbx.amedd-v-library@mail.mil for assistance establishing or restoring direct IP access to resources.
Athens is a platform or site to log in to access the same resources available in the AVL. It is intended for remote (off-network) access to resources, but it is often used as a workaround when there are access issues from the MTF networks.
Who is eligible to use the AVL and to request an AVL Athens Remote Access account?
Only Army Medicine staff (military, civilian, and contractor) and volunteers at Army MTFs are eligible to use the AVL and to request an Athens account.