Q. What is "FindIt"? How do I use it?

What is "FindIt"?

FindIt is a service that helps you link through to the full text of an article, if the full text is not available in the database you are using for your research. It is NOT a search engine. Here's how it works: when you find a citation or reference to a specific article in an online database, FindIt supplies the best available path to the content, anywhere in the library's collection. Some articles will be online, others will be in print at the Libraries, and still others may be ordered through a free service, Interlibrary Loan. 

How do I use it?

Clicking the FindIt link (or button) within a database produces the FindIt results page with direct links to one or more of the following: 

• Full-text of the article
• Table of contents of the journal, which links to the full-text of the article
• Database home page (where the full text resides), which must be searched to retrieve the full-text of the article
• Library catalog
• Custom links, such as Interlibrary Loan

Where do all the links to content go?

Depending on who provides the full text, links to this content may go directly to the article, the journal, or the database where the journal is located.  

Why is the "Article" link not always available?

If the "article" link is absent from the FindIt results page, it could be due to one of the following reasons:

• Our library does not subscribe to the full-text for that particular title
• The publisher or author of the title may not provide full-text online
• There is not enough data in the search criteria to trigger an article-level link
• The provider of the journal does not support OpenURL, which is a library industry standard that is behind services such as FindIt

Sometimes there are many options for full-text journal links. Why?

The same journal is often available in more than one database (i.e., from more than one content provider). FindIt will display the links to all content accessible to our library.  

How do I get to the article if there is only a journal link or a database link?

In cases where FindIt can only take you to the journal's table of contents or a database home page, you will have to browse the table of contents to locate the issue and article you need, or search the database to retrieve the full-text article.

FindIt provides an article-level link even though the full-text of the article is not available. Why?

"Article" links that do not provide full-text may occur for several reasons: 

• Full-text articles are withheld from the online versions of the database by the publisher or author
• Data *about* the article appears in a database before a publishers has made the full-text available online