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Find It! at the University of Chicago Library

 

Table of Contents

FindIt button
  1. What is Find It!
  2. How do I access Find It!
  3. How does Find It! Work?
  4. Databases that use Find It!
  5. FAQs about Find It!
  6. Learn more about Find It!
  7. Send questions or comments about Find It! to Library staff

What is Find It!?

Find It! is a service offered by the Library that provides customized links between diverse electronic products such as between journal citation indexes (like MLA Bibliography) and the full text of an article from a publishers website. You no longer need to write down a citation and then go the catalog to see if the Library owns the publication. Find It! does the work for you!

To begin, just look for the Find It! icons. In most databases, you will see: FindIt button

In other resources, Find It! may look like button or ovid button .

Once you click, Find It! will provide you with the available options for the item you want--either electronic full-text access, the Library Catalog to look for the print copies available, interlibrary loan services if the Library doesn't have the item, and Ask a Librarian for help.

Find It! uses the SFX linking technology licensed by Ex Libris (the software company, not the coffee shop in the Reg!)

How do I access Find It!?

In Electronic Resources

Simply start a search in one of the Library's many electronic resources - MLA, Academic Search Premier, Web of Science, etc. When you get a citation for an item you'd like to find, look for FindIt button.

For example, in Academic Search Premier, the Find It! button is shown in Figure 1:

Find Figure 1

After you click on the FindIt button button, you are presented with a new window, demonstrating the possible services for this citation. In Figure 2, there are full-text options available from one publisher. For other citations, you may see more than one full-text option and you can select one from your choice of providers.

Figure 2

You can also see that there is an option to search the Library Catalog to see if the Library owns the publication in print. If there is not an electronic copy available, you will only see this option. Should the catalog search fail to produce any hits, the Library links to our Interlibrary Loan service to request the item from another library.

In the Library Catalog

You can also use Find It! within the Library catalog to locate additional online full-text versions of journals. Just look for the FindIt button button in the Library Catalog record for an item, as in Figure 3.

Figure 3

How Does Find It! work?

Technologically speaking, Find It! is based on the OpenUrl protocol. The idea behind this standard is that links should lead users directly to appropriate resources. The OpenUrl syntax creates web-transportable packages of metadata and/or identifiers, which provide the basis for context-sensitive or open link technology.

However, in order for this standard to work, there must be metadata with which to work with. The success of Find It! is dependent upon the Library's database of subscription information that contains detailed records on what electronic products we license and equally important, what years of coverage we have for each of these products.

For example, if the Library has a electronic subscription to the Journal of Biological Chemistry from 1995-2002, then when you see a citation for an article in a database like Biological Abstracts from 1994, you should not see a link to the electronic copy since our subscription does not include this year. You should only see links that are appropriate to what the Library has a current license to.

Databases that are Find It! enabled

Many electronic resources provided by the Library already work with Find It! A short list includes:

  • EbscoHost (Academic Search Premier and Business Source Premier)
  • OCLC (EconLit, MLA Bibliography, WorldCat, etc.)
  • OVID (Biological Abstracts, Medline, PsycInfo, etc.)
  • ProQuest (Newspaper Source, ERIC, etc.)
  • Web of Science (Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index)

To see the full list of resources that are Find It! enabled see the SFX Resources page from Ex Libris.

FAQs about Find It!

  1. What happened to the SFX icons in Library databases? Is Find It! the same service?
  2. I clicked on the full text link but I only see the journal's home page or table of contents.
  3. If there's no full text option listed in the Find It! window, does that mean the article isn't available online?
  4. Sometimes the library catalog search doesn't find anything. What should I do next?
  5. Why are there multiple links to full text?
  6. Why do the Find It! buttons look different in each database?
  7. Why are there multiple windows open when I'm using Find It!?
  8. Can I use Find It! services from off campus?
  9. Where can I get help?

 

  1. What happened to the SFX icons in Library databases? Is Find It! the same service?
    The Library is currently in the process of replacing its icons with FindIt button so that it is even easier to identify and locate the service. Find It! is run by the SFX software and offers all of the same services. The name has just changed.

  2. I clicked on the full text link but I only see the journal's home page or table of contents.

    In most cases the Find It! link should take you to the full text of the article. However, when this does not happen, it means the publisher's site is not set up to let you get easily to the article, or there was not enough information provided in the Find It! record to make the direct connection. In either case, simply scroll through the table of contents of the journal to identify what you need. Please let Library staff know about specific titles or publishers that seem problematic to you.

  3. If there's no full text option listed in the Find It! window, does that mean the article isn't available online?

    The answer to this is "Yes and No." Most publishers do have their current products available on the web. And the Library does subscribe to the electronic versions of journal publications. However, if the Library does not have a subscription the publication, you will not have access to the article except in the rare case when the publisher makes some of its content available for free. Most of the time, if a full text option is not available from the Find It! window it means the Library does not have a license.

    However, sometimes there may be a technical error with the Find It! server, the Library catalog, or the database you are using that prevents the correct information from being transmitted between resources. You can always double-check the citation information you find through the Find It! service by searching the Library catalog separately. Or Ask a Librarian for assistance. Our librarians can check to see if an online version is available or provide you with information about how to access the item in print at the Library or through Interlibrary Loan.


  4. Sometimes the library catalog search doesn't find anything. What should I do next?

    In most cases, if the catalog returns a "no hits' message, it means the library does not have a subscription. However, occasionally the Library does own the item you need and for some technical reasons, the Find It! server was not able to properly retrieve the item in the catalog. To determine whether or not the Library has a subscription to something, simply search for the title of the journal or book you need in the catalog directly. This is especially true for book chapters, where we may have a different edition of the book that Find It! does not easily locate.

    Once you determine that the Library does not own the material you need, you may go to Interlibrary Loan to request a copy of the material you need. Or if you think that the Library should own the item you need, contact a subject specialist in your area to talk about your research needs.

  5. Why are there multiple links to full text?

    Most of the time, the Library licenses a single journal subscription through an individual publisher. However, we also subscribe to large, third party aggregators, which also make contracts with the same publishers as the Library. The three examples you are likely to encounter multiple full text options are Ovid, ProQuest and Ebsco. We try not to duplicate resources - however these aggregator packages do not always offer the Library flexibility in terms of choosing the content of their service. Therefore you will probably encounter multiple options for the more widely read publications, like Scientific American and The New York Times.

  6. Why do the Find It! buttons look different in each database?

    Unfortunately, the Library does not always have control over the final look of the Find It! logo. We work with Ex Libris and specific database vendors to make things appear as clearly as possible for our users. Suggestions on how we can improve this service are welcome.

  7. Why are there multiple windows open when I'm using Find It!?

    There are generally three different windows open. The resource you started searching in, the Find It! gateway menu, and finally the resource you want to connect to. Everything remains "live" on the desktop until you close the program or window.

  8. Can I use Find It! services from off campus?

    Yes. Access to Find It! works the the same way as the other resources provided by the Library. Access is based upon the IP address of your computer. As long as you are using the Connectivity Package or the Proxy Server to logon to your campus computing account, you will be able to use all resources provided by the Library from home, just like you do while on campus.

  9. Where can I get help?

    Librarians are here to help you with a variety of research needs. Simply Ask a Librarian or subject specialist in your subject area to learn more about what resources are available for your research and teaching and how to use them effectively.

Learn more about SFX, the program underlying Find It!