While many databases have what we call "full-text" (meaning entire articles included in the database), others have only citations or abstracts (without providing you with the text of the entire article). So, what do you do when you find a description or a summary of an article in a database that seems PERFECT for your research, but the database does not include the full-text?
We do have a couple of solutions to that problem for you. First, you may notice a button next to the article citations in databases. It looks like this:
If you click on that button next to an article for which you'd like to find full-text, you will perform a new search in ALL of our library databases for that article. If a match is found, you will be taken into the new database directly to the article you need.
Occasionally, this search will find a partial match for your article. When that happens, it is usually because one database's data does not match up completely with the other database's data. In this case, you will land on a screen listing the name of the journal or magazine containing your article along with the name(s) of library databases that MAY contain your article. Next to the database name will be a link entitled "journal." Clicking on that journal link will take you to a page in the new database where you can browse through the entire contents of specific journal issues. Generally, you will be able to find the article you are looking for using this method.
If a match is not found, you will land on a page offering you the option of completing an interlibrary loan request. Click on the "request this item via interlibrary loan" link. A new window will open with an online form for you to complete. You can just cut and paste your article information (helpfully available at the top of the previous page) into the appropriate fields in the form.
Submit the form, and our interlibrary loan department will get the article for you from another library - usually at no charge to you.
These are a few of the relevant electronic journals available through the library.