Note: The three-part "How To Use VIN" course can be taken live (on the first three Wednesday nights of each month), or you can do it as self study. (To sign up for the course, email Nate@VIN.com, and tell him you'd like to learn how to use VIN.)

NEW! Try the new movie version of How To. This movie was designed for veterinary students, to show them what VIN is and how to use it, but we think you too will find it very useful.

The VIN knowledgebase contains information from many different sources. VINners learn in many different ways - some prefer to browse through information, some prefer to do down and dirty quick searches. To accommodate these different learning styles, the information in VIN's knowledgebase is organized in multiple ways.

In order for you to see the depth and breadth of the information contained in VIN, this session will focus mainly on the browseable sections. (It's easy, when doing a SEARCH, to forget just how much material you are searching through to find your information. )

Click the LIBRARY button. (It's on the main navigation bar.)

Let's start with the main (center) column of the Library page. (The order of the items in the center column may change, but this will give you the basic idea.)

The NEW box highlights items that have been recently added to VIN. To stay current, check this section monthly.

The Journal Library contains more than 80 veterinary journals, in addition to veterinary related articles from the biomedical literature. Author summaries (abstracts) are available for most articles. Journals are listed both alphabetically and by type (Veterinary, Human, or Misc. Biomedical). The New Issues hyperlink allows you to read the newest articles that have been added to VIN's knowledgebase. (If you are interested only in articles related to a particular Species or Specialty, you can use the Information Center journal sections to read those particular article summaries.)

Rounds Library - This is a list of the previously-held Rounds sessions, in reverse chronological order. (Once again, Rounds are searchable via the SEARCH button on VIN's main nav bar. This is merely a way to provide a list of previous Rounds sessions.) To find a list of Rounds for a specific specialty, use the appropriate Specialty Library.

Specialty and Species Libraries - Use these to help keep up with or locate information about a particular specialty or species. These libraries collate the message board discussions, journal abstracts, Rounds transcripts, websites, etc. related to that specialty or species.

Proceedings - VIN has proceedings from a variety of veterinary conferences, meetings, and symposiums.

Next up, Plumb's Drug Handbook. This page allows you to flip through the drug book alphabetically by generic drug name.

The Compendium Of Veterinary Products (CVP) Drug Label Database contains the drug labels for thousands of veterinary-labeled drugs. Information is collated by drug category, ingredient, product name, and manufacturer. From this page, you can either browse (flip through the alphabetical index) or do a search.

MSDS Pages - VIN provides the most complete veterinary Material Safety Data Sheets database (Compas MSDS, produced by North American Compendiums, Inc.) available. When you have some free time, check this resource out.

The Microbiology Image Library. This section contains images and text pertaining to in-house bacteriology, cytology, and histopathology. Dr. Harter kindly contributed the information in this section. If you have images you'd like included in VIN's image database, please let Nicky@VIN.com know.

The Veterinary Dental Encyclopedia is an "in-process" collection of dental images and radiographs, generously contributed by Dr. Jan Bellows for the use and education of our members. Once again, when you have time, take a look at this section.

Next up, the VIN WWW Directory. VIN collects interesting veterinary, human medical, and general animal websites, posts highlights every week on the Front Page, and collates them here. (To make them easier to find, the websites may be collated in multiple categories in this section.)

Since some VINners like access to Dictionaries, we've provided links to medical/other dictionaries on the web.

Once a week, VIN highlights a Book Review on the Front Page. We also save these reviews in this section so you can read them later, at your convenience.

Then there's Associate. This is an online textbook that allows you to think through a case, based on signs/symptoms in your patient, and to compare disease possibilities to help you work up a case. (You can also simply read the chapters that interest you.)

Emerging And Exotic Diseases Of Animals is a database of exotic animal diseases by species.

VIN's Veterinary Forms Collection is a collection of sample forms, clipart, and handouts currently being used in VINners' various veterinary practices. Many of the forms are stored in our database in a word processing format that you may download and modify for your personal use. If you have any additions you'd like to make to this collection, please let Nicky@VIN.com know.

Pet Health Care Series, provided by Dr. Wendy Brooks, is a collection of client handouts that cover some of the most common medical problems of pet dogs and cats. Included are:
Pet Health Care Library - A library of information on pet diseases.
Medications Library - Easy to understand information on most common pet medications.
Pet Nutrition Corner - Pet food labeling, manufacturing, etc.

VINners have generously shared their Client Information pages with you. If you would like to share yours, please let Nicky@VIN.com know.

The right hand column of the Library page contains a list of resources that we want to make sure you don't miss.
These change, but may include:
Injection-Site Sarcomas: Growing Challenges and Opportunities for the New Millennium
Spay-Neuter Assistance Program, Inc. (SNAP)
Fish Diseases Series
Cognitive Dysfunction in Dogs
Small Mammal Health Series
The Potbellied Pig Manual
Feline Cardiomyopathy
Feline Hyperthyroidism
When you have a moment, pop into the Library, and check out these items.

Now, let's go check out the SEARCH page. Click the SEARCH button on VIN's main navigation bar.

There are links across the bottom of the Search page that lead to more Search help information. If you have trouble when doing a search, read the search tips.

The search page is laid out to make searching as easy as possible. You've got drop boxes (reminders to choose) for Species and Year.

Choose the Species and Year options that best fit your search, type the words that best describe your search into the What Topic(s) line, then choose the Source from the tabs (ALL, Boards, Journals, Drugs, Clinical Resources, Client Education, Medline, etc.). When you choose a Source, the Search will automatically begin.

The results will appear on a new page. From the results (hits) page you can modify your search, open individual titles of archived records, checkmark multiple titles to open them onto one page, etc.

Give the system a test run by leaving the default settings for Source, Species, and Year in place, typing in IVERMECTIN, and then clicking the search button. Then experiment with the button options that become available to you on the results (hits) page.

Remember: There are help tips across the bottom ofthe SEARCH page. If you have questions about VIN's SEARCH that are not answered in this Search Tips section, please ask Becky@VIN.com or Nicky@VIN.com.